Tomato Leaf-Egg Pasta

For a thorough look at food history in the South from the mid-twentieth century on, I highly recommend The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South by John T. Edge of which I received a review copy. All angles are covered from the atrocities of segregation and the civil rights movement as they related to restaurant dining to home cooking including how the food being prepared and access to it have changed over time. There’s a moving passage about Edna Lewis and how her family had “embraced agriculture.” “They found joy among the furrows and reveled in the pleasures of the table… In a rapidly urbanizing America, her knowledge of native plants and heritage breed animals, learned on the family farm, set her apart.” Alice Waters regarded Lewis as “an advocate of organic foods and seasonal diets.” Lewis, in fact, spoke of the same principles on which the Slow Food movement would later be founded. The book offers insights into the careers of several famous Southern chefs, food writers, restaurant founders, and producers and also delves into issues of industrial farming and the need for progress for laborers. And, it clearly depicts how a changing population “proved essential in the making of the newest New South, in which expertise in tortilla making mattered as much as biscuit baking, and Indian chefs set the standard for fried okra.” Sadly, that doesn’t mean all problems have been solved, but it is exciting to see the food landscape shift and new dishes become iconic. Edge writes: “Food serves the region as a unifying symbol of the creolized culture we have forged, making explicit connections between the breads made from corn that Native Americans call pone and the breads made from corn that Mexican Americans call tortillas, bonding Louisiana Cajuns of French descent who boil crawfish in water spiked with Tabasco mash and Vietnamese Texans on the Gulf Coast who boil crawfish in pots that bob with lemongrass.” It’s fascinating to experience the varied ways food products of the South can be interpreted. Here in Austin, I look to our local farms for inspiration based on what’s growing from month to month. A few weeks ago as the height of tomato season was coming to an end, I wanted to make use of the less popular part of the plants. The Tomato Leaf-Egg Pasta from The Book of Greens was on my mind, and I had to give it a try.

Springdale Farm was kind enough to harvest a bag full of tomato leaves for me to purchase, and a local restaurant had been purchasing them as well. It’s great to know the plants were being put to such good use. To make the pasta dough, the tomato leaves were blanched, drained, and squeezed in a towel to remove moisture. Next, the leaves were placed in the blender with eggs and pureed. I prefer to make pasta by hand, so I transferred the tomato leaf and egg mixture to a big bowl with some flour. I used a mix of whole wheat and all-purpose flour. The flour and tomato leaf mixture were stirred together and kneaded on a floured surface until smooth. The dough was covered with plastic wrap and allowed to rest for about an hour before being divided and rolled through a pasta machine. I cut the strands into linguine and cooked them briefly in salted boiling water. For a quick sauce, I followed the suggestion in the book and melted butter in which fresh tomatoes were briefly warmed. Pasta was topped with the sauce, strands of basil, and some parmigiano reggiano. I loved the herby flavor in the rich egg pasta, and the speckled green color was pretty with the fresh tomatoes. I'll definitely make this again when I can get some leaves from tomato plants.

A lot of progress has been made in the South, and I hope it continues. Undeniably, there are still issues to be addressed and problems to be solved, and only time will tell what changes will come next. But, seeing the mix of cultures and its positive affect on what we eat is a positive sign. I’ll keep eating all the new and different dishes that appear and cooking with all the great ingredients grown in this little pocket of the South that I call home. 

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Semolina Cavatelli with Rabbit Ragu

I have to warn you, I’m going to gush a bit here. A new book has come along that’s not only about one of my most favorite food topics but is also full of interesting information I’d never read before on the subject. The book is Pasta by Hand by Jenn Louis, and I received a review copy. Even Mario Batali, who wrote the foreword, hadn’t tasted or heard of several of the recipes in this book. Now to explain, the “pasta” in the title refers to traditional handmade dumplings or variations on gnocchi from different regions in Italy. Jenn Louis researched the topic at her home in Portland and then traveled from region to region in Italy to learn everything she could about dumpling making. In Italy, these handmade morsels of dough are always called gnocchi with some regionally specific names for certain shapes. For Italians, the word dumpling is thought of only in terms of Chinese-style stuffed dough shapes. However, gnocchi translated to English is dumplings. Whether it’s pasta, gnocchi, dumplings, or any other name, they all look delicious and fun to make. I didn’t actually flag any pages in this book as I usually do to quickly flip back to recipes I want to make. That’s because I will eventually make every type of pasta or dumpling described. I truly love working with pasta doughs of all kinds and figuring out how to form the desired shapes. A yeasted dough is used to make Cecamariti which comes from Lazio, and the dumplings are shaped like little green beans with pointy tips. Orecchiette, from Puglia, is a shape I’ve never tried making but have wanted to for the longest time. It’s traditionally made with semolina or regular wheat flour, buckwheat flour, or burned wheat from fields that were burned after harvesting. There are potato gnocchi versions as well as ricotta ones; two versions with beets; some have chestnut flour; one has winter squash puree in the dough; and the Gnocchi Alla Bismark dough includes finely chopped prosciutto, cinnamon, and nutmeg. For each type of dumpling, there are suggestions for best sauces to pair with it. And, there’s a chapter for sauces at the back of the book. I decided to make Semolina Cavatelli for Easter, and since I have a curious habit of eating rabbit at Easter-time, I paired the cavatelli with the Rabbit Ragu. 

