What Makes Friuli Venezia Giulia Pasta Different

Most of what Americans call Italian food comes from the south: heavy tomato, dried pasta, garlic forward. Friuli Venezia Giulia, tucked in the far northeast corner of Italy against Austria and Slovenia, cooks differently.

Butter and cream do more work than olive oil. Egg pasta is rolled fresh rather than dried. Filled shapes like tortellini get a light sauce so the filling stays the point, not the topping.

That is why Mario's tortellini arrives in a restrained cream sauce instead of drowning in it, and why the lasagna is layered thin rather than stacked tall. Northern cooking is about restraint. When the pasta is good, you get out of its way.

Try it side by side sometime: a southern arrabbiata and a northern tortellini in the same meal. Two different countries on one table.