Rustic Italian Food
Page 6
After rolling, switch to the cutting attachment and cut into whatever shape you like. All of the pastas in this book are made using common cutting attachments like fettuccine—or no cutting attachment at all. Most of the raviolis are cut old-school—by hand with a knife. Just try to work quickly. It helps to keep a spray bottle of water nearby. Spritz the dough every once in a while to keep it from drying out as you work.
If you’re thinking of buying premade pasta sheets instead of making them yourself, don’t do it. They’re never as good, and in a dish like Mortadella Tortelli with Pistachio Pesto, there are so few ingredients that the quality of the pasta really makes a difference. Another tip for baking pastas like ravioli and lasagna: I always leave some of the ends hanging over the sides of the baking dish. When the dish goes in the oven, those overhanging edges get crispy and delicious. Then you have two great textures: the soft pasta and sauce and the crunchy outer edges of the pasta. If you have convection on your oven, turn it on for baked pasta to help crisp the edges.
HAND-ROLLED PASTA
In 1994, I was working at La Chiusa restaurant in the Tuscan town of Montefollonica. It’s about ten minutes from Montepulciano, basically in the middle of nowhere. Several elderly women rolled pici pasta by hand all day at the restaurant. Pici is a long, thin pasta like thick spaghetti but made with fresh egg yolk pasta. They would take a knob of dough and roll it back and forth under their palms on long wooden boards with just the right pressure until the dough stretched out into a long, thin strand. They made it look so easy. And the pici was perfect, as if it had come right out of a machine. I tried doing it over and over, but the pici never came out right. This experience is what got me so interested in hand-rolled pasta.
I started learning all the different shapes, like orecchiette and garganelli, and techniques to make the pasta easier to shape. For example, I usually flour the board when I’m handling dough. But with hand-rolled pasta, if you use too much flour, it slides around on the board, which makes it harder to shape. A light dusting on your hands is all you need. Then again, if the pasta is too wet, it will stick to the board. As I mentioned earlier, I keep a spray bottle of water handy. It’s the easiest way to regulate the humidity without over- or under-watering. At different times of the year and in different places, the air simply has more or less water in it. Making pasta in the summer is not like making pasta in the winter and not like making it in the mountains or at sea level. Understanding the craft of rolling pasta means being aware of your environment so you can make pasta under any circumstances.
PASTA WATER
I’ve read all kinds of articles and heard from dozens of people about the different ways to boil pasta, the ratios of water to pasta and salt to water … the methods are endless. Here’s how I do it at home. I put a large stockpot of water over high heat. I usually use about 5 quarts of water per pound of pasta. I use a lid to boil the water faster. Once it boils, I add salt. Salting the water is a matter of taste, but the water should taste seasoned, like a weak broth. I use about 1 tablespoon kosher salt per 8 cups water. Then I drop in the pasta with a little stir to keep it from sticking and put the lid back on to quickly return the water to a boil. You want to boil the pasta quickly so it doesn’t get mushy on the outside and so it stays a little chewy in the middle. After a minute or so, the water should return to a boil; then you can remove the lid. If you get a little boil-over, don’t worry, just take off the lid and stir it down. A little boil-over acts like an alarm clock. Just hang around the kitchen and keep an ear out for it!
As for doneness, the pasta should be tender yet firm, which usually only takes 30 to 90 seconds for fresh egg pasta sheets, 4 to 5 minutes for refrigerated extruded pasta, or 8 to 10 minutes for boxed dried pasta. But don’t go by cooking times. Take a piece of pasta and bite into it. The pasta should feel firm at the center, almost chewy, a little less than “al dente.” Instead of thinking of it as boiling pasta, think of it as blanching pasta. The pasta should be slightly underdone when it comes out of the water. Instead of just dumping the sauce over the top of the cooked pasta on a plate, you will finish cooking the pasta later in the sauce or in the oven, where it will meld with the liquid and absorb some of its flavor. That’s how you marry pasta with sauce.
I always save the pasta water. It should be a little cloudy, which is the starch that has leached out from the pasta into the water. That starchy water is perfect for thickening sauces.
BASIC Extruded PASTA DOUGH
This dough is less about the recipe and more what you do with it afterward. A refrigerator has the right humidity, and the pasta will dry nice and slow for almost a week before it starts to crack. Every day it just gets a little chewier. I like the texture best after 2 days of drying in the refrigerator. But try “aging” it for up to 5 days to see what texture you like best. Enjoy matching different shapes with different sauces, too. The recipes here offer only a few examples. Pastas and sauces are generally interchangeable, so find combinations to suit your taste.
MAKES ABOUT 1 POUND
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (500 g) semolina
About 1 cup (220 g) water
Put the semolina in a bowl. Slowly stir in enough water until the mixture looks like damp sand. Knead it a little bit with your fingers in the bowl until it clumps together and feels like wads of sandy, dry bubble gum when pinched between your fingers. Depending on the humidity in the room, you may need to add more or less water to get the consistency right. It should feel like damp sand that sticks together when you pinch it. Too dry is better than too wet. Even though it appears as if it’s not ready, the dough will come together when it is extruded through the machine.