It all started a few years ago when I was out for dinner with my family on the night before Easter. I ordered the rabbit. I ate the Easter bunny on the night before Easter. Two years ago, my birthday fell on the day before Easter. When we went out for dinner that night, I did it again. What can I say? I can’t resist a theme. So, rabbit was on the menu for our Easter dinner this year. The only problem was that the recipe calls for ground rabbit, and after too many phone calls to count to butcher shops and meat counters around town, I learned that I can’t get ground rabbit in Austin. I bought a whole rabbit from Countryside Farms at the farmers’ market, removed the bones, and chopped the meat myself. But first, I started by making the cavatelli a couple of days in advance. It was easier than I expected and really, really fun. Boiling water was mixed into semolina flour with salt and olive oil in a stand mixer. The dough was then kneaded by hand briefly and then left to rest for 30 minutes. With small pieces of dough at a time, long ropes were rolled by hand and cut into half-inch lengths. Those half-inch bits of dough were rolled off the thumb on a ridged gnocchi board. The dough is just stiff enough to curl up around your thumb and form a little curved shape. It was like the dough just knew what to do all by itself. I stored some of the cavatelli in the refrigerator that was going to be used that weekend, and the rest was placed on a sheet pan and set in the freezer. Once firmly frozen, the cavatelli can be transferred to a bag to store in the freezer. Making the rabbit ragu was simple once I had the rabbit meat prepped and ready. I did skip the pancetta in the recipe and started by cooking the onion, fennel, rosemary, sage, thyme, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes. Pureed, canned tomatoes were added and left to simmer before red wine and chicken stock were added and simmered until reduced. The chopped rabbit cooks quickly and was added at the end and only cooked for 10 minutes. To serve, enough ragu for each serving was heated in a saute pan with some added butter. Cooked cavatelli were added to the sauce to finish cooking and become coated. Parmiggiano-Reggiano was sprinkled on each serving. 

The semolina cavatelli are sturdy but tender at the same time. They hold their shape well but take on a nice texture after being cooked. The only thing better than making the pasta, was eating it. The ridges and curled shapes held the ragu well, and I was delighted with the rabbit in the sauce. I still have more cavatelli in the freezer that might get paired with a simpler tomato sauce next time. And then, I’ll be coming back to the book to try all the other dumpling shapes. 

Semolina Cavatelli 
Recipe reprinted with publisher's permission from Pasta by Hand.

Serves 10 

This recipe, featuring semolina, makes a sturdy dumpling. The texture is firmer and more toothsome than ricotta cavatelli, similar to malloreddus, which are also made from semolina, though the cavatelli are a little denser and made without any saffron. Semolina cavatelli pair well with sauces rooted in southern Italian staples, such as tomato, lamb, beef, and seafood. 

400 G/1 3/4 CUPS WATER 
865 G/5 CUPS SEMOLINA FLOUR, PLUS MORE FOR DUSTING 
2 TSP KOSHER SALT 
1 TBSP EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL 

Bring the water to a boil over high heat. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, combine the semolina flour, boiling water, salt, and olive oil. Knead with your hands or on medium speed for 10 minutes, until fully combined and the dough is mostly smooth. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. 

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and dust with semolina. Cut off a chunk of dough about the width of two fingers and leave the rest covered with plastic wrap. On a work surface very lightly dusted with semolina, use your hands to roll the chunk into a log about ½ in (12 mm) in diameter. Do not incorporate too much more semolina into the dough, adding just enough so the dough does not stick to the surface. Cut the log into ½- to 1-in (12-mm to 2.5-cm) pieces. With the side of your thumb, gently push each piece against a gnocchi board or the back of the tines of a fork, rolling and flicking the dough to make a curled shape with an indentation on one side and a ridged surface on the other. Put the cavatelli on the prepared baking sheets and shape the remaining dough. Make sure that the cavatelli don’t touch or they will stick together. 

(To store, refrigerate on the baking sheets, covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days, or freeze on the baking sheets and transfer to an airtight container. Use within 1 month. Do not thaw before cooking.) 

Bring a large pot filled with generously salted water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the cavatelli and simmer until they float to the surface, 1 to 3 minutes. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes more, until al dente. Remove immediately with a slotted spoon and finish with your choice of sauce. Serve right away. 

SAUCE PAIRINGS: Traditionally, semolina cavatelli are paired with Tomato Sauce, Rabbit Ragu, Lamb Ragu, or Beef Ragu. 

Rabbit Ragu 

Makes 3 cups (720 ml) 

Rabbit is as common in Italy as chicken is in the United States. At Lincoln, this ragu is a staple. We buy whole rabbits and use every part: the bones are made into stock, the fore- and hindquarters are used for an entree, and the loins and bellies are ground for ragu. Often we also use the livers, heart, and kidneys when making ragù; they add great richness and flavor. If finding ground rabbit meat is challenging, check with a local farm, Italian market, or specialty butcher, and ask specifically for medium-large grind (if the rabbit is finely ground, it will cook too quickly and toughen). This sauce is well worth the effort. 

