Forget your prejudices about tripe. It is a wonderful food when it is not served in a flour based white sauce. Trippa Romana is a classic Italian dish, reminding us that in less affluent times nothing was wasted from meat animals.

Most Australians have only tasted tripe cooked in a white sauce. Tripe is a much more versatile ingredient than that.

Use honeycomb beef tripe for this classic Italian dish. You should buy it cleaned and parboiled from the butcher.

Simmering the tripe again will ensure that it is tender before you bake it slowly in the tomato sauce to integrate the flavours.

Ingredients for 4 people, 6 as an entree.

• 1 kg tripe
• 2 cloves
• A few whole peppercorns
• 1 walnut sized piece of butter
• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 1 stick of celery
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons of chopped herbs, parsley, basil or marjoram
• 600ml tomato passata
• Salt and pepper
• Half cup of grated parmesan cheese

Cover the tripe in water and add the cloves and peppercorns. Simmer for a hour or so until the tripe is tender. Drain.

Meanwhile in another saucepan sauté the chopped vegetables and garlic in the butter and oil until the onion is translucent. Add the tomato passata and simmer for a few minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Cut the tripe into 2cm strips and put into oven-proof dish. Cover with the herbs and tomato sauce.

Cover and bake in a slow oven for an hour and a half. Serve with noodles accompanied by the cheese in a separate bowl.

For a main course you could add a garden salad and some rustic Italian bread.

Wine Suggestion

This dish could be served with a Sangiovese red wine for a classic Italian wine food combination. ***foodindex.shtml***