Storie di pesto – Penne con pesto alle cime di rapa e gamberi

Lately, I have been too busy and hundred things to take care of, which in my world means no sleep and no time for anything including cooking and of course, deep under eye circles. Those cernes how we call them in French make me look like a zombie, it’s amazing how lack of sleep can make you look like ten years older. Even make up doesn’t seem to work. Quelle horreur!!

When I have no time to cook, pasta is always my favorite number one solution, and the one that comes into my mind. It’s fast, nutritious and delicious.  It certainly will not make my cernes go away, but at least, my other part of the body will feel rested and happy.

Pesto is a very versatile and can be made with many vegetables. Of course, the original pesto is from Liguria region and made with pine nuts, basil parmesan, olive oil and garlic. When I think of pesto, I think of Genoa, therefore of Cristoforo Colombo, our dear explorer who somehow “discovered” America. He might have not “discovered” anything but his statue is erected at Coit Tower in San Francisco. The first time my parents came visit, I had to take my dad see Cristoforo statue and the jail cell of Al Capone in Alcatraz and I could see my dad’s excitement, 12 years later he still talks about this.

This pesto has everything Pesto alla Genovese has except for cheese, then broccoli rabe is the main ingredient. I don’t like to mix cheese and shrimps in general in pasta dishes so I omitted the cheese because parmesan being quite strong and shrimps being quite strong too, the mixture of both can be too overwhelming. The broccoli rabe is not really cooked just boiled for 30 seconds so you get a beautiful greenish color and fragrant fresh flavor.

Ingredients for 4

• 11.28 oz (or 320 g) penne
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe
• 1 large garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 bunch basil leaves
• 6 tbs olive oil
• 3 tbs sliced almond
• about 10 shrimps, deveined
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Boil 2 cups of water, when the water boil, add broccoli rabe and let cook for about 30 seconds, remove from stove and drain.

In a mixer proceed like you would for regular pesto, combining all ingredients together, and blend until a semi-thin consistency, not like a smooth paste.

Remove shells and devein shrimps. Cut them in 3 small pieces. Saute in olive oil until cooked.

Cook pasta al dente, drain and place in a mixing pasta bowl. Add pesto and shrimps, mix well and serve.

Pasta almond pesto, broccoli rabe, Pasta, penne, pesto, rapini, shrimps

Che sorpresa! – Farfalline “Hautes Couture” con gamberi, capesante e crema ai porri

I finally received my mom’s package, it only took six days which is really not much. I was expecting it and was wondering if they would open it at the customs but it arrived intact.

I was not sure of what she put in there! lots of my favorite goodies. She even included my dry soup sticks, the Maggie Sveltesse (my sinful soup sticks but with 50 calories per soup, let’s not be too tough on them), Lavazza Espresso to get me even more wired than I actually am, chocolates, chocolates and more chocolates, cosmetics to make sure life in the US does not give me wrinkles…and of course some foie gras, thing that I don’t eat, she doesn’t really care, she just will send foie gras every year, even though I asked her to NOT include it, she included it any way. I can always serve it when my friends come over for dinner, since I believe it’s no longer allowed in California…I am not going to develop further the fois gras production topic and people are free to eat whatever they want. I just have a tough time with cruelty towards animals for whatever purpose it is. So yes, fois gras is a delicacy and part of French gastronomy, I think it’s just so cruel to stuff those poor geese, make them sick and eat their liver. Sorry to be a little crude, but basically, it comes down to that.

I decided to slow down on carbs, but I got those Farfalline Haute Couture, so I had no other choice than cook them. Yes, you can change your mind sometimes. They’re too pretty…I had some shrimps and a bunch of beautiful leeks which were perfect for those little butterflies. In Italian, they’re called “farfalle” and in French “papillon” which mean “butterflies” not “bow tie”, which would be way too long “noeud papillon” (= butterfly nod). Le papillon ne s’est pas envolé, il a juste atterri dans mon assiette!

I adore this pasta dish, the leek cream with seafood is absolutely fantastic. It’s creamy but yet not the kind of “Creamy” you get when you add cream to a dish, but very flavorful and velvety creamy without the heaviness of a cream.