3 TBSP EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL 
2 OZ (60 G) PANCETTA, PROSCIUTTO, OR BACON, FINELY CHOPPED 
1/4 CUP (40 G) FINELY DICED YELLOW ONION 
1/4 CUP (45 G) FINELY DICED FENNEL BULB 
1 SPRIG FRESH ROSEMARY 
3 FRESH SAGE LEAVES 
2 SPRIGS FRESH THYME 
2 BAY LEAVES 
1 TSP RED PEPPER FLAKES 
1/4 CUP (50 G) CANNED WHOLE PEELED TOMATOES, PUREED AND STRAINED 
1/2 CUP (120 ML) RED WINE 
4 CUPS (960 ML) CHICKEN STOCK 
1 LB (455 G) GROUND RABBIT LOIN AND BELLY, MEDIUM-LARGE GRIND 
KOSHER SALT AND FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER 
UNSALTED BUTTER FOR SERVING 
DUMPLINGS OF YOUR CHOICE, JUST COOKED 
GRATED PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO CHEESE FOR SERVING 

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, warm the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and cook until the fat renders and the pancetta barely begins to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the onion, fennel, rosemary, sage, thyme, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes and cook until the onion and pancetta are soft and slightly caramelized, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir to combine. 

Turn the heat to low and cook until the tomato thickens and begins to caramelize, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the red wine, raise the heat to medium-low, and cook until the wine is almost completely evaporated, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock and simmer very gently until the sauce is reduced to about one-third, about 20 minutes. 

Add the rabbit to the sauce, stirring to break up any lumps, and simmer just until the meat is soft, tender, and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Rabbit is lean, so it does not require much cooking time.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper and discard the herb sprigs and bay leaves. 

(To store, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 1 month. To thaw, place in the refrigerator overnight or until fully thawed.) 

To finish dumplings with the ragu, for each serving, warm 1/2 cup (120 ml) of ragu in a saute pan over medium heat and add 1½ tsp to 1 Tbsp butter per serving, depending on how naughty you feel. Gently simmer about 4 minutes, until the bubbles get large and the sauce is not watery along the edges of the pan. Add the cooked dumplings and simmer for 1 minute to let the dumplings absorb the flavor of the sauce. Spoon into serving bowls and top with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Serve right away. 

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Pappardelle with Duck Ragu

You know the mental file of recipes that you think about for years, the recipes that you intend to make when the time is right, the ones you know will be great when you finally do prepare them? I’m delighted to report that one of those has moved from my mental file into the realm of reality. Since 2006, I’d been pondering the making of the Duck Ragu from On Top of Spaghetti. I knew it would be perfect for a winter meal on an occasion when I had plenty of time to roast the duck legs and then let the sauce slowly simmer. I knew I wanted to save this for a day when I could make homemade pappardelle to go with it. All of those conditions were finally able to be met for a Christmas meal. Every time I mention cooking from this book, I also mention that it’s one of my favorites. It has never let me down and certainly did not this time either. Although there is a recipe for homemade pasta in this book, I have another favorite that I turn to for especially rich pasta dough. Once again, I made the fresh pasta dough from Stir which incorporates whole eggs as well as egg yolks. It worked out perfectly since I had a use for the whites for dessert. I made the pasta and cut the wide, pappardelle ribbons a day in advance. The sauce takes some time to allow the flavors to develop, but it couldn’t have been easier. 

This was actually my first time cooking duck at home, and I know it won’t be my last. There’s not much to cooking the duck in this case. Two pounds of duck legs were roasted in the oven for about 40 minutes. You’ll need a roasting pan that can go from oven to stovetop for deglazing. Of course, there’s duck fat that’s rendered as the legs roast, and I greedily poured that into a bowl to save for cooking potatoes at a later date. With the cooked duck and fat removed from the pan, the pan was then set over low heat on top of the stove. A half-cup of red wine was used to deglaze it. While the duck was roasting, onions, carrots, and celery were chopped. Those vegetable along with chopped rosemary, and a few juniper berries were cooked in olive oil in a Dutch oven until very tender. The deglazing wine and any bits from the roasting pan with another cup and a half of red wine were added to the vegetables and left to simmer and reduce until almost completely evaporated. Next, stock and canned chopped tomatoes were added. I used a homemade chicken stock, but duck stock would have been great. As the sauce began to simmer, I pulled the meat from the duck leg bones and shredded it to add to the sauce later. With meat and skin removed from the bones, I added the bones to the sauce. The sauce continued to simmer for another 45 minutes or so. Then, the bones were removed and the shredded meat was added. Fresh pasta cooks quickly, in about a minute or two, and the cooked and drained pappardelle was tossed with a bit of sauce before being plated. It was topped with more sauce and grated parmigiano. 

This dish was definitely worth the wait. But, now that I know how easy it is, I won’t be waiting long to make it again. It is a rich and hearty sauce with layers of flavor from the duck and wine. At last, I can stop wondering when I’ll ever make this dish, and instead, I can daydream about how delicious I now know it is. 

