Bobby Flay Called This One Of His 'Favorite Pasta Dishes Of All Time'

While there are simple rules for how to make perfect pasta, including using the correct pot and using plenty of cool or cold water (via What's Cooking America), saucing it is more a matter of personal preference. Some people prefer tried-and-true sauces like bolognese, marinara, or carbonara, while others fancy something more unusual — including a famous Food Network host. 

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay loves an anchovy butter pasta sauce that he made with Giada De Laurentiis in Italy, of which he gave the highest praise while reminiscing recently on social media. "Flashing back on a Friday.... Remember this pasta with anchovy and butter that was featured on #BobbyAndGiadaInItaly?? It's one of the my favorite pasta dishes of all time and can be found at @rosciolisalumeria in Rome... I could go for some of this right now," he said via Instagram along with a snapshot of the dish. Some of Flay's followers reminisced about the place it's made too.

Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis learned to make the anchovy sauce when they were filming Food Network's "Bobby and Giada" in Italy in 2021, per YouTube. They visited Roscioli Ristorante Salumeria in Rome, where Flay was told that the anchovies were so delicate, cooking them over heat would break them down. Given that, the only option was to cook them in boiling pasta water. The result is a buttery, creamy emulsion that's tossed with pasta and topped with more anchovy.

Flay notes in the video that the pasta looks as though it had been glazed with olive oil, but "when you taste it, that's when the magic starts to happen." The veteran celeb chef is then rendered speechless after biting into the dish. 

Whether or not this was Flay's first time at the restaurant is unclear, but some of his followers have visited, according to some of the comments on his Instagram post. "Was cool to have been there first before seeing this show and then going to my wife 'Hey we went there!' while watching it," says one along with a LOL emoji. Another pointed out that the restaurant was "My fave in Rome! I think I sat exactly where you are in that picture;) For me, it's the Cacio e Pepe."