Ingredients for 2

• 5.30 oz (or 150 g) farfalline or other squid ink pasta
• 2 leeks
• 1/3 cup broth
• 6 large scallops cut in 4 or 24 small scallops
• 8 large shrimps, cut in 3
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• cayenne pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut leeks in small slices crosswise, wash well. In a pan, add 1 tsp olive oil, add 1 garlic clove, stir for one minute or so, then add leeks, cook for a few minutes, then add broth, salt and pepper. Cover and let it cook until the leeks are tender. Leave about 1 tbs of leeks aside to add at the end. Mix the remaining leeks in a blender to obtain a creamy consistency. If the leeks are too think, add extra broth.

In a pan, heat 1 tsp olive oil, then add diced seafood, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes, then add 1 garlic clove. At that point, you’ll have some liquid in the pan. Add the liquid to the leeks. Continue sauteing the seafood until cooked, but not over cook it, or the scallops will turn rubbery.

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, place in a mixing bowl, add half of the leek sauce, mix well.

Serve in a plate, spoon extra leek sauce around the pasta, top it with seafood and extra leeks. Sprinkle with a little extra olive oil and serve hot.

Heat up leeks to keep it warm.

Fish/Seafood, Pasta bow ties, farfalle, leeks, Pasta, scallops, shrimps, squid ink pasta

Abbiamo schiacciato il cavolfiore – Fettuccine integrali con cavolfiore, zafferano e pecorino

Something funny happened to me today that has nothing to do with food. I am looking to buy a new car, but not really new more like second hand since I gave my Golf away. So the guy I went to meet who was selling his car, was not the one I thought I was supposed to meet. The car I thought I was going to see was a white Nissan with 9000 miles and the one I ended up meeting had a black Toyota with 28,000 miles. Basically I mixed up sellers. I have been acting strange lately, maybe I need some rest.

Besides the confusion, I have had cravings for pasta, of all kinds and shapes. I have had a strange love story with pasta, somehow during my teenager years, I just refused to eat it, since my mom was making pasta al sugo at least once a week, with leftovers that lasted for a week. There were three of us, since I am an only child, and like a good Italian mamma, my mom made food for about an army, and my dad was complaining of eating leftovers. So after I rebelled against pasta like most teenagers do, they always rebel about something, I just went by phases, either I eat pasta seven days a week or just don’t eat any for months.

Looks like, I am back with my daily consumption of carbs. I remember my mom making a soup with cauliflower and tomatoes that was delicious. This dish is inspired by a Sicilian pasta dish that I twisted around a little, and I loved it. If you have a cauliflower that has been sitting in your refrigerator and not sure what to do with it, you might want to try this pasta. You’ll be surprised to see how delicious the cauliflower sauce tastes, very light, not too strong, a real delight. In my case, I had a green cauliflower, that resulted in a beautiful greenish fettuccine dish.

Ingredients for 3

• 1/2 lb (or 250 g) wholewheat fettucine
• 1 large green cauliflower
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 saffron dose
• 1 bouillon cube dissolved in water
• 4 tbs pecorino, grated
• 4 tbs heavy cream
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut cauliflower florets and cook them in salted boiling water. Cook until still a little crunchy. Drain cauliflower and keep the cooking water to cook pasta.

With a potato masher or a fork, crush the floret roughly.

In a cup, mix about 1/3 cup or more hot cauliflower water with saffron threads and let it infuse for about 10 minutes. Dissolve a bouillon cube in it. (You might have to add some additional water if the sauce is too thick).

In a pan, heat olive oil and brown shallots. Add cauliflower and mix well. Add bouillon mixture, and stir well and cook for a few minutes at high heat until some of the saffron and bouillon get absorbed by cauliflower and infused in the sauce. If the sauce is too thick add extra water. Adjust with salt and pepper. Add cream. At this point, you need to have a little creamy sauce (not too liquid) with cauliflower but not too much.

Cook fettuccine in the cauliflower water until al dente. Drain and add to the cauliflower. Mix well, let the fettuccine absorbe the sauce, add pecorino and serve hot.

Pasta cauliflower, Pasta, pecorino, saffron, wholewheat

I ravioli nudi – Malfatti gratinati con salsina di pomodoro

After this Thanksgiving celebration, it’s good to go back to a healthier kind of cuisine. The turkey ended up so dry, due to a guest arriving over an hour late, and my new oven with circular heat that cooks three times faster than traditional oven. I think I am so done with the turkey anyway. Arriving 20 minutes late to a sit down dinner when food is served is fine, but one hour is somehow rude. Don’t you think? everyone has its “acceptable” time and for me 20 minutes is the limit. An unforeseen circumstance might also happen but that’s not something that happens on a regular basis.