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Asparagus Pesto with Herb Pasta

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how much the local food scene in Austin has changed over the years. Many years ago, I visited the lone, quiet, little farmers’ market on Wednesdays in the parking lot of the old Whole Foods. That was way before Whole Foods moved into the current flagship location with the corporate headquarters upstairs. It was just a handful of us who showed up for the market which consisted of a few vendors who brought a couple of carrots and maybe a turnip or two. I’m exaggerating, of course, but there wasn’t nearly the array of produce, eggs, meat, seafood, prepared foods, and artisan-made products you can find at our markets today. And, these days, we have farmers’ markets in several parts of town happening almost every day of the week. It wasn’t even that long ago, three years perhaps, when getting locally-grown asparagus was difficult. I remember the first vendor who offered asparagus and how precious and limited the supply was. When I heard it was available, I rushed to the market early one Saturday morning and nabbed one of the few, skinny bunches. This year, I’ve seen multiple vendors with beautiful asparagus. More artichokes are showing up lately as well, and I’m thrilled to hear we’ll be receiving some from our CSA next week. It’s exciting to watch our local food options continue to expand. Last month, I brought home lots of asparagus from Hairston Creek Farm. It was so fresh and tender and completely unlike what’s available at the grocery store. I sauteed chopped pieces of it in butter and poured whisked eggs over the top to scramble with it. I also tossed some chopped asparagus into a Thai curry soup just to warm it through before serving. And, I made my favorite asparagus dish of all time. I’ve been making this asparagus pesto for years during the season, and I never thought to mention it here. It’s incredibly simple, and the texture of the pesto is silky smooth. I usually use dried pasta, but this time I went all out and made fresh pasta with chopped herbs incorporated into the dough. It was a celebration of spring on a plate. 

The pesto is found in On Top of Spaghetti which is one of my most favorite books for pasta. You simply roast one pound of trimmed asparagus spears at high heat, like 500 degree F, for a few minutes until tender. Roasting time will depend on the size of the spears. Just toss the spears with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper before roasting. Once the roasted asparagus has cooled a bit, roughly chop it and use a spatula to transfer the asparagus pieces and any oil from the pan to a blender. Add two-thirds cup of extra virgin olive oil, and I know that sounds like a lot, and puree until completely smooth. Taste and add more salt if needed. That’s the asparagus pesto. It can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Just bring it to room temperature or heat it in a saucepan over low heat before adding to cooked pasta. For the pasta, I followed another favorite recipe which is found in Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition. Two cups of flour are mixed with two whole eggs plus four egg yolks and a teaspoon of salt. I mix the dough in a bowl, and then knead by hand for a few minutes before wrapping the dough in plastic and letting it rest for 30 minutes. This time, I also added chopped herbs from my garden which flecked the dough with green. Speaking of color, my pasta dough was especially yellow this time thanks to gorgeous eggs from Milagro Farm. The yolks were beautifully orange. I divide the pasta dough into four pieces for rolling through the machine, and I cut the rolled sheets into thin spaghetti for this dish. I left the pasta to dry at room temperature for half an hour, and then covered it to store in the refrigerator until I was ready to cook. A big pot of salted water was brought to a boil, the fresh pasta was cooked for two minutes or so, and some pasta water was saved before draining. Since I was enjoying our local asparagus so much this year, I bought extra and quickly cooked some chopped pieces to add to the pasta as it was tossed with pesto. I added a little pasta water to thin the pesto slightly. In On Top of Spaghetti, Pecorino is suggested for serving with this dish, but I always use Parmigiano Reggiano instead. 

I have a lot of favorites when it comes to food, but this is in that special category of favorites. Getting to make this pesto with locally grown asparagus and the fresh pasta with incredible, local eggs and home-grown herbs made it better than ever. It’s a continuing pleasure to watch our local food scene grow and to discover new things each time I visit our markets. 

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Lemon and Goat's Cheese Ravioli

I remember the day Wednesday June 2, 2010 like it was yesterday. Ok, that might be stretching the truth, but I do remember the day the video of Yotam Ottolenghi making this ravioli was posted on the The Guardian site. I just looked it up, and that day was June 2, 2010. I remember watching that video and thinking that I couldn't wait to make this. It was a few months later when I acquired a copy of the book Plenty, where the recipe also appears, and then I couldn't wait to make everything else in the book too. In the video, Ottolenghi calls the ravioli "little sunshines on the plate." And, they are. The lemony pasta with zest mixed into the dough, the fresh and tangy goat cheese filling, and the pop of pink and mildly spicy flavor from the peppercorns make the ravioli bright and springy. As I always say, making fresh pasta is one of my favorite kitchen tasks, and this time was no different.

Since making pasta is one of my favorite things, of course, I have my preferred way of doing it. I never used a food processor, and I never make a well out of a pile of flour on a work surface. I put the flour in a bowl, make a hole in the center, add the eggs, and mix with a fork. That way, I don't have egg running all over my counter, but I can feel the dough and decide if it needs more flour or not. For this pasta, the dry ingredients included flour, a little turmeric for added yellow in the dough, and lemon zest. Three whole eggs were added with three tablespoons of olive oil. The dough came together nicely, and it was divided into four pieces, each piece was flattened into a disk, wrapped in plastic wrap, and chilled for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the filling was made by mixing together soft goat cheese, some sea salt, crushed red chile flakes, and black pepper. After the pasta dough had rested, one piece at a time was passed through a pasta machine several times while setting the rollers closer together after each pass. To streamline the process of filling and cutting the ravioli, I left half of each long piece of pasta dough intact. That half was brushed with egg wash and topped with dollops of goat cheese filling. The other half of each sheet was cut into circles about three inches wide. The circles were set over each dollop of filling, and then the cutter was used to separate each piece. Once cut, the edges of each were pinched to seal. You can cook the ravioli right away or cover and refrigerate them overnight. After boiling for a brief couple of minutes and draining, the ravioli were topped with crushed pink peppercorns, chopped parsley rather than tarragon in my case, more lemon zest and lemon juice, and some olive oil.