If using a stand mixer attachment, fit the pasta extruder with the desired shape and attach it to the accessory hub. Set the mixer speed to medium and feed the dough into the extruder in golf-ball-size clumps, using the back of the pusher accessory to push the clumps into the extruder. When the first ones come out, get rid of them because they will be uneven. Continue gradually dropping in golf-ball-size clumps and pushing them through the machine, being careful not to overload it. As the pasta is extruded, cut it into the desired lengths as directed below.
To dry short pasta like rigatoni and macaroni, place it on wire racks that will fit in your refrigerator and refrigerate uncovered. For long pasta like spaghetti and bucatini, coil it into rounded “nests” so it takes up less room, then put the nests on the racks in the flat container. Refrigerate the pasta, uncovered, for at least 8 hours or up to 5 days.
To cook, adjust the total time according to how long the pasta has dried in the refrigerator. Cook 8-hour-old pasta for about 2 minutes, day-old pasta for 3 minutes, and 2-day-old pasta for 4 minutes (my favorite). Add a minute of cooking for every extra day of drying.
RIGATONI
Fit your pasta extruder with the rigatoni plate. If using a stand mixer attachment, set the mixer to medium speed and feed the dough into the extruder, cutting the rigatoni into 1½-inch lengths.
FUSILLI
Fit your pasta extruder with the fusilli plate. If using a stand mixer attachment, set the mixer to medium-low speed and feed the dough into the extruder, cutting the fusilli into 2½-inch lengths.
CANDELE
Fit your pasta extruder with the large macaroni plate. If using a stand mixer attachment, set the mixer to high speed and feed the dough into the extruder, cutting the candele into 6-inch lengths. Dry straight instead of forming into nests.
LARGE MACARONI
Fit your pasta extruder with the large macaroni plate. If using a stand mixer attachment, set the mixer to medium speed and feed the dough into the extruder, cutting the macaroni into 2-inch lengths.
BUCATINI
Fit your pasta extruder with the bucatini plate. If using a stand mixer attachment, set the mixer to high speed and feed the dough into the extruder, cutting the bucatini into 9-inch lengths.
SPAGHETTI
Fit your pasta extruder with the spaghetti plate. If using a
stand mixer attachment, set the mixer to high speed and feed the dough into the extruder, cutting the bucatini into 9-inch lengths.
TONNARELLI
Fit your pasta extruder with the tonnarelli plate. If you don’t have one, use the spaghetti plate. If using a stand mixer attachment, set the mixer to high speed and feed the dough into the extruder, cutting the tonnarelli into 9-inch lengths.
Rigatoni with Swordfish, Tomato, and Eggplant Fries
Rigatoni WITH SWORDFISH, TOMATO, AND EGGPLANT FRIES
The first time my wife, Megan, and I went to Rome together was in 2007. We ate pasta for three days straight. On our last night, we swore there would be no pasta. We went to a fish restaurant named Pierluigi to seal the deal. They had a beautiful display of fresh fish on ice, and we picked our fish for the mixed grill and waited. As we were talking at the table, the waiter brought over a pasta dish with swordfish and eggplant fries on top—still in the pan. He placed it in the middle of the table and gave us each a dish. “Excuse me, but we didn’t order this,” I said to him. He looked at us and said, “You need to start your meal with something. You can’t just have the fish.” So, we started eating the pasta anyway. We didn’t stop eating it until we were fighting over the last bite. It was the best pasta dish of the entire trip. When I got home, I started experimenting immediately.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
12 ounces refrigerated extruded Rigatoni, or 10 ounces boxed dried rigatoni
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, smashed
8 ounces grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound swordfish, cut into ¾-inch cubes
Juice of ½ lemon
15 fresh basil leaves
Eggplant Fries
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the pasta, quickly return to a boil, and cook until the pasta is tender yet firm, 2 to 7 minutes, depending on how long it has been refrigerated (or 8 to 9 minutes for the boxed stuff). Drain the pasta, reserving the pasta water.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until soft but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Add the fish and cook until white all over but still translucent in the center, 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the drained rigatoni to the pan. Add a splash or two of pasta water and cook, tossing to coat, for about 2 minutes. Taste and season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper as needed.
Remove the garlic and divide among warm pasta bowls. Tear the basil into coarse pieces by hand and scatter over the pasta. Top with the eggplant fries.
BEVERAGE—Librandi, Ciro Rosso Classico 2008 (Calabria): Here’s a classic regional pairing if there ever was one. The deep south of Italy is home to basil, tomatoes, eggplant, and simply prepared seafood, and this dish has it all. Countless Calabrese could be enjoying this same pairing as you read this sentence.