Malfatti or Gnudi is a traditional Tuscan dish…I make them often but never think of posting them. It’s basically ravioli without dough called “gnudi” in Tuscan meaning “naked” or also “malfatti” meaning “not well made”, they’re either served with a gorgonzola sauce, a béchamel or tomato sauce and baked in the oven. I like it with a light and spicy tomato sauce, then you can just play around with them and see what you prefer. There is no meat just vegetables and cheese, so it’s quite a light dish.

I like traditional and rustic dishes like this one, because they’re peasant food and you cannot find them in the stores nor in restaurants, so it’s basically recipes you find only at people’s houses. Tuscan and Marchigiana cuisine are quite similar with slight variations since they’re two regions in Central Italy. Growing up on Marchigiana cuisine, Tuscan cuisine is not completely foreign to me. Even after living half of her life in France, my mom still cooks traditional Marchigiana cuisine and barely makes French food. She would make quiches or choucroute once in her while but that’s it. I guess no matter where you move, and for how long, you are still attached to what you are used to eating growing up.

I did not put the flour quantity, you need to add enough so that the spinach/ricotta mixture is no longer soft but still a little sticky. If you put too much flour, the ravioli will get heavy and chewy. You just have to play with the flour. It took me a few times before making them just right.

Ingredients about 20 ravioli

For the ravioli

• 1/2 lb ricotta
• about 1/2 lb fresh spinach
• 6 tbs parmigiano reggiano, grated (+ 2 for sprinkling on top)
• 2 eggs
• flour
• salt and pepper

For tomato sauce

• 4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seedless, crushed
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 basil leaves
• chili powder
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the sauce

Heat olive oil in a pot, add garlic, stir to get the flavor out, add basil, tomatoes, chili pepper, salt and pepper, and cook until the tomato is cooked for about 15 minutes.

For the ravioli

Cook spinach in a large pot of boiling and salted water for about 5-10 minutes, depending if you use baby spinach or regular ones. Drain, let them cool and remove excess water by squeezing with your hands. Chop them.

In a large mixing bowl, mix spinach, ricotta, parmesan, eggs, flour salt and pepper. At this point, you need to play with the flour, try getting a soft mixture not too sticky, but not too thick. It still needs to stick to your fingers a little bit.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Start making the gnudi. Add about 1 cup of flour to a plate, and start forming small balls with spinach/ricotta mixture the size of a big walnut. Coat them well with flour.

When water is boiling carefully, add gnudi to the water, it’s better to cook about 10 at one time, so they have enough water and space too cook. When gnudi come out at the surface, remove them, and drain. Proceed the same way for the second batch.

Place in a oven tray and pour some sauce on top, sprinkle with parmigiano and olive oil, then cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 20 minutes or until the top turns golden brown. Serve hot.

Pasta basil, chili, gnudi, malfatti, Pasta, ravioli no dough, ricotta, spinach, tomato sauce

Il nero è nero – Tagliatelle con nero di seppia e salsa piccante di calamaretti

Here is my favorite pasta, that I had been thinking to make for months. I had two tiny squid ink bags in my refrigerator and was obsessing about them. Today, I finally decided to go ahead with my project. I can no longer use my pasta machine, since the kitchen counters have no extra border to hold it so I just have to use my mattarello (rolling pin) that is huge. Anytime I look at it, it looks like a huge monster rolling pin, my hands are a little small to manipulate it, but it works, I’ll just develop Rambo’s forearms soon. Anyway, let’s go back to the way traditional pasta was still made with a rolling pin, my grandma never used a machine, and my mom’s once in a while, when she was in a hurry.

Squid Ink is used frequently in the Veneto region’s cooking (Venice). They use it to make squid ink risotto and other local specialties. Of course it can be used in pasta as well, and gives a the dough a very subtle flavor without overpowering the dish, which goes to perfection with seafood sauces.

When you roll the pasta with a rolling pin, you need a large wooden board (spianatoia in Italian) to flatten out your sheet. I have a large board but will have one made at Ikea with larger dimensions for larger sheets. You also need a pasta rolling pin, it’s a little different from the regular ones, it is not tapered and that has the same size all the way, from one extremity to the other, so that your sheet will have the same thinness all around.

I like pasta rolled by hand much better than when done with the machine, the texture is more grainy therefore absorbs the sauce much better and I like the irregularity of the tagliatelle when cut by hand.

