Pasta Modern (26 page)

WORLD’S EASIEST PASTA

{
Frascarelli
}

SERVES
4
|
REGION:
le Marche and throughout central and southern Italy, with variations found also in the northern Trentino–Alto Adige region

You don’t need any special equipment to make this pasta—just your own nimble fingers. Spread flour onto a work surface, sprinkle it with a few drops of water, and stir and pinch it to form tiny nuggets.

The name of this pasta,
frascarelli
, comes from the Italian for “twigs”—little bundles of dried oregano or rosemary stems traditionally used to sprinkle the drops of water into the flour. The cooked frascarelli were eaten right off the wooden board used to make the pasta, and they’re still classically served that way in Italy.

This was a “poor” dish, often served with just a drizzle of olive oil and bit of grated cheese. That said, these tender, rustic nuggets are absolutely fabulous topped with savory sausage and pecorino cheese.

4 cups (680 g) semolina flour

2 large eggs

1 rosemary branch (optional)

Salt

Olive oil

3 sweet sausages

Pecorino cheese

Spread the flour onto a large wooden board. In a small bowl, beat the eggs with ½ cup (120 ml) water. Drip the egg mixture onto the flour a little at a time, using a fork or the rosemary branch, and stir with your fingertips to form little nuggets. As they form, pick the resulting nuggets out of the flour and into a mesh sifter. Shake off any excess flour and transfer the nuggets onto a cotton dishcloth. Repeat until the egg mixture is used up, adding more flour if needed. Let the nuggets air dry, uncovered, for 2 hours.

Bring 1 quart (960 ml) lightly salted water to a boil and add the pasta nuggets. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are tender.

Meanwhile, in a small sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Remove the meat from the sausage casings, add it to the pan, and cook until it is lightly browned, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks.

Once the pasta is tender, spread it out onto a serving platter or wooden board, and top with the sausage and a generous sprinkling of shaved or grated cheese and a drizzle of oil.

Holidays

A NATALE CON I TUOI E A PASQUA CON CHI VUOI.

SPEND CHRISTMAS WITH YOUR FAMILY, BUT EASTER WITH WHOMEVER YOU WANT.
A popular expression throughout Italy
.

Every region in Italy has special foods associated with the country’s many different holidays. In this chapter, you’ll discover delicious Christmastime specialties, including
Christmas Eve Almond-Milk Pasta
, decadent Carnevale delights, as well as the special
Sicilian Baked Easter Pasta
, a lovely make-ahead picnic dish traditionally eaten on
Pasquetta
, the day after Easter. You can even celebrate International Women’s Day, on March 8th, with
BFF Pasta
.

FRUIT & NUT CHRISTMAS EVE LASAGNE

{
Lasagne da fornel
}

SERVES
6
|
REGION:
Veneto and Friuli–Venezia Giulia

Seasoned with apples, dried fruit, poppy seeds, and nuts, this is a savory pasta version of apple strudel. This specialty from the Dolomite area of northern Italy is traditionally served as a first course on Christmas Eve.

In Italy, lasagne, the plural of lasagna, is a term that refers to pasta cut into wide strips, and the resulting dish is more free-form than what we in the States usually imagine when we think of cheesy, red-sauce lasagne.

8 to 10 dried white Calimyrna figs, thinly sliced

½ cup (120 ml) dry white wine

2 Red Delicious apples, grated

1 cup (145 g) golden raisins and/or dried cherries

1 cup (115 g) finely ground toasted walnuts

12 tablespoons butter (170 g), melted

1 pound (455 g) fresh egg-pasta lasagne sheets, cut into strips 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide, or any fresh wide-cut egg noodle

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Generously butter a 9-inch (23-cm) ovenproof serving dish or baking pan.

In a small saucepan, combine the figs and wine and bring them to a boil over high heat. Boil for a minute or two, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until all the wine is absorbed, about 2 minutes. In a bowl, combine the apples, figs, raisins, walnuts, and half of the butter.

Boil the lasagne strips in salted water until they are al dente. Drain and toss with the remaining butter and the poppy seeds. In the prepared dish or pan, put down a single layer of lasagne strips haphazardly. Spread them with one third of the fruit mixture. Repeat for two more layers of noodles and fruit mixture. Top with a final layer of noodles. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the lasagne is hot throughout. Serve.

{
Lasagnette all’ajada
}

SERVES
4
|
REGION:
Lombardy, Piedmont, and Liguria

Wide noodles cooked in almond milk are then tossed in a dense walnut-garlic pesto and topped with toasted breadcrumbs. This is totally vegan, homey and comforting.

Delicious any time of year, this dish is traditionally served on Christmas Eve.
Lasagnette all’ajada
gets its name from how the pasta are cut,
ajada
style—in wide strips, meant to be evocative of a baby’s swaddling.

2 slices white bread, crusts removed

1 quart (960 ml) almond milk

Salt

1 pound (455 g)
lasagnette
or other wide noodles

½ cup (55 g) chopped toasted walnuts

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil

½ cup (56 g) homemade coarsely ground breadcrumbs, toasted

Soak the bread in a few tablespoons of the almond milk until very soft.

Bring the rest of the milk and a little salt to a boil and cook the noodles in it until they are al dente. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a mortar and pestle or small food processor, finely grind the walnuts and garlic. Squeeze some of the excess liquid from the bread and grind the bread into the mixture. With the processor still running, slowly drizzle in a few tablespoons of oil, until the mixture is dense and creamy.

Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in a pan and add the breadcrumbs; re-toast until they are crisp. (Be sure to use coarse, not finely ground, breadcrumbs.)

Toss the pasta with the pesto until well combined and serve it topped with the breadcrumbs.

EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK CHRISTMAS TORTELLI

{
Tortelli cremaschi
}

SERVES
6
to
8
|
REGION:
Lombardy, especially Cremona

“My mother and grandmother made these
tortelli
every year, with us children each assigned a different task,” recalls Matilda, the gracious home cook from Lombardy who taught me this recipe. “I still remember our shock at seeing so many disparate ingredients end up in the filling. But the biggest surprise came at the end, when our mother would add a crushed mint candy into the filling! She’d stress, whispering, that it was our secret ingredient and not to tell anyone.”

Well, as it turns out, virtually every family in Lombardy whom I interviewed added a mint candy as their “secret” ingredient!

FOR THE FILLING:

7 tablespoons (100 g) butter

½ cup (56 g) homemade finely ground breadcrumbs, toasted

1 ⅔ cups (about 200 g) crushed amaretti cookies

Grated
grana padano
or Parmesan cheese

1 small pear, peeled and diced

½ cup (85 g) raisins

½ cup (120 ml)
mostarda
(candied fruit compote in spicy mustard syrup; see
Sources
), finely minced

1
mostaccino
cookie or a few crisp ginger snap cookies, crushed

Zest of 1 lemon

1 hard mint candy, crushed

Freshly grated nutmeg

1 large egg

½ cup (120 ml) sweet Marsala wine

Make the filling:
In a small sauté pan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat and re-toast the breadcrumbs until they are crunchy.

In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, amaretti crumbs, 1 cup (115 g) cheese, the pear, raisins, mostarda, mostaccino, zest, mint candy, and nutmeg to taste. Add the egg and wine and mix until well combined. If the mixture is too dry, add a few more tablespoons of wine or water. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.