Rustic Italian Food Read online

  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the caramelle, quickly return to a boil, and cook until tender yet firm, 3 to 4 minutes.

  Just before the pasta is done, melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the 6 to 8 sage leaves, amaretti, and a ladle of pasta water. Boil until the sauce is creamy, about 2 minutes.

  Drain the pasta, reserving a little pasta water, and slide the caramelle into the warm sauce. Toss gently until the sauce is creamy, adding more pasta water as needed.

  Divide among warm pasta bowls and garnish with the Parmesan and a few sage leaves.

  PREP AHEAD

  The caramelle can be assembled, tossed with flour, and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days before cooking. Take the caramelle right from the freezer to the pasta water. To peel the squash easily, stab it all over with a knife and microwave it on a plate on high for 2 to 3 minutes (little beads of juice will seep out the stab wounds). Cut off the top and bottom and peel the squash with a sharp vegetable peeler or paring knife.

  BEVERAGE—Paitin, Dolcetto d’Alba 2008 “Sori Paitin” (Piedmont): Gewürztraminer would play nicely on the squash’s inherent sweetness, but a soft, plush, medium-bodied red like Sori Paitin envelops the breadth of the flavors even better, simultaneously countering them with a note of bitter almond on the finish.

  Salt Cod Ravioli WITH MARJORAM

  Baccalà is one of my comfort foods. My grandmother Jenny always served it at Christmas, and we usually had it on the menu at Taverna Colleoni dell’Angelo in Bergamo. At the Taverna, we used to serve baccalà dell’Angelo, a salt cod casserole with anchovies and onions. Rich, creamy, and white, it always looked like ravioli filling to me. So when I came back to Philadelphia, I made this pasta dish with it. Marjoram helps soften the one-two punch of salt from the cod and anchovies. Look for whole anchovies packed in salt. For this recipe, separate one anchovy into two fillets, lift out the backbone, and soak the fillets in cold water for 20 minutes to cut the saltiness. Use one of the fillets in the recipe.

  MAKES 8 SERVINGS

  SALT COD FILLING

  8 ounces salt cod

  1 tablespoon unsalted butter

  1 tablespoon olive oil

  ¼ onion, finely chopped

  1 salted anchovy fillet, minced

  Pinch red pepper flakes

  1 tablespoon tipo 00 or all-purpose flour

  ½ cup milk

  ½ clove garlic, minced

  1 small bay leaf

  Freshly ground black pepper to taste

  8 ounces Basic Egg Pasta Dough, rolled into sheets

  ¾ cup unsalted butter

  2 tablespoons fresh marjoram leaves (roughly chopped if large), plus more for garnish

  For the filling: Soak the salt cod in cold water in the refrigerator for 24 hours, changing the water 3 times (this helps remove the excess salt). Cut the soaked cod into small pieces and set aside.

  Melt the butter with the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add the anchovy, pepper flakes, and salt cod, then sprinkle the flour into the pan. Sauté until the flour browns a little and begins to stick to the pan, stirring often. Stir in the milk and reduce the heat to low. Stir in the garlic and bay leaf, cover, and simmer until very soft and thickened, about 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and puree the mixture in a food processor until smooth. Season with pepper to taste. Makes about 1 cup.

  Lay a pasta sheet on a lightly floured work surface and dust with flour. Using a 2- to 2½-inch round cutter, punch out rounds of dough from the pasta sheet. Repeat with the remaining pasta dough.

  Spritz the rounds of dough lightly with water and place a rounded ¼ teaspoon filling in the center of each round. Fold the pasta rounds in half, forming half-moons that encase the filling. Gently press down the dough around each ball of filling to seal the edges. Makes about 64 half-moon-shaped raviolis.

  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the ravioli, quickly return to a boil, and cook until tender yet firm, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving the pasta water.

  Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. As soon as the butter melts, ladle in 2 cups of pasta water, add the 2 tablespoons marjoram, and boil over medium-high heat until the sauce is creamy, about 3 minutes.

  Slide the drained ravioli into the warm sauce. Toss gently until the sauce is creamy, adding more pasta water as needed.

  Divide among warm pasta bowls and garnish with marjoram leaves.

  PREP AHEAD

  The ravioli can be assembled, tossed with flour, and frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 days before cooking. Take the ravioli right from the freezer to the pasta water.

  BEVERAGE—Vallerosa Bonci, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 2008 “Carpaneto Vineyard” (Marche): Baccalà is enjoyed all over Italy with various wines, but it’s at its best alongside the crisp whites of the Marche on the Adriatic coast. Bonci’s simple but gutsy Verdicchio is all unexpected flavors and all sensational: green olive, honeydew melon, unripe peach, a hint of almond, and mineral-to-the-point-of-briny packed into a lean, tidy package.

  Getting Floury with the Kids

  On Sunday mornings, my oldest son, Maurice, loves to help make pasta or bread. He likes to toss flour onto the dough as I roll it through the machine. He squirts water onto the dough and plays with the water bottle like it’s a squirt gun, shooting me in the chest. We make ravioli. We roll out bread sticks. He loves it. The more I cook at home, the more great memories I have of hanging out in the kitchen with my family. Most of the recipes in this book are fun to make with your little ones, so don’t forget to get them involved in the action.

