Mi mancate tutti voi! I miss you all! And I’m sorry for being remiss in these blog posts. How is it that “being home all the time” hasn’t given me any free time?! Oh work … yuck! I promise I will try to make it up to you – vi promesso!
It’s hard for me to even say “time to make some pasta” without hearing Linda Arnold singing it in my head … “Pasta, pasta time to make some pasta. If you eat it everyday it makes your hair grow fast-a.”
Allora, making your own pasta might be a good thing to do, or try, if you haven’t yet, while we are still at home with time on our hands. There is really nothing like homemade pasta – and I’m here to tell you, it’s easier than you think! It took me a few years of trial and error to come up with this recipe, but I stand by it’s “reliable workability” status. A smooth, pliable, pasta – delicate if you roll it really thin; but able to stand up to a “bite” and a hearty sauce if rolled a little thicker, either with the pasta machine, or by hand.
And the secret? Well a family recipe of course. In 2008 when Jay and I visited my grandmother’s hometown near Rapallo, and spent a day with my father’s zia Elisa, we were, of course, awed by the ravioli she and her daughter, Rina, made for us as a primo. We didn’t know this would be followed by meat and potatoes! The traditional ricetta of this area of Liguria uses one kilo of wild greens – nettles, borage, chard, dandelion, as well as “sciscerbue”, a “weed” that grows near their old home on the hill, and that my cousin could not propagate in her yard a few kilometers away no matter how many times she tried. I was enthralled in the telling and trying to take notes in my head (it amazes me that this was all in Italian and at a rapid speaking pace). When zia Elisa said “a little white wine IN the pasta,” I knew I had un segreto!
I promise to share the ravioli filling recipe (in English) next time with another story. For now, you could put some pesto on your noodles (see my previous post on Pesto). Or, how about an Amatriciana.
Pasta (with reliable workability)
500 grams tipo “00” flour
4 large eggs + 1-2 egg yolks (whisked together)
1 Tbls. olive oil
¼ – 1/3 cup white wine
Weigh out the flour. (You can mix the dough initially in the bowl if you like, or pour it onto your work space – whatever makes you most comfortable). Make a wide well in the flour with your fingers. Add the olive oil to the whisked eggs and blend. Pour carefully into the well of flour and begin working with your fingers to incorporate the flour – slowly, piano piano. Add the white wine and work in the flour until the liquid is incorporated to the point that you can pull the dough together roughly.
Using a pastry scraper, “chop” the flour and egg mixture a bit to incorporate until fairly uniform. Depending on the humidity of the day, you may need to add a little more wine. Then gather the dough into a ball and knead by hand, as you would pastry, for 10 minutes, sprinkling more flour on the table to prevent sticking as needed. Cover the dough with a towel or put under a bowl, and let rest at least 15 minutes.
Cut into quarters and working with one quarter at a time, run through the pasta machine. Run through the #1 setting 4-6 times, folding the pasta in thirds and turning a quarter turn every other time until smooth. Then increase your settings and run the pasta through (just once at each setting) until you get through setting #4. Cut the length of pasta in half before going onto #5 because your dough piece will get very long.
For noodles – stop at #5 (recommend cutting this length in half so your noodles won’t be too long). Recommend letting the pasta sheets dry for 5 minutes before running through the noodle cutter, or cutting by hand. This will keep the finished noodles from sticking together as the pasta will be a little dryer. Toss cut noodles with flour and keep them dry on a cookie sheet. Roll into nests, or just separate, lightly floured on the sheets or towels until you cook. You can also freeze them at this point for later use.
For ravioli – go all the way through #6 on the machine.
Cook pasta in abundant water, salted as “for soup”
(your pasta) all’Amatriciana
1 ½ pounds noodles
2 TBLS olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced or garlic
5 oz. pancetta, diced
½ cup dry white wine
1 pound ripe or canned tomatoes, diced
salt and pepper – use pepperoncini (red pepper flakes)
¾ cup grated pecorino cheese
Heat the oil and sauté the onion over a very low heat until soft. Add the pancetta and fry slowly for a few minutes. Moisten with white wine and continue cooking until it evaporates a little. Add diced tomatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and cook over a brisk heat for not more than 15 minutes.
Bring a large pan of salted water to a fast boil. Lower the spaghetti into the water, stir well and cook until just tender. Drain and dress the spaghetti immediately with the hot cauce, and sprinkle with the grated cheese.
A few travel notes:
Genoa – although I have only spent a few days there (so far), here’s what I have to recommend:
Cristoforo Colombo Airport – small, easy to navigate, gets my vote for flying in or out of the area.
Caruggi – the labyrinth of narrow streets of the old town – get lost in them
the Strade Nuove in the town center – lined with palazzi. Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco, across the street from each other, are now museums.
The Aquarium and the harbor – imagine what it would have been like for your grandparents to board a steamer ship to emigrate to America … they had more guts than me!
Eataly – rows and rows of every product from every region of Italy – need I say more?
Ciao for now! Carolina
Allora, Andiamo! 