Ingredients for 4

For the dough

• 2 eggs
• 1 yolk
• 1 small bag squid ink
• 1 1/3 cup white flour or semolina flour

For the calamaretti sauce

• 1 lb calamari, cleaned and cut in 2 crosswise (except the tentacles)
• 2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seedless and diced
• 2 shallots, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbs basil, chopped
• 1 tbs parsley, chopped
• chili flakes
• 2 tbs olive oil

Preparation

For the pasta

On your spianatoia, or wooden board, place flour and make a fountain, break eggs. Dissolve squid ink in a small glass with 2 tbs water. Add squid ink to the flour/egg mixture and mix gradually all ingredients with a fork. Then when all ingredients have been incorporated, use your hands to knead the dough. If the dough is too hard, add a little water. Knead the dough for about 15-20 minutes, to get a smooth round ball. The dough should not be sticky and after kneading it for 20 min should be very smooth. You can let the ball rest in a plastic wrap for about 30 minutes, but I didn’t, if the dough is hard enough, it’s not necessary.

Then start rolling the dough, trying to spread it out evenly making a regular round sheet. The sheet should not be thicker than 1 mm. Add flour if the dough sticks to the table, but it should not stick. If it does, it means you added way too much water to the flour.

Let the sheet rest for about 10 minutes. Fold one side up th its half, then proceed the same with the opposite side.

Using a well sharped knife, cut regular strips and set the tagliatelle aside.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water for about 2 minutes, or until they come out at the surface. Pour calamari sauce on top, sprinkle with additional basil and parsley and serve.

For the calamaretti sauce

In a pan, heat olive oil. Brown shallots and add garlic, then add parsley and basil, stir to get the flavors out. Add tomatoes and chili flakes, let the tomatoes cook for about 10 minutes until some water has evaporated. Adjust with salt and pepper.

Add calamari and let them cook for about 10 minutes, do not overcook or they’ll get rubbery. Let sauce redue and water evaporate.

Fish/Seafood, Pasta calamari, nero di seppia, Pasta, squid ink pasta, tagliatelle

Poco tempo e tanta fame – Malloredus con sugo ai funghi di bosco

When you have no time for cooking, this would be a dish to consider…of course if you have some wild mushrooms handy, even better. I had those beautiful yellow chanterelles and oyster mushrooms in my refrigerator with so many ideas on what to make with them, the only problem was the time. Today I didn’t have any for cooking elaborated dish, so I decided to make pasta, but not regular pasta, Malloredus. Malloredus are also called Sardinian gnocchi and are the most traditional pasta in Sardinia; its origin is traced back to Antiquity. You can make them by hand, and again if you have no time like me today, you can always have some handy at home (I always keep a bag in case I have some cravings for them)… and if you have an Italian grocery store close by, I’m sure you’ll find Malloredus. They are cute, and look like little worms or shells (yes a little worm can be cute). The particularity of Malloredus is that the remain crunchy, much more al dente that other pasta (and for me the more al dente, the better).

I usually use pancetta in the ragù, if you want to keep vegetarian, just don’t add it. Also, you need to use either canned Italian plum tomatoes, San Marziano fresh tomatoes, or really sweet organic plum and ripe tomatoes, or even heirloom otherwise your ragù might be too acid.

Fall is here, and fall is all about wild mushrooms. In my family, it is a BIG deal. Every year at this time, my dad goes mushroom picking, mainly porcini, but other kinds as well. Last year I was there around this time, and every morning, he would get up at 5 am, come back at 11 am with kilos of porcini. In about 3 weeks, he brought home about 70 kg of porcini (140 lb) can you imagine? My mom and I spent days cleaning them, and storing them (preserves, frozen, drying, etc…) at one point, I could not stand them any longer. We were just wondering between ourselves when he would stop bringing them home. I had porcini nightmares. Needless to say my parents house is filled with porcini. My dad used to go find truffles too, and had a dog trained for that purpose, now the dog ran away, so no more truffles! He grew up in Italy doing that, so he kept his hobbies all his life.