Rigatoni WITH CHICKEN LIVERS, CIPOLLINI ONIONS, AND SAGE
You go through phases in a kitchen. You get into making something like confit and then you end up trying to confit everything under the sun. A few months back, I was crazy about sausage. I put everything I could think of in the meat grinder to make sausage out of it. One day, I had some extra chicken livers, so I put those through the grinder and made a terrine. But it didn’t come out right. Then, my chef Jeff Michaud had an idea to make a simple ragù with minced chicken livers and toss it with some pasta. It was amazing. That chicken liver pasta was on our menu at Osteria for two months. Then one day I walked into the restaurant and it wasn’t on the menu anymore. I asked Jeff about it and he said he wanted to change things up. I screamed, “Are you out of your mind??!!!?? It is the perfect, most innovative, most unexpected dish. It should be on the menu forever!” That’s an argument that I won pretty easily.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
1 pound refrigerated extruded Rigatoni, or 14 ounces boxed dried rigatoni
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for sauce
8 small cipollini onions, peeled and thinly sliced into rings
12 fresh sage leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 ounces chicken livers, minced
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the pasta, quickly return to a boil, and cook until the pasta is tender yet firm, 2 to 7 minutes, depending on how long it has been refrigerated (or 8 to 9 minutes for the boxed stuff). Drain the pasta, reserving the pasta water.
Meanwhile, melt the 2 tablespoons butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sage and cook until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add the chicken livers, cooking for 1 minute. Add a splash of pasta water, scraping the pan bottom.
Add the drained rigatoni to the pan. Toss with the ¼ cup Parmesan cheese and additional butter and/or pasta water as needed to make a creamy sauce.
Divide among warm pasta bowls and garnish with Parmesan cheese.
PREP AHEAD
Make the rigatoni up to 5 days ahead of time and refrigerate uncovered.
BEVERAGE—Tramin, Gewürztraminer 2006 (Alto Adige): This wine is intensely tropical in aroma and flavor, and rich enough to match the chicken livers yet spicy enough to cleanse the palate. Or come at it from another angle with Corte Majoli, Valpolicella Ripasso 2006 (Veneto), which gives off rich dried fruit and chocolate aromas, but surprises you with a dash of acidity.
Candele WITH DUCK BOLOGNESE
Imagine a long macaroni that doesn’t curve. That’s candele, which means “candle,” and of course resembles a tall, thin candle. This pasta shape is perfect for standing up to a thick ragù. You can break the candele into pieces, but I like to leave them long. They wrap around the ragù so nicely that way.
MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS
DUCK BOLOGNESE
4 pounds skinless duck meat, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 pound pork fatback, cut into ½-inch chunks
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
2 cups dry red wine
8 cups water
2 sprigs rosemary
1 clove garlic, smashed
6 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
¼ cup (0.35 ounce) dried porcini mushrooms
1 cup Hand-Crushed Marinara Sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound refrigerated extruded Candele, or 14 ounces boxed dried long ziti
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
For the bolognese: Spread the duck meat and fatback in a single layer on a baking sheet or other shallow pan that will fit in your freezer. Freeze until firm but not solid, about 1 hour. Freeze all the parts to the meat grinder, too. Grind the cold duck meat and fat with the meat grinder, using a large die. If you don’t have a meat grinder, you can chop it in small batches in a food processor using 4-second pulses. Try not to chop it too finely; you don’t want meat puree.
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Heat a large Dutch oven or heavy ovenproof casserole over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat mixture and cook until it is no longer red, stirring and scraping the pan, about 8 minutes. Add the onion and carrot and cook until barely tender, about 5 minutes. Add the wine, scraping up any browned bits from the pan bottom, and bring to a boil. Add the water and heat until simmering.
Meanwhile, tie the rosemary, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf in a square of cheesecloth and add to the pan. Add the mushrooms and marinara and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cover and cook in the oven until the flavors are rich and blended, 2 to 3 hours. Remove the cheesecloth sachet. Makes about 8 cups.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the pasta, return to a boil, and cook until tender yet firm, about 2
to 7 minutes, depending on how long it has been refrigerated (or 8 to 9 minutes for the boxed stuff). Drain the pasta, reserving the water.
Meanwhile, heat the bolognese in a large sauté pan until boiling. Add the butter and simmer until the sauce is creamy. Add the drained candele to the pan. Stir in a ladle of pasta water and 1¼ cups of the Parmesan and toss until the sauce is creamy. If the sauce gets too thick, add more pasta water.
Divide among warm pasta bowls and garnish with the remaining ¼ cup Parmesan.
PREP AHEAD
The bolognese can be made ahead and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Reheat it in a large sauté pan before adding the pasta.
BEVERAGE—Poggio alle Sughere, Morellino di Scansano 2006 (Tuscany): A coastal cousin to Chianti, this is a fantastic (albeit riper and juicier) alternative when you want something with decent structure, generous fruit, a touch of earth, and slightly rustic tannins.
Fusilli with Fava Beans and Pecorino
Fusilli WITH FAVA BEANS AND PECORINO
I always look forward to the first young fava beans in the spring. They’re small and sweet and taste delicious with some crusty bread and sharp pecorino. They’re even better with fusilli pasta because the curves of the fusilli cradle the fava beans. There are so few ingredients here that quality really matters. Use the best pecorino you can find. And if your favas are old and tough, save them for another dish. Young favas fresh from the market are what make this dish great.