pasta primavera

our favorite -- ditalini with vegetables

We have not been overly fond of the American creation "pasta primavera". Frequently it seems to be throwing a variety of vegetables into some cooked pasta, without regard to how the tastes meld or how the vegetables work with the pasta. Sort of a warm pasta salad.

Here is a primavera we first tasted in a trattoria outside of Bologna. It uses ditali, the small pasta that does meld well with the vegetable slices. It is simple, beautiful in presentation, and has all the tastes we treasure in a well-conceived pasta.

for the sauce:

• one garlic clove, peeled and minced
• two medium size yellow bell peppers
• two medium zucchini
• eight ounces of green beans
• two medium carrots
• one tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• one cup extra virgin olive oil
• one quarter cup freshly grated parmesan
• salt and pepper

for the pasta:

• One pound Italian-made ditalini. Use the large size, not the small ones that are primarily for soup. We also use pennette lischia, the very small version of penne, which works well.

Soak the zucchini in cold water for sifteen minutes. Scrub and dry. Slice into thin slices.

Heat the yellow pepper over a flame to scorch the skin, and then peel the pepper. Dice it into quarter-inch dices.

Pel the carrots and either slice in thin slices or dice. Blanch the carrots in hot water for two minutes. Drain and set aside.

Trim the ends of the green beans. Cut in half. Blanch in hot water for two minutes, drain and set aside.

Over medium heat, put in a half cup of the olive oil. Add the garlic. After thirty seconds add the pepper and cook for two minutes. Add the zucchini and cook for another minute. Add the blanched carrots and green beans, stir, and cook for two minutes. Set aside.

Get five quarts of water up to a raging boil. Add two tablespoons of salt. Add the ditalini. Cook until al dente. Reserve one cup of the pasta liquid. Drain.

Return the vegetables to heat, and add the drained paste to the sauteed vegetables. Add the additional half cup of olive oil. Add a half easpoon of salt and several grinds of fresh black pepper. (if dry, add some of the reserved liquid).

Add the parsley. Stir. Add the parmesan and stir again. Cover the pan and turn up the heat, for one minute, to get the pasta steaming hot.

Serve.

first of the season

the first of the fresh tomatoes this season . . .

. . . this means that it is time for our favorite summer classic:

spaghetti with garlic, tomato and basil

(normally you would use fresh, plum tomatoes for this presentation. But we are lucky to get some organic, incredibly delicious "early girls", that are full flesh and sauce ready).

for the sauce:

• five tablespoons of olive oil
• 5-6 medium cloves of garlic
• one pound fresh tomatoes, roughly diced into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
• 30 or so large fresh basil leaves (about one cup), torn into small pieces
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• freshly grated parmesan cheese

for the pasta

• one pound of spaghetti

Start by putting the plates in the oven to get them warm.

Then continue by immediately heating the water - 4 to 5 quarts of cold water. To a raging boil. Add two tablespoons of salt. Drop in the pasta and stir. Drain, saving a quarter cup of the liquid.

Meanwhile, put the oil into a saute pan, large enough to hold the spaghetti. Medium heat. Add the garlic. When it starts to sizzle add the chopped tomatoes, plus a teaspoon of salt and a few twists of freshly ground pepper. Cook for about four minutes. The tomatoes should sort of retain their shape, just starting to break down if they were quite ripe. Stir in the basil. Check for salt.

Ideally the spaghetti should be done just about this time. Add the pasta to the sauce. Add the reserved liquid. Stir well. Add the grated parmesan and stir again.

At this point we like to cover the pan, turn the heat to high, and get a great steam going, so the pasta as presented will be truly "steaming" hot.

pasta meets mussels

We are always looking for a pasta dish with fresh seafood. Finding one that uses mussels is a bit of a challenge. But here is one: mussels with an anise flavor -- simple, beautiful and tasty.

This recipe is adapted from a lovely article in Food and Wine that featured not only the pasta dish but the lovely celadon-glazed porcelain bowls (as shown).Perhaps Pernod is not the most Italian of flavorings, but what works, works. Note: we do not use a full pound of pasta for a four-person serving -- the smaller portion seems to strike a proper balance.

for the sauce:

• two tablespoons olive oi
• one medium onion, peeled and diced
• two garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• several sprigs of fresh thyme
• hree-quarters cup white wine
• one-quarter cup Pernod
• thirty-six small mussels, about two pounds
• three-quarter cups heavy cream
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• one tablespoon chopped tarragon leaves

for the pasta

• three-quarter pounds freshly made tagliatelle (home-made linguine also works fine)

In a large saute pan over medium heat, add the olive oil and garlic. After fifteen seconds, add the onion. Cook until softened, about five minutes.

