Pasta mollicata

Pasta mollicata is an Italian pasta dish built around breadcrumbs rather than a rich sauce, common in the southern regions of Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily and considered a poor dish because it uses few ingredients. It is made by sauteing chopped onion, pre soaked in red wine, in olive oil and lard, adding a diced tomato and cooking it briefly, then stirring in stale bread crumbled into small pieces and simmering the mixture for about fifteen minutes over high heat; leeks, chopped nuts, or fresh mushrooms are optional additions. The cooked pasta is tossed with this sauce and with cacioricotta cheese, then finished with more cheese, olive oil, and hot pepper. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/