Or, the love-child of MPSIMS & Café Society: I made pasta yesterday. Spinach spaghetti, to be precise. It was a beautiful green but otherwise looked and tasted like spaghetti. I was most surprised that it had the right consistency when cooked.
In the process, I learned why nobody makes spinach spaghetti. The strands don’t cut properly and you have to finish separating them by hand, with a toothpick, quickly enough so that they don’t dry out but slowly enough so the strands don’t break. I was only partly successful. Plus, although it’s a pretty green, you can’t taste the spinach. I wonder, if I had just boiled the spinach leaves in the pasta water, would the noodles have turned green?
I also learned that thin isn’t better for spaghetti. I started with the machine (a hand-cranked one) on thickness setting #7 but gradually scaled back to #3. It worked much better and the strands separated more equally.
I do have some leftover dough. I think I’ll make some ravioli. Much easier. Filling and sauce suggestions gladly accepted, esp. vegetarian / fishetarian ones. (I love meat but must feed a fishetarian.) Plus any pasta-making tips!
You should try hand rolled using a rolling pin–not the american style pin, but the european version which is essentially a cylinder of wood (the Italian version is cylinder a bit thicker than a broomstick with rounded ends). I find that it’s not too hard to do and it typically makes tastier pasta.
There’s a certain technique to the rolling which I’d be happy to describe in a later post.
This is true. Our spaghetti needs at home are always met by Barilla. For homemade pasta, forms like pappardelle (2 cm wide noodles cut from thin sheets) are the way to go.
One of my fond memories of my grandmother (who was Italian) is asking her about homemade pasta. “Why bother when you can buy it dried?” she said. Of course, she grew up working in the family restaurant, so it probably seemed more like work to her! sjc, I’d be grateful for those rolling tips. I have a little rolling pin that came with the pasta machine, but I’ve never used it.
I love homemade pasta…suggested filling for ravioli;
ricotta cheese (just the top of the container, the dry part)
some chopped lobster or shrimp (or crab meat)
tarragon (for crab)
parsley
a little green onion
a little parmesan cheese
salt & pepper
I roll the dough flat then mark where I’m going to slice to put raviolis together.
Place a bit of the filling (about a teaspon) in the centre of the mark, brush the borders with egg white then place the other half over top and seal.
You can substitute drained chopped spinach, swiss chard, ground beef, ground veal or chicken for the lobster or shrimp.
Serve with following: In some butter, saute clove of garlic, chopped until fragrant then add very very ripe chopped tomatoes, parsley, basic and oregano.
You can also add cream if you wish at this stage or white wine for that matter.
I have approximately 0% Italian ancestry, but I spend about two weeks in Italy (and usually Sicily) every three years or so thanks to my line of work (I’m a geologist that “just happens” to need to study the geology of Italy. A complete coincidence, I tell you!) I have taken extensive notes on the food I’ve had, and I have a close colleauge in Palermo. From my notes, and from my talks with said colleauge, it’s become clear that:
For most pasta forms–tubi and longi–dried is not only good enough, it’s ideal. Save the effort of making fresh pasta for Ravioli and flat pasta like papparadelle, tagliatelle, and fettucini.
Despite what the Food Network would have us believe, sometimes “shaky” parmesan is good enough; one doesn’t always need freshly grated cheese! That said, I’ll apply Fiore di Sardo every chance I get. (ETA: or Ritotta Salata or Pecorino Pepato.)
Absolutely. Parmigiana Reggiano is the good stuff. (Yes, there’s other good parmesan around, but not pre-grated and factory-packed. At least find a cheese department that grates their own, some time within the last week or so.)
Or, depending on the pasta dish you’re serving it with, Pecorino Romano, Grana Padano, or Asiago. Personally, I’m a big fan of Pecorino Romano (a ewe’s milk cheese which is saltier and stronger in flavor than Parmigiana Reggiano.)
Well, I agree that it’s “not good”–as noted, I don’t use the shaky stuff at home (although I almost always prefer a pecorino like fiore di sardo to parmigiana-reggiano). However, a shakey-like cheese (served in a dish, rather than in a green can) is what I’ve encountered about 99% of the time at both restaurants and in homes in Italy. Only at the Olive Garden has a dude offered to freshly grate cheese for me.
Take some good ripe tomatoes. Put them in a pan and cover it. Turn heat onto medium low and wait. They will collapse fully in about a half-hour.
Pass them through a food mill twice- big holes and littlest holes. Put the very watery puree into a sauce pan with a half an onion, whole, and salt to taste.
Simmer gently until nicely thickened. Remove onion and taste for salt. Add some pepper.
Cook your fresh pasta and reserve a bit of the water. Drain pasta, return to pot with a ladleful of sauce and the 1/4 cup or so reserved pasta water. Mix to coat.
Place pasta in warmed bowls. Ladle some sauce over, not too much, and then place a tablespoon of the freshest, cleanest butter you can find on the top. Have guests mix the pasta and sauce until the butter is melted. NO CHEESE.
This is such an amazing dish. I’ve had people beg for it. Most times I will stir some fresh chopped parsley and basil into the almost-finished sauce, but sometimes I don’t.
The tomato sauce is a Marcella Hazan recipe from her first book. Works well with top-quality canned tomatoes too.
Mix 2 cups of Flour with 3 egg yolks and enough cold water to knead. Quintulple.
Roll into a 1/4 inch thick 10 inch square and cut into !/2 inch wide noodles.
Boil a chicken with aromatics. Debone and shred. Add the chicken back and cook with the stock… add noodles an water as needed, simmer till thick and hearty. Add fresh spinach leaves in the last 7 minutes of cooking.
Tonight I’m going to try Canadiangirl’s suggestion with chopped shrimp. I have to get some parmesan, and I’m afraid it’s going to come in a little green can. (Probably; our local grocery is Armenian, and you can never tell what they’re going to have.) I love that stuff, though my partner says it smells like barf.
I grate the fresh chunks in the Kitchenaid. I run it slowly through the fine shredder with the machine at high speed; that makes it fluffy and not stringy. Nummy!