Each part of this dish is simple but just right. Pasta is plain by nature, but here it gets a boost from lemon zest. The filling was just a few ingredients added to goat cheese, and the toppings couldn't have been easier to add to each plate. But, all those simple parts resulted in something as fabulous as I knew it would be when I first saw the video.

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My Calabria: Rustic Cooking of Southern Italy

It’s no secret that Italian cooking is one of my favorite styles, and I often mention my penchant for spicy flavors. So naturally, the food of Calabria, with abundant use of both sweet and hot peppers, is something I’d like to know better. On June first, Rosetta Costantino, author of My Calabria, taught a class at Central Market Cooking School, and I was invited to attend. She presented four dishes from the book while sharing stories about growing up in Calabria and her family’s farm. They grew everything they ate and made their own cheese and sausages. Fresh, seasonal cooking was a given. When she was fourteen years old, her family moved to California and brought their food traditions, along with vegetable seeds, to their new home. They continued to grow their own vegetables and make their own ricotta and pasta as they always had. It was a delight to hear the stories of southern Italian culture translated into Bay Area California living while observing how to make fresh pasta from only flour and water. I can’t wait to dive into the book and try several other dishes after watching a few them being prepared in the class.

First, polpette di melanzane or crispy eggplant ‘meat’balls were demonstrated. Rosetta told us that most cooking in Calabria has always been done by boiling or frying because ovens aren’t all that common. When she was growing up there, wood ovens for bread were shared but most home kitchens included only stove tops. Chunks of unpeeled eggplant were cooked in boiling water, and Rosetta said she never bothers salting and draining eggplant as some do. The cooked eggplant was drained and pressed to remove as much water as possible before being finely chopped by hand. A food processor would result in too finely chopped and mashed eggplant, so chopping by hand is important. That was then mixed with breadcrumbs, grated pecorino cheese, parsley, minced garlic, salt and pepper, and an egg. One inch sized balls were formed from the mixture and rolled in more breadcrumbs. At this point, the polpette can sit in the refrigerator for a day if you wanted to make this in advance. Just before serving, the polpette should be fried in olive oil. They make fabulous, little hors d’oeuvres but could also be served in tomato sauce with or without pasta.

Making fresh egg pasta is, for me, just about the most enjoyable thing ever to create in the kitchen. Turning the handle on my pasta machine that clamps down to the counter and holding the dough as it becomes thinner and longer with each pass through the rollers makes me happy every time I do it. So, I was very curious to learn about Calabrian pasta which is made with no eggs and is rolled and shaped by hand without being passed through rollers of any machine. Rosetta explained that it’s better to let the dough be on the dry side because you can always work in tiny amounts of additional water, but once the dough gets too wet it’s nearly impossible to correct. You just keep kneading the flour and water mixture by hand until the consistency feels right, and then you let the dough rest for twenty minutes or so. For the cavatieddi, she rolled pieces of dough into thin ropes and then cut the ropes into about two inch lengths. Then, by pushing and quick pulling with two or three fingertips, the cut rope of dough was shaped into curled tubes. Interestingly, even though this was fresh pasta, it takes about fifteen minutes to cook.

A simple but delicious sauce for the pasta was made by roasting some fresh, peeled and seeded tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper, breadcrumbs that had been mixed with garlic, herbs, and some grated pecorino, and ground dried hot chiles. Rosetta grows her own chiles, dries them, and grinds them. She spoke about the juicy, dark red, homegrown tomatoes she's accustomed to using. She said even with just picked tomatoes, she’ll leave them sitting for a few days to allow them to deepen in color and become extra ripe before using them for this recipe. Once roasted, stirring the tomatoes a few times causes them to break into pieces and form a chunky sauce. The cooked pasta was added directly to the roasting pan with the tomatoes and tossed to combine. The pasta had a slightly firmer bite than egg pasta does, and the thick, roasted tomato sauce coated it perfectly.

Next, a traditional Calabrian sausage was prepared from pork butt with surface fat, wild fennel seed which has a slightly different flavor than cultivated fennel seed, ground hot pepper, and Calabrian paprika. The meat was ground, and the spices were mixed in by hand. Rosetta explained that you know the mixture is well-combined when it becomes a bright red color and your hands are also red. The preferred shape for the sausage is one long, coiled piece that is tied together with kitchen twine. The big spiral is easy to grill and turn when it’s tied. The grilled sausage was served with peperonata piccante which was a slowly sauteed mixture of sweet and hot peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes, and basil. The sweet, spicy mix of tender vegetables seemed to melt upon being tasted, and since I’d passed my piece of sausage along the person sitting next to me, I wished I had a piece of toasted, rustic bread on which to scoop the peperonata. Obviously, the sausage isn’t something I’ll be making at home, but it was a brilliant color that looked beautiful on top of the sauteed peppers.

The last dish of the evening was gelato al cioccolato con peperoncino. A rich chocolate base was made for the gelato, and once it cooled ground hot red pepper was added before it was churned in an ice cream machine. The flavor was deeply chocolaty with a slow burn that surprised you at the end of each bite.