I remember one year, I was living in Boston and my parents came to visit us…it was their first trip to America. We took them to the New England countryside, and we ended up in Maine, there were beautiful mansions close by and a nice green field, so my dad had his mushroom radar out, and obviously saw some eatable mushrooms in between the grass, he was so excited. Happily, he started picking those mushroom to make a frittata in the evening. All of the sudden, we heard a voice coming from behind telling him “Hey dude, you won’t get high with those!”, seems like those guys thought we were looking for the hallucinogen ones. We were speechless (my parents didn’t speak English so they could care less), but I didn’t know what to respond since I was not expecting that, so we just nodded and smiled. Macche’ high!! io mi mangio la frittata stasera!

In France and Italy, it’s a very common thing to go mushroom picking, I used to go too but not getting up at 5 am. There are so many wonderful wild mushrooms (don’t know right names in English) and if you have doubts about them being comestible, (some of them can be mistaken for poisonous ones like the very well known Amanite Phalloide), you can always go to the pharmacy to have them checked. Pharmacies do that.

Ingredients for 4

• 300 g Malloredus pasta
• 1 lb mixed wild mushrooms such as chanterelles, girolles, porcini, etc…
• 2 cups Italian plum tomatoes, or 4 heirloom tomatoes, or San Marziano (put through a food processor)
• 3 tbs pancetta, chopped (optional)
• 2 tbs parsley
• 2 garlic cloves
• a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
• Parmigiano Reggiano
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Was mushrooms thoroughly, pat dry and cut in pieces. Sauté them in olive oil. When browned remove from pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add pancetta, stir for a little while, then add garlic and parsley. Stir well to get the flavors out but make sure not to burn the garlic. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook until the sauce reduces for about 20 minutes or more. Add mushrooms and cook for another 10 minutes. (If using dried porcini, you can use the water and add it to the tomato sauce and let it cook).

Cook Malloredus like regular pasta until desired consistency. Top with tomato ragu and sprinkle with parmigiano and a little of olive oil.

Misc, Pasta gnocchi sardi, malloredus, mushrooms, Pasta, porcini, ragu, sugo ai funghi, wild mushrooms

Les ravioles d’Alain Ducasse – Ravioles de tomate et olives vapeur, sauce soja et balsamique

Since I have been talking about alain Ducasse and that he is one of my favorite chefs,  and one of the most prestigious in France with its 14 Michelin stars, I thought to present one of his recipes that combines the flavors of Western cuisine with the technique of Asian cooking. His cuisine uses an abundance the freshest seasonal ingredients and harmony of flavors. I think I will throw some of his recipes occasionally, because they deserve to be more exposed among the general public. In the US, obviously, people are more familiar with American or British chefs, and Alain is one my favorite chefs of all.

As much as I love to make traditional Italian ravioli, or French ravioles, Asians ravioli have their own particular personality and character. I did not change anything to its original recipe. I have been looking at this one for a while and never tried making it. Usually I like to create things on my own and experiment new recipes but when it has to do with Alain Ducasse, his style of cuisine “me parle” speaks to me in a way that I completely feel in symbiosis with it, and if I use his recipes, I leave them the way they are.

Actually, Alain is not longer French, he became Monégasque, which means citizen of Monaco, and gave up his citizenship but we do love him anyway.

The particularity of this recipe is that the ravioli stuffing is using Western ingredients but are steamed, often used in Asian cuisine and dipped in a pungent balsamic-soy sauce. It’s quite an easy and simple dish but with the right ingredient combination to get that exotic-but-not-so-exotic-touch. Besides, unlike Italian ravioli, you can use wonton wrappers and don’t have to make your own pasta dough. That cuts the preparation time and is the secret to this wonderful but yet quick dish.

Ingredients for 14 dumplings

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbs cornstarch
• 8 square wonton wrappers
• 2 to 3 large cabbage leaves, for steaming
• 1 tbs sweet black soy sauce
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• Lettuce to garnish

Filling

• 2 fresh medium tomatoes (about 4 oz or 125 g), blanched, peeled and deseeded, flesh diced
• 4 shallots, minced
• 3 to 4 tbs sundried tomatoes, diced
• 12 pitted black olives, diced
• 3 tbs minced spring onions
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper

Preparation

Start making the filling. In a bowl, mix tomatoes, olives, shallots, spring onions, sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Mix egg and cornstarch.

Using a wonton wrapper, place 1 tsp or 1 small tbs of filling in the middle of the wonton. Use egg and cornstarch mixture around the dumpling. Place another wrapper on top and using your hand, press firmly on the edges to seal wonton. The egg and cornstarch will seal the wonton.

Mix balsamic vinegar with soy sauce.

