Know the difference between pomodoro & marinara sauce? How about what pomace oil is?

I didn’t know until I had a little lesson at Carrabba’s Italian Grill today.

This afternoon I made a little trek out to Huntersville, NC for a behind the scenes look at the Carrabba’s kitchen & menu, courtesy of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.

Meet Mike. He’s a food tech who’s been with Carrabba’s for 10 years, working his way up the ranks from server to prep cook to kitchen manager. Now he travels to 25 different Carrabba’s overseeing the menu & rolling out quarterly restaurant specials. He’s even going to Afghanistan in November to feed the troops, which I think is pretty snazzy.

Carrabba’s was started in Houston, TX in 1986 by Johnny Carrabba & his uncle Damian Mendola. It may be a big chain of restaurants now, but they still use family recipes in all of their restaurants, and they make most of their stuff in house- soups, sauces, etc. Mike took us through some of the steps & ingredients they use in their recipes.

He started by making a caprese salad with ripe roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and pesto made from genevese basil, romano cheese, pine nuts, walnuts, extra virgin olive oil, butter, salt, and freshly ground pepper.

(Carrabba’s spends a quarter of a million dollars a year to grind peppercorns in house in each of their restaurants- it’s that important to them!)

Carrabba’s goes through quite some herbs- about 12-15 lbs of basil each week, and a 20 lb case of flat leaf parsley in just a few days.

Needless to say, I didn’t eat the tomatoes, although I have to admit they looked lovely. The pesto was outstanding though- fresh & popping with flavor. Did you know “pesto” comes from the same root as the word “peslte” (as in mortar & pestle)- to pound or crush.

Next up Mike demonstrated three of their signature pastas: the Tag Pic Pac, the Linguine Pescatore, & the Penne Franco.

Tag Pic Pac

Tagliarini is actually a type of thin pasta; Picchi Pacchiu is the sauce. This sauce is so simple and basic you wouldn’t possible think it would taste remarkable, but the flavor was astonishing (as far as sauce goes). It was simply garlic cloves softened in olive oil, chopped tomatoes, fresh basil, and salt & pepper.

I was really impressed with how much flavor this simple little sauce packed- I need to revamp my own homemade sauce making strategy. 😉

The sauce is served over pasta with grated romano cheese and basil.

Next up, the Linguine Pescatore.

The dish starts by steaming shrimp, scallops, and muscles in marinara sauce.

The marinara sauce is made from pomace oil, anchovies, and garlic, plus yellow onions, scallions, red wine, crushed red pepper, oregano, and chopped tomatoes. Then they add pomodoro– a sweet tomato base sauce made from crushed tomatoes, basil, red onion, and extra virgin olive oil. [Pomace oil is olive oil, but a step or so down from ‘extra virgin’- it holds up to a higher heat.]

The pomodoro, marinara, pizza sauce, and tomato sauce are actually all different sauces. Who knew. [Pomodoro is sweet; marinara has a spicy finish.]

The sauce and seafood mixture is served over a bed of linguine. Linguine means “tiny tongues”. (Spaghetti, if you’re wondering, means “small cords”.)

Last but not least, the Penne Franco.

Mushrooms, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, and olives are sautéed in olive oil & garlic and served over penne, then topped with ricotta salata (which comes from sheep’s milk). Mike told us some more about this one I’m sure, but I was busy digging into the sample dishes.

Just when we thought we were done, Mike surprised us with dessert- one of their mini desserts, which is probably my favorite restaurant trend. Just a few bites of sweet to follow up a big meal is all you need. 🙂

This is the Dessert Rosa– butter cake layered with strawberry, pineapple, banana, pudding, & Cool Whip.

Mmmm. Apparently Mama Mendola (Damian’s mom) got this recipe out of a newspaper back in the day. Supposedly they had to change the name of the cake- according to the newspaper this is the “better than sex” cake…. what, they didn’t want that on the menu of a family restaurant?

In case all that wasn’t enough, we got to bring some food home with us- I can’t wait to eat it!

We didn’t get to chat until it was time to leave, but I found Teri from A Foodie Stays Fit and Kelsey from Bites & Bowls! Hooray for NC bloggers!

Phew. That was a lot of learning for a Saturday. Hope you’re having a good one! 😉