Rosetta also leads culinary tours combined with cooking classes in Calabria, and the next one is this September. It’s a nine day tour including porcini foraging in the mountains, observing cheese making, as well as wine tastings and olive oil tastings. You can also learn more from Rosetta at her blog Calabria From Scratch.

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Spaghetti with Fennel, Chile, Lemon, and Breadcrumbs

It’s true that I have trust issues with recipes. If I’m skeptical, I may proceed as instructed, but I try to be prepared should I feel the need to change course. So, although I was intrigued by a pasta recipe that suggested a topping of breadcrumbs in place of parmesan, I had a wedge of parmigiano reggiano ready and waiting just in case. This came from Delicious magazine a few months ago, and I can’t seem to locate the recipe online so I’ll include it below. Spicy breadcrumbs were made by toasting chunks of day-old bread that had been tossed with olive oil and dried chile flakes and then processing them to crumbs once cool. They were tasty breadcrumbs, and they were certainly going to add a flavorful, crispy element to the pasta dish, but I wasn’t convinced they could completely replace the experience of a good parmigiano reggiano. I had just received some fennel from my CSA, and making fresh pasta is one of my most favorite kitchen tasks, so with some back-up parmesan to shred over each plate of pasta should it be necessary, I was ready to experiment.

I made the fresh pasta from Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition since this has become my go-to pasta recipe. I cut the fresh pasta sheets into thin spaghetti and let the strands dry for a bit while working on the breadcrumbs. Half a loaf of day-old bread, and I used some leftover Norwich sourdough which had been stored in the freezer since Christmas, was cut into chunks and tossed with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and red chile flakes. The bread chunks were toasted on a sheet pan in the oven until dry and crisp, and they were left to cool. Then, they went into a food processor with some fronds from the fennel and were pulsed until crumbly. Next, the fennel bulbs were prepped by slicing them thinly with a mandoline or Benriner. Lemon rind was supposed to have been cut into thin ribbons, but Kurt isn’t a fan of big pieces of citrus rind in savory dishes, so I zested the lemon with a microplane instead. Last, garlic was minced, and cooking could commence. While water for the pasta boiled, olive oil was heated in a large saute pan. The fennel and garlic were gently cooked over medium heat so as not to brown the fennel but just to allow it to soften. The lemon zest was added, and after a short dunk in the boiling water, the drained pasta was added with lemon juice and more olive oil. Everything was tossed about in the pan to combine and warm through, and then it was served topped with the breadcrumbs.

This dish ended up delivering two surprises. First, I had assumed the fennel would retain its anise bite since it was so gently cooked. Although it didn’t even brown in the pan, it did soften and become sweeter and was not at all like sharp, raw fennel. The bright lemon juice and zest mingled nicely with it. The other surprise was that the breadcrumbs were delicious and satisfying in a way that I didn’t expect at all. With the salt, chile flakes, and fennel fronds, the crunchy bits of bread were all the dish needed. At the end of the meal, the wedge of parmigiano reggiano had gone completely untouched.

Spaghetti with Fennel, Chile, Lemon, and Breadcrumbs
adapted from Delicious magazine

half a loaf of day-old bread such as a sourdough rustic loaf or ciabatta
2 teaspoons dried chile flakes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 organic lemons (organic is important here since the peel will be used)
3 fennel bulbs
12 ounces long strands of thin pasta (make fresh pasta if you have time)
Salt and pepper to taste

-Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut or pull the bread into chunks and place on a baking sheet. Toss the bread chunks with two tablespoons of the olive oil, the dried chile flakes, and a big pinch of salt. Spread the pieces into an even layer and bake for about 10 minutes until golden and crisp. Then, set aside and allow to cool.

- Zest one lemon and then cut both in halve to be juiced. Remove and discard the outer leaves of the fennel and reserve 1/2 cup of the fronds. Thinly slice the fennel, and using a Benriner is the quickest way to do it.

- Place the fennel fronds and cooled bread chunks in a food processor and pulse until crumbly.

- Boil a large pot of salted water for the pasta, and time the cooking of the pasta for it to be ready when the fennel and lemon zest have cooked (fresh pasta will cook must faster than dried). Meanwhile, heat three tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the sliced fennel to the saute pan, and cook while stirring for a couple of minutes. Add the minced garlic and continue to cook for three minutes until the fennel begins to soften. Add the lemon zest, reduce heat to low and cook for another five minutes or so. The goal is for the lemon and garlic flavors to meld with the fennel, but the fennel should only gently cook and not brown. When the pasta has cooked, drain it and add it to the saute pan. Add the juice from the two lemons and the remaining olive oil, and toss to combine.

- Serve the pasta and fennel topped with a generous handful of the breadcrumbs, and I promise you won’t need a single shred of parmesan.

I’m submitting this to Yeastspotting where you’ll find some seriously well-made bread.