Add the sprigs of thyme, the wine and the Pernod. Add the mussels, cover and cook until they are all open. (check under the lid regularly to make sure -- should be about five minutes). When the mussels are all open (there might be one or so tough ones who refuse to open) transfer the mussels to a bowl. Throw away the non-openers. Boil the remianing liquid to reduce it about half. Toss out the thyme. Add the mussels (gently) along with their juices, and the chopped tarragon. Add a half teaspoon of salt and a few twists of the pepper mill. Stir again -- gently.

Bring five quarts of water to a big boil. Add two tablespoons fo salt. Add the tagliatelle. Cook until almost al dente. Drain. A little moisture will not hurt.

Add the tagliatelle to the re-heated sauce. Toss so that the pasta is well coated. Cover and cook over medium high heat for one minute to get steaming. Serve with tarragon leaves as garnish.

Here is another pasta plus mussels recipe: go to http://www.classicpasta.com/. Click on pasta then tagliatelle, and find "tagliatelle with mussels and fresh peas".

If you have some Pernod left that you would like to use, here is another: http://www.classicpasta.com/, click on "extra pantry" and find "veal stew with fennel and tomatoes".

italian white wine

In my web site: www.classicpasta.com, in the wine section, I made the basic generalization that, in general, Italian white wines were best when drinking them in a trattoria near where they were grown. They did not transport that well, I claimed, and the quality did not generally justify the price for those wines purchased here. I admit I included a couple of "possible exceptions", but not that many.

I have had to "eat crow" a couple of times, as one may note on the updated web site, most notaby after drinking a Terredora Greco di Tufo Loggia Della Serra 2005 recently. From the Campania region, in the hills near Avellino, this wine from the greco family, is a delight. Its producers do caution that it is a wine to drink now, but what a lovely, floral treasure.

Chapter Two in the "eating crow" department occurred last week, when I had the pleasure of visiting a relatively new wine ship, Biondivino, in the Russian Hill section of San Francisco. The proprietor is the charming, incredibly knowledgeable Ceri Smith. Her beautifully designed store is devoted to Italian wines, and especially unusual, hard-to-fine, specially crafted wines. Every region of Italy is represented, and mostly all from small producers. Biondivino is truly a worthy Temple of Italian wine.

On the question of Italian whites, Ceri said in an interview in the Chronicle: "I love the Italian whites. People know Pinot Grigio, but there's so much more to Italian whites. They are so complex, and they have so many layers and subtleties and nuance and elegance. If someone wanted to change their mind about white wines, they should try Kerner -- it's a hybrid produced in Trentino-Alto Adige."

So I did. I bought three whites (above). On Ceri's recommendation we had the Kerner with a cheese course. Perfecto! The second selection was a Biondi: "Gurna" from the base of Mt. Etna. It is a blend of Caricante, Cataratto, Minnella, Malvasia and Moscadello Etna. (This one is still to be tried). We filled out the triad with a different Greco: from Benito Ferrara.

In addition, we also picked up, on Ceri's further recommendation, a Castellum Vetus Montepulicano d'Abruzzo, Colline Teramane. I had picked up some superb hand-crafted bucatini at a nearby Italian market, and the menu for the next evening was to be a favorite: Bucatini d'Amatriciana. (see two of the posts below for this special treasure). The Castellum Vetus was absolutely perfect with this dish. Thanks Ceri!

guanciale

Here it is: where we get our guanciale, to make the perfect all'amatriciana (see the previous posts)


This is the storefront of Salumi, in the southern part of the city of Seattle. It is owned by Armandino Batali, father of Mario, and specializes in salami and cured meats. I was in the shop/restaurant a week ago, for a lovely and typical Salumi lunch: a minestrone with a wonderful assortment of cured meats as a welcome additive, and then a plate of mixed, cold salami and other cured meats. Fourteen different varieties on the plate. A delight, and a wonderful change of pace for lunch. The store/restaurant serves soups, pasta specials, sandwiches (with their meats of course) and plates of either cold or hot salami and other meats. Open for lunch only.


