Pasta Modern (22 page)

Early mornings when I’m in Sicily, I go down to the docks to buy my favorite breakfast—sea urchins on crusty bread. Just like the craggy fishermen there do, I wash it down with an espresso.

Since I’ve long associated sea urchins with espresso, it didn’t shock me when Chef Carlo Cracco, whose Milan restaurant is on
Restaurant
magazine’s “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list, introduced the pairing with pasta. “It’s a pleasing combination because the acidity of the coffee replaces the lemon that’s usually paired with sea urchins,” he explains.

1 pound (455 g) tagliatelle, linguine, or other long pasta

Salt

12 small or 4 large sea urchins (about 6 ounces (180 g) sea urchin meat)

Olive oil

2 teaspoons finely ground espresso

Boil the pasta in salted water until it is al dente. Drain, and reserve some of the cooking water.

Open the sea urchins and remove the meat. In a skillet large enough to later toss the pasta, cook the sea urchins with 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat for about 1 minute, until they begin to dissolve a bit. Toss the pasta into the pan, adding a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water, until well combined. Serve the pasta topped with the espresso. If you like, you can serve the pasta in the sea urchin shells!

Fresh Pasta

CONTI CORTI E TAGLIATELLE LUNGHE.

BILLS SHOULD BE SMALL AND TAGLIATELLE LONG.
A popular saying in Bologna, a city renowned for its tagliatelle
.

I obviously love pasta, but the truth is, I almost never used to make it from scratch. Why? I have two kids and a husband, and it takes a lot of kneading to make enough pasta to feed four! Then I learned something fantastic in Bologna: Have everyone make their own pasta portion. If you don’t have to deal with a ton of dough, you might have more incentive to try your hand at fresh pasta.

Italians have a perfect ratio for making one serving of fresh pasta: 100 grams of flour (3.5 ounces, or about ¾ cup) and one large egg. The size of the dough ball is really manageable this small, so it quickly takes on that nice, silky, elastic quality. Try making tagliatelle or another pasta using this simple ratio—each guest can be in charge of mixing, kneading, rolling out, and cutting their own pasta!

In this chapter, you’ll discover some wonderfully chubby, wobbly pasta that’s as easy to make as playing with playdough—no need for paper-thin perfection. Many of the recipes, like
World’s Easiest Pasta
,
Crunchy Cornmeal-Buckwheat Triangles
, and
Little Chestnut Gnocchi
are easy enough for a four-year-old!

SARDINIAN PASTA RINGS WITH MINT, TOMATOES, & BOTTARGA

{
Lorighittas
}

SERVES
4
|
REGION:
Sardinia, especially the town of Morgongiori

Lorighittas
are adorable twirled rings of pasta found only in Sardinia. Legend has it that
lorighittas
were invented by a man who, finally after winning over his lover’s heart, created this pretty ring-shaped pasta in celebration.

Making them is very relaxing, but it takes time. I love serving them to guests, but instead of making them all myself, I knead the dough in advance and then portion out little handfuls and have everyone fashion their own. It’s a fun activity for family or friends and doesn’t involve any special equipment, not even a knife. Just pinch off a bit of dough, roll it into thin strings, loop a couple of times, and twist. You’ll taste how special they are in every bite.

Pomodori schiattarisciati
, Pugliese dialect for “bursting tomatoes,” are often served in a bowl accompanied by crusty bread as a communally shared starter, but here it’s used as a sauce. If you like, top the pasta with flavorful grated
bottarga
—dried fish roe that’s also a specialty of Sardinia.

FOR THE PASTA:

2 cups (250 g) all-purpose or “0” flour

Make the pasta:
Mound the flour onto a work surface and make a well in the center. Slowly pour in ¼ cup (60 ml) warm water, whisking with a fork to incorporate it into the flour. Add more water, a little at a time, until a dough forms. Knead the dough until it is very smooth, about 10 minutes. Form it into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and let the dough rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

Working with a small handful of dough at a time so it doesn’t dry out and keeping the rest covered, roll the dough into a long strand about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. It’s easiest if you roll the dough on a smooth surface like a stainless-steel table. Pinch off about 9 inches (23 cm) of the strand and loop it very loosely twice around the tips of two or three fingers. Make one loop slightly longer than the other. Then, with your thumb and fingertips, gently twist the two loops together, like you’re winding a watch, until they are wrapped around each other, and press lightly to attach. Set the loops onto a cotton cloth.

Repeat until you’ve finished using all the dough. (If you are having trouble with the traditional method of looping it around three fingers, you can instead cut two lengths of about 5 inches (12 cm) each. Connect them at one end and gently twirl them until they are wrapped around each other. Then pinch the ends together to make an oval loop.)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and boil the pasta until it is al dente, about 3 to 6 minutes, depending on how thick your strands of dough are.

FOR THE SAUCE:

Salt

Olive oil

2 pints (570 g) grape or cherry tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

¼ cup (25 g) thinly sliced fresh mint

Make the sauce:
Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a small saucepan over high heat until it is very hot. Carefully put in the tomatoes, cover, and cook until you hear the distinctive “pops” of the skins bursting, about 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic. Cook for 2 minutes, until the garlic is light golden. Take it off the heat, remove the garlic, and stir in the mint.

FOR SERVING:

1 ounce (30 g)
bottarga
(dried fish roe) or aged pecorino cheese, optional

Freshly ground black pepper

To serve:
Drain the pasta and toss it with the sauce. Serve it topped with grated or thinly shaved
bottarga
or pecorino cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper.

ITALY’S HUGE RINGS: PASTA ALLA MUGNAIA

Lorighittas
are not the only ring-shaped pasta found in Italy!
Pasta alla Mugnaia
—a continuous ring of amazingly thick pasta—is hands-down the most unusual pasta I’ve ever eaten.

A mound of flour, enough to feed six, is worked into one humongous ring-shaped loop as thick as your thumb. It’s wonderfully irregular, as some parts of the dough are rolled and some stretched and so thick that it has to be boiled twice to fully cook. This specialty of the Pescara province of Abruzzo is served with a rich pork-and-lamb ragù and presented to the table in one giant mound. Locals all claim the best place to eat it is in the tiny town of Elice, and my favorite restaurant there is Ristorante da Margherita. Go on a Saturday or, better yet, Sunday, and see long tables of friends all sharing massive platters. The pasta is so unusual, so toothsome and delicious, that I’m planning my next vacation around a second helping.

{
Ravioli dolci
}

SERVES
4
;
makes about
40
ravioli
|
REGION:
Abruzzo, especially the Teramo area