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Roasted Corn and Tomato Lasagnettes

Making fresh pasta is, I think, the most fun of all cooking tasks. I also really enjoy rolling out cookie dough and cutting shapes. And, strangely, I find using my cherry pitter and having the pits shoot out of each little fruit to be an entertaining thing to do. There are a lot of enjoyable cooking tasks coming to think of it, but still, making pasta is the best. It’s the simplest of doughs with just eggs, salt, and flour. It miraculously forms into a pliable and easily workable substance. You divide it into whatever portions you find manageable and begin rolling it thinner and thinner. It works. You keep rolling, it keeps becoming thinner and longer. Then, you cut it however you want, and cutting it is so simple. Kurt thought I might have been losing my sanity as I repeatedly asked him if he wanted to roll some of the pasta through the machine. I didn’t want to deprive him of the fun, but he didn’t seem to get it. He kept answering 'I’m good.' I’ve tried a few different pasta dough recipes over the years, and this was the second time I’ve made the fresh pasta recipe from Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition. It’s a rich dough that forms well and is easily worked. The lasagnettes recipe is also found in that book.

The dough was rolled into long lasagna sheets which were cut down to about twelve-inch pieces for cooking. The cut sheets were boiled for about three minutes, transferred to ice water to stop the cooking, and then they were cut into three-inch rounds. I stored the scraps of pasta in a bag in the freezer for some future use in which the shape won’t matter. The cut pasta rounds were covered with a damp towel and refrigerated until the other parts of the dish were ready.

This is going to sound like a lot of work, but each step is easy and a lot of things can be prepared in advance if you prefer. Corn was cut from the cob, two cups of raw kernels were set aside, and the rest was roasted until browned in spots. Then, tomatoes were roasted with thyme and olive oil, and I cheated a little here. In the book, large tomatoes are suggested, and they are to be cut into quarters and seeded so that you are left with petal shapes. I used halved cherry tomatoes instead and didn’t seed them. Both of the roasted items could be prepped a day or two ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. Returning to the raw corn kernels, they were cooked with butter and then milk was added. Once the kernels were tender, the corn and milk mixture was pureed in a blender and then strained. A bechamel was made by starting with a roux which was whisked into the strained corn puree. One more element was needed, and that was toasted panko crumbs which were tossed with freshly grated parmigiano. Then, assembly began. Pasta rounds were set on a baking sheet, each was topped with some bechamel, then some roasted corn and roasted tomatoes, then another pasta round, more bechamel, more roasted corn, some of the bread crumb mixture, and then another layer was added. A dribble of water was added to the baking sheet, the stacked lasagnettes were covered with oiled parchment, and the sheet pan was placed in the oven for fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, a simple butter sauce was made by whisking a little butter at a time into warm water in a saucepan over low heat.

To serve, the butter sauce was placed on the plate, a lasagnette was set into the puddle of sauce, and it was garnished with fresh basil. It was all a little fussy, and there were several steps to this preparation, but you can actually build the mini, stacked lasagnas and keep them refrigerated for a full day before heating and serving which makes this a good idea for a dinner party. The stacked towers hold their shape well as the bechamel is thick enough not to ooze out and cause the upper levels to slide. It’s also a ridiculously delicious bechamel with the fresh corn puree. That being said, now that I’ve learned the process for making stable, little, lasagna towers, I’m thinking of other seasonal ingredients to use later in the year. Roasted butternut squash rounds with a parmigiano bechamel comes to mind. Whatever filling you choose, you should try these, and definitely enjoy the opportunity to make your own fresh pasta.

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Spaghetti with Spicy Clam Sauce

I have a new book to mention today, and I’ll probably be referencing it frequently. I had seen Stir: Mixing it Up in the Italian Tradition included on several best of 2009 lists, and I snapped it up as an impulse buy. I’m glad I did. The chef/author Barbara Lynch operates multiple eateries, a catering company, and a full service butcher shop in Boston which gives me more reasons to visit that city again one of these days. As the title implies, the dishes in the book are Italian-inspired, but here and there, you will find some French influence as well. For instance, it won’t be long before I try her brioche pizza, brioche!, with fried pistachios and honey or the one with black olive paste and fresh ricotta. She includes a recipe for fresh ricotta as well. Several of the salads are tempting me right now like the harvest salad with a variety of root vegetables and the fennel, cucumber, and green bean salad with roasted potatoes and creamy yogurt, but I had to try the bibb lettuce with creamy parmesan dressing and cheese crisps first. There are also chapters devoted to soups, seafood, fowl, meats, side dishes, and sweet treats, but the chapter I zeroed in on immediately was pasta. It won’t be long before I post about the orecchiette with cauliflower or the roasted corn and tomato lasagnettes, but for today, we have the spaghetti with spicy clam sauce.

For several of the pasta dishes in this book, Lynch recommends freshly made pasta, and this was one of them. Her fresh pasta dough recipe is a rich one with two whole eggs and four egg yolks, but the dough was a thing of beauty that was easily worked. My hand-cranked pasta machine only has cutters for fettuccine or spaghetti widths, so although linguine width was suggested here, I went with spaghetti. The sauce was started by steaming littleneck clams in white wine, and then removing them from the pot to let them cool a bit. The clams were removed from the shell, they were chopped, and the steaming liquid was strained. I kept a few clams in their shells as garnish. Olive oil was heated in a skillet, and the chopped clams and some minced garlic were added and cooked for a few minutes. Red pepper flakes were added to taste, and for me that meant a lot of red pepper flakes. The fresh pasta was boiled, drained, and transferred to the skillet with the clam sauce. For serving, the tossed pasta with sauce was drizzled with olive oil and a little lemon juice, and caution was thrown to the wind as grated parmigiano reggiano was suggested as a topping. Kurt, as usual, allowed no cheese near his shellfish, but I gladly sprinkled it over my plate.