They are located at 309 Third Avenue South, just north of the Seahawks stadium. And best of all, they sell their wares on line. So this is where you can get your guanciale.


On the web: www.salumicuredmeats.com. Details for buying on line therein.

amatriciana (part two)

This is an image from a wonderful article in the New York Times of January 16, by the superb food writer Florence Fabricant. The subject is a favorite of ours: bucatini all'amatriciana. (You can check our previous post on this dish below) and is headlined as "The Meat of the Matter in a Pasta Debate."

In the article, Florence rightly claims that true Amatriciana must be made with guanciale, which is cured, unsmoked pig jowl. She rightly says that the great cook books in America almost always call for bacon or pancetta, rather than guanciale. But, in defense, she reports that it was by necessity: guanciale (which means pillow in Italian, which describes its shape) was simply not available here.

She also describes the fine points in the ongoing debate between Rome and the village of Amatrice on whether the dish should have onions (Rome, si; Amatrice, non), olive oil, and how much pecorino. And whether the pasta should be bucatini, or thick spaghetti, or even some penne. The debate on the fine points, and the hearty opinions, alla Italiana, are great fun.

But, wonders of wonders, guanicale can now be found in the United States. (more on this in our next post). So in keeping with our demand for authenticity, not to mention the shear taste delight of the "official" amatriciana, here is the recipe, WITH guanciale. (compare it with our original recipe posted earlier).

For the sauce:

• two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• one medium onion, thinly sliced
• three cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• one-quarter pound guanciale, sliced in one inch length slivers, one-quarter inch thick
• one 28-ounce can San Marzano peeled plum tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped
• one-half teaspoon red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper
• one-half cup freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese
  
  
• one pound bucatini
  

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic. When it starts to sizzle, add the onion. Saute for five minutes. Add the guanciale, and saute until it just starts to brown. Roughly chop the tomatoes, and add them to the saute pan. Continue cooking at a lower heat, uncovered, for about fifteen minutes, while regularly breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. The sauce should be relatively smooth (not lumpy). Add the red pepper flakes, a twist or two of freshly ground pepper, a half teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of pecorino. Stir and set aside.

Cook the bucatini in a large pot (4 to 5 quarts of water) of salted, boiling water. Cook until al dente. Drain (reserving one cup of the pasta liquid) and add to the saute pan of sauce, which you have now reheated. Stir and meld together. Add the cheese and a tablespoon or two of the reserved pasta water if the sauce is too thick to meld well with the pasta. Cover, turn up the heat for two minutes to get it really hot. Serve with extra pecorino on the side.

Note: more on guanciale in the next post

pasta with white truffles = $$$

It is our annual indulgent event: lunch at Felidia's during white truffle season. After a fabulous classic turkey and dressing Thanksgiving this year, on the following Tuesday we headed for Felidia's. We were not disappointed. Not a bit. Wife Carol, daughter Sarah, and yours truly settled ourselves in the warm and delightful first floor dining section at Felidia's on East 58th St. (Lydia herself was having lunch in the back corner of the dining room with Christoher Kimball of Cook's magazine.)

The menu took almost no browsing time. As announced, this was white truffle season at Felidia's and we were on. We each ordered the same: the recommended tagliatelle as the base. Simple, perfecto.

We started by sharing an excellent grilled octopus presentation, in oil. For the wine, we took the somelier's advice and had the Livon Chardonnay "Braide Mate" -- label above.

The tagliatelle was the home made variety using extra egg yolks. So it was wonderfully rich. It was presented with perfect texture in a simple butter sauce.

Then the white truffle expert came over with the jewel. He reported that the white truffles this year were maybe not quite as wonderful as last year's perfections, but they were still fabulous. He took his peeler and sliced an abundant array of this delicacy on each of our pasta dishes, while we just kept silent and inhaled, each in our own rapturous worlds.

The eating was everything we had dreamed about all year. Just tasting, eating slowly, ah'ing and oh'ing, and with conversation at something of a minimum, we cherished each bite.

Some cappucino to finish and our heavenly day was complete. The bill was $598 with tax. The pasta specials -- the tagliolini -- were $25 each, and each truffle addition was $110. Worth it.

We learned that a very large white truffle, found by an Italian truffle hunter near a pine tree near Pisa, was sold at a charity auction at Macao, in China, two weeks ago. The truffle was 1 pound, 10 ounces, and sold for $227,000. A record.