Using a bamboo steamer, place cabbage leaves on bottom, place wontons on top of leaves and steam for 3 minutes. Serve with lettuce and add some dipping sauce on top.

Appetizers, Express - Less than 30 minutes, Pasta, Vegan dumpling, olives, ravioli, steamed, tomatoes

Gli spaghetti sono scesi da Marte – Spaghetti alla crema di asparagi e caprino

Lately I have been a little inconsistent with my plans, I buy products to make a particular dish I have in mind, then I do something completely different with it. I wanted to make some asparagus mousse for canapé with salmon and here they show up with spaghetti.

Don’t you love the green all over the picture? If you don’t like asparagus, forget this recipe. I certainly do lack photographic skills but I think it really looks as green as you see it. Asparagus have a very subtle flavor and when they are served in a creamy sauce, their flavor is decupled, I did not add any cream but you could add some, it will make the texture even more velvety.

There is nothing interesting behind this dish other than it was created one day while I was thinking about how to make some of my clients eat more vegetable in a way that it was not “obvious”. Some people would tell you, “Oh yeah we loooove vegetables!”, then after a while, you realize that they just hate vegetables if they look like a “vegetable” and they need to be hidden in something that has a different shape and mixed with a bunch of other ingredients, do you know what I mean?

Anyway, people eat what they like and the way they like it, and I am certainly not the one to judge people’s diets nor tastes…and just because I love that expression, I will say “It is what it is”. Just love to say this even if it doesn’t mean much when you think about it. It’s like stating the obvious.

One serving of these spaghetti makes you consume 1/2 bunch asparagus, which is not bad.

In France, I used to grow up eating salsifis (in English, oyster vegetable or salsifis I think). It’s white and long and looks like a white asparagus but it’s not. Also white asparagus are more popular over there. The white asparagus is an asparagus that grew in the ground without any light, so its flavor is very delicate. The purple asparagus is a white asparagus whose tip has grown above the ground, so it has a fruity flavor but a slightly bitter taste at light exposure. The green kind has been grown outside at full light so its green color is the natural process of its growth at sun exposure, and it’s the only asparagus that does not need to be peeled.

Ingredients for 3-4

• 7 oz (or 200 g) spaghetti
• 1 large bunch asparagus
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tbs heavy cream (optional)
• 4 tbs goat cheese
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots, stir and let them cook for about 5 min, then add garlic and stir again. Cut asparagus in 2 inch pieces and add to the pan. Let cook for about 5-10 minutes, then add broth, salt and pepper. Cover and cook until the asparagus are cooked and tender.

Mix in a blender and put back in the pan. If the consistency is too thick, add broth. You will add cream at this point if you want to. Mix the cream and let it cook for another 4-5 minutes.

Cook spaghetti al dente, drain and add to the asparagus cream. Divide spaghetti onto plates and add goat cheese on top and fresh pepper if you like it. Serve very hot.

Pasta, Vegetarian - dairy asparagus, goat cheese, spaghetti, Vegetables

Verdura fuori e dentro – Tagliolini di carote con pesto alle zucchine e noci

More on the homemade vegetable pasta chapter… I am in my Italian cooking phase, I left French food aside and going back to my roots. Playing with pasta is a lot of fun. I love making homemade pasta, and having my hands in flour. Kneading the dough, relaxes me, it’s like a therapeutic anti-anxiety session. So I guess it’s better than taking Xanax!

I Found my pasta machine after searching for an hour, it was stuck at the bottom of a drawer, hidden with hundred of other kitchen utensils. I did not feel like using rolling pin (mattarello) this time, the beet tagliatelle were quite time consuming and I did not have time. Making those carrot tagliolini took a lot longer than when making regular pasta with plain flour and no vegetable, because the dough was somehow soft, due to the carrots and the water they contain. So I had to add flour constantly to prevent dough from sticking.

I’m not sure how to translate tagliolini in English, maybe angel hair? I think angel hair are thinner than those. My grandma used to make tagliolini in a tomato broth and we would eat them in a soup-based consistency. Tagliolini are a typical traditional pasta, larger than capellini but narrower than tagliatelle. When made fresh, they cook fast and usually they’re served with light sauces.

If you have a regular pasta machine (I have an Imperia one), it comes with that particular cut, it’s the thinner one (the other one is the tagliatelle cut). If you make the pasta with rolling pin, it needs to be about 2mm large

Zucchini pesto is quite tasty with a lighter texture than regular pesto since it mostly contains zucchini, you can slightly taste the flavor of zucchini which tends to be bland, but enhanced with basil, and parmesan.

