Sora Lella's secret: Broccoli and Arzilla soup, which smells of Roman history, attracting food lovers from all over to the Tiber Island.

Photo of the dish by Marco Varoli

Take the whole fish (ray), except for the side appendages (wings), and place it in a large saucepan.
Boil the fish together with aromatic vegetables (celery stalks, carrots, and onion bulbs) and spices (cloves and bay leaves) for about 15 minutes.
Remove it from the water and separate the meat from the cartilage.
Re-immerse the cartilage in water and repeat the boiling process to obtain additional cooking liquid for later use.

At the same time, prepare a cooking base in a pan with garlic cloves, extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of chili pepper, a desalted anchovy, and peeled tomatoes (peeled).
Clean the broccoli (Romanesco), removing the tough base, and divide it into florets.
Add the florets to the boiling sauce and continue cooking, gradually adding a portion of the fish broth.
Season with fine salt and oregano.
When the florets are almost tender, add the previously recovered skate meat and leave to flavor.
Finally, pour in all the remaining broth, increase the heat and simmer the mixture for about five minutes.
Make sure that the final result has a suitably moist consistency, without being too thick or too diluted.

Add the pasta (traditionally maltagliati, but other fresh pasta shapes can be used) and cook it directly in the broth, adjusting the amount of liquid.
Use a small portion of pasta (about 40 grams per person) so as not to overwhelm the richness of the sauce.
Finally, serve the dish in a traditional terracotta container (coccio).
Sprinkle generously with grated pecorino cheese and finish with a drizzle of raw olive oil.