We started our meal with the bibb lettuce salad with creamy parmesan dressing, and loved the thick, rich dressing over crisp, fresh leaves. The parmesan frico crisps brought nice texture and extra flavor to the salad too. Then, we moved on to the pasta, and fresh pasta is always kind of special and noticeably tasty, so of course it was delicious. However, remember those four egg yolks in addition to the two whole eggs in the pasta dough? They made this is a very enjoyable pasta, and the clams were fresh and feisty with the crushed red pepper. Whether you opt for the grated parmigiano topping or not, you’ll have a very good meal with this. Now, I have to flip through the book again and decide what I’ll be making next.

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Red and Yellow Pepper Sauce with Fettuccine

I thought it would be fun to whip up some fresh pasta for dinner the other night, and I’ve made fresh pasta plenty of times. On one occasion, I even made beet pasta which was as delicious as it was pretty. Then, I realized I had never made fresh pasta into ribbons of any kind. Those rollers on my pasta machine that cut a sheet into long strands had never been used. The injustice. They’d been ignored for years. As I almost always do when making fresh pasta, I grabbed Marcella’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. Making the pasta dough gets easier every time I do it. Mix eggs into flour, knead, divide, flatten, and then make whatever shape you want. For a sauce for this first-ever ribbon-cut pasta of mine, I chose Marcella’s roasted red and yellow pepper sauce with garlic and basil. It includes an interesting technique of peeling the raw peppers before cooking them rather than roasting them and then removing the charred skin. The reason for this was so that the peppers would still be firm when added to the saute pan.

I should back up just a bit and explain what I learned about fresh pasta this time around. To make ribbons, you first have to roll the dough into sheets. Then, it’s important to let the sheets sit and dry for a few minutes before rolling them through the cutter. The sheets should be just starting to dry but not yet brittle. I could blame it on the humidity, but I probably just rushed it with my first couple of sheets. The fettuccine strands came out a little sticky and were difficult to place on a towel for further drying. Since the last sheet had sat a little longer, it went through the cutter much better and was easier to handle. The cut fettuccine was left to dry for a couple of hours before dinner. I started the sauce before boiling the pasta because everyone knows the sauce can wait but nothing and no one should wait for the pasta. Red and yellow bell peppers were peeled and then cut into large chunks. Olive oil was warmed in a large saute pan, and peeled garlic cloves were added. Marcella suggests only flavoring the oil with the garlic and removing it before adding the peppers. My love of garlic made discarding it impossible so I left it right there in the pan. The chopped peppers were added, and it all cooked together for 15 minutes or so. The peppers should become tender but not mushy. Salt and pepper were added. Meanwhile a large pot of salted water was brought to a boil, and during the last few minutes of cooking the peppers, the pasta was boiled. The fettuccine was drained and added directly to the saute pan along with torn basil leaves, butter, and shredded parmigiano.

Even though I defied Marcella by leaving in the garlic, I thought its nuttiness was delicious with the sweet and slightly caramelized bell peppers. The freshly made fettuccine which I left in nice, long lengths was a delight with this chunky, fresh sauce. A penne or rigatoni shape would have been very good with this sauce too, and that just made me realize I haven’t made a homemade, tube-shaped pasta yet.

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Winter's End Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola, Sage, and Hazelnuts

On the last day of winter, it seemed like a good time to finish off the pumpkin ravioli that I had made weeks ago and left in the freezer. Back when winter started, I roasted a big, blue pumpkin that had the brightest orange flesh, puréed it, and put it to a couple of different uses. One of those uses was pumpkin-cinnamon rolls which are a big favorite of Kurt’s and mine. Obviously, the pumpkin was also used for ravioli, and some of it remains in a tub in the freezer. The filling for the pumpkin ravioli included puréed pumpkin, a scant amount of toasted bread crumbs, an egg, shredded parmigiana reggiano, and a few scrapes of nutmeg on the microplane. I made a standard pasta dough with flour and eggs, and mixed it in a food processor rather than by hand. (My pasta-making education came from Marcella Hazan via her excellent book Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, but I took the liberty of using the food processor to speed things up a bit.) I rolled out the pasta into sheets with a hand-cranked Imperia machine, and plopped the filling by the teaspoonful along the length of the sheets. Then, folded the sheets in half lengthwise over the filling and cut the ravioli with a fluted pastry wheel. The fresh pasta was boiled briefly and topped with browned butter, fried sage leaves, and a few curls of shaved parmigiana reggiano and was delectable. Kurt and I agreed that is our preferred way to prepare pumpkin ravioli, but it is very rich. It makes a great first course or primo. The remaining ravioli went into the freezer, and we enjoyed the browned butter and sage topping again a few weeks later. Last night, to use the rest of the ravioli before Spring arrived and made pumpkin seem out of place for dinner, I tried serving them with a gorgonzola sauce. I made a béchamel with finely chopped sage and melted gorgonzola and parmigiana reggiano into it. The ravioli were topped with the sauce and sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts and a little more parmigiana. This version of the ravioli was also delicious, and freezing the ravioli works fine, but nothing can beat the taste and texture of fresh pasta on the day it's made.

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