Ingredients for 4

For the pasta

• 3 cups white flour + more flour
• 2 eggs
• 200g pureed carrots

For the pesto

• 2 zucchini
• 3 tbs walnuts, chopped
• 3 tbs freshly grated parmigiano reggiano
• 2 garlic cloves
• 10 basil leaves
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the pasta

Cook carrots in water until well cooked all the way through. Drain, let cool and puré with a potato masher, or a mixer so that you get a smooth and thin cream.  Place in a mixing bowl, add flour, egg and mix to get a homogeneous dough. Remove from bowl and start kneading on a flat surface. At this point, you might need to constantly add flour, so that dough does not stick to the working surface. Proceed like you would make regular pasta sheets with your pasta machine.

For the pesto

Cut zucchini in medium size pieces. Place in a blender with the other ingredients and blend to a medium consistency. Adjust with some additional olive oil if the pesto is a little thick and blend a little more.

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water for one minute and drain. Toss with pesto and serve hot.

Pasta, Vegetarian - dairy basil, carrots, pesto, Recipes, zucchini

Rose e ancora più rose – Tagliatelle rose alle rape rosse con salsa ai porri, taleggio e pinoli

I have many friends who don’t like beets, they have an earthy taste that can be unappealing for some. I have been thinking for a long time to play with pasta dough, and make some colorful pasta, but I wanted something colorful and pretty, in the pinkish tint, and to get a pink color, beets are perfect, their deep red juice can color anything. My pasta machine being somewhere I cannot find, I used my mattarello (or matterello it depends on the region) (rolling pin) and went back to the basics.

I prefer pasta rolled with a rolling pin, you get a grainy texture that you don’t get with a pasta machine, therefore the sauce gets absorbed much better and pasta is really deliciously perfect. Now rolling the pasta with a mattarello (rolling pin) can get tricky if you have never done it, so if you don’t have the right rolling pin and never done it before, I recommend using the pasta machine.

Taleggio is a cheese from Northern Italy (it belongs to the stracchino category of cheeses), it has a distinct and nutty flavor, quite aromatic that I also like to eat with bread. It’s an ancient cheese and its origins can be traced up to year 900. If you cannot find Taleggio, you can use gorgonzola, its flavor is stronger but mixes well with beets.

You can use pre-cooked beets, I always find them at Trader Joe’s if I don’t have time to cook them. You can also buy the uncooked one if you have plenty of time and cook them in water for about 40 minutes.

If you don’t want to use all the pasta, you can put the extra on the refrigerator for up to two days.

Ingredients for 4

For the pasta

• 15. 87 oz (or 450 g) flour
• 7 oz (or 200 g) cooked beets, pureed
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbs olive oil
• one pinch of salt

For the sauce

• 3 large leeks, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 4 tbs Taleggio (or gorgonzola), cubed
• 5 tbs parmigiano reggiano, grated
• 2 tbs heavy cream
• 2 tbs pine nuts (optional)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Puree the beets in food processor. Set aside. Place flour in a mixing bowl, make a hole in the middle, add beets, and gradually add eggs, a pinch of salt and olive oil. Start kneading the dough, adjusting the flour if necessary, dough needs to be hard enough and not sticky. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Form a round ball and place in a plastic wrap for about 30 minutes and let rest.

Cut the dough in about 4-5 pieces, add flour if it is a little sticky, flatten it and start rolling the pasta with the pasta machine. I will post a detailed instructions soon on how to make pasta. La pasta fatta in casa, as they would say in Italy. When the pasta has been cut, it needs to dry a little bit, I would let it dry for about 30 minutes. Most of the time, I don’t let it dry, but for this particular types of pasta with beets, the dough tends to be softer than regular plain pasta, so you might need to let it dry longer.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add one garlic clove, add leeks, salt and pepper. Cover and cook leeks at medium heat. When cooked, remove from pan. Add taleggio, and let it melt slowly, add cream.

Start bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta, when the pasta comes to the surface, after 2-3 minutes, drain and add to the pan with cheese. Add leeks, parmesan and pine nuts. Mix carefully and serve hot

Pasta, Vegetarian - dairy beets, cheese, leeks, parmesan, parmiggiano, Pasta, pine nuts, Recipes, tagliatelle, taleggio