  Escarole Ravioli WITH PINE NUTS AND HONEY

  One of the joys of cooking at home is that you can switch up your menu every night. You can’t always do that in a restaurant. If a customer loves a certain dish, he or she usually orders it over and over. However, we do serve specials on a regular basis. It’s one of the things I love most about Vetri restaurant. Last year, we had a bumper crop of delicious escarole in the garden, but I was traveling for a week. I told my chefs to start using the escarole—to make something with it and put it on the menu. When I came back, I was happy to see this ravioli dish on the menu. But when I went to the garden, it was still full of escarole. I was stumped, but then I heard that my chefs had ordered the escarole from our vegetable farmer. I was pissed. Why would you pay to get escarole trucked into the city when you had perfectly great escarole growing out the back door in our own garden? I mean, c’mon! From now on, the chefs always check the garden first.

  MAKES 6 SERVINGS

  ESCAROLE FILLING

  Leaves from 1 head escarole (about 1½ pounds), rinsed and coarsely chopped

  1 tablespoon olive oil

  ½ onion, chopped

  ¾ cup ricotta impastata or drained whole-milk ricotta cheese

  2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg

  Salt and freshly ground pepper

  1 pound Basic Egg Pasta Dough, rolled into sheets

  3 tablespoons pine nuts

  6 tablespoons unsalted butter

  1 teaspoon honey

  ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

  For the filling: Dry the escarole thoroughly in a salad spinner or with paper towels. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft but not browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the escarole and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Puree the mixture in a food processor and transfer to a large double-layered square of cheesecloth. Tie it tightly with kitchen twine and put the bag in a strainer over a bowl. Let drain until most of the liquid drips out, at least 2 hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.

  Put the drained escarole in a bowl and mix in the ricotta and egg. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  Lay a pasta sheet on a lightly floured work surface and dust with flour. Trim so the edges are square, then fold the dough in
half lengthwise and make a small notch at the center. Open the sheet so it lies flat again and spritz with water. Starting at the left-hand side, place 2 lengthwise rows of ¾-inch-diameter balls of filling on the pasta, leaving a ¾-inch margin around each ball and stopping at the center of the sheet. Lift the right-hand side of the pasta sheet and fold it over to cover the balls of filling. Gently press on the dough around each ball of filling to seal. With a knife or pasta cutter, cut into 2-inch squares. Repeat with the remaining pasta dough and filling. Makes about 36 ravioli.

  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the ravioli and cook until tender yet firm, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain, reserving the pasta water.

  Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a large dry skillet over medium heat until lightly browned and fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes, shaking the pan often. Add the butter and cook, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts and turns deeply golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the honey and a ladle of pasta water and boil until creamy, about 2 minutes.

  Slide the drained ravioli into the warm sauce. Toss gently until the sauce is creamy, adding more pasta water as needed.

  Divide among warm pasta bowls and garnish with the Parmesan.

  PREP AHEAD

  The ravioli can be assembled, tossed wtih flour, and frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Take the ravioli right from the freezer to the pasta water.

  If you can’t find ricotta impastata, drain whole-mik ricotta instead. Line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place over a bowl. Put the ricotta in the sieve, cover, and let drain in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

  BEVERAGE—Cantina Terlano, Pinot Grigio 2008 (Alto Adige): This dish is both sweet and savory, so approaching it with contrast makes sense. Terlano’s Pinot Grigio is dry, slightly floral, crisp, and very minerally, but with enough weight to keep up with the escarole. It even displays a mild, honeyed, caramelized pineapple aroma that echoes the sauce.

  Veal Cannelloni with Porcini Béchamel

  Veal Cannelloni WITH PORCINI BÉCHAMEL

  I opened Amis, a casual Roman trattoria, around the corner from Vetri restaurant on January 15, 2010. A few months before opening, I was testing lots of baked pastas like lasagna. I started messing with cannelloni, which usually has a lighter filling. But it was the middle of winter, and we needed something hearty. I loved this veal stuffing in ravioli, so I decided to try it in cannelloni. It was perfect. All it needed was a flavored béchamel to go over the top. Porcini mushrooms were the way to go. When we opened the restaurant, this dish was an instant hit. As with most filled pastas, this one takes a bit of time to complete, but you can make the pasta, filling, and béchamel up to 3 days ahead of time, so all you have to do is assemble the cannelloni before baking it.

  MAKES 8 TO 10 SERVINGS

  FILLING

  1¼ pounds boneless veal breast, coarsely chopped

  Salt and freshly ground pepper

  1 cup finely chopped onion

  1 cup finely chopped celery

  ¼ cup water

  1¼ pounds ricotta impastata or drained whole-milk ricotta cheese

  1 egg, beaten

  8 ounces Basic Egg Pasta Dough, rolled into sheets

  2 cups Porcini Béchamel

  ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

  1 tablespoon chopped mixed fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, chives, and flat-leaf parsley)

  For the filling: Season the veal with salt and pepper. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, then sear the veal in the dry pan, turning occasionally, until all the moisture is gone and a dark brown film glazes the pan bottom, about 10 minutes.

  Lower the heat to medium and add the onion and celery to the pan. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the water, scraping the pan bottom and simmering to dissolve the browned bits. Remove from the heat and cool the pan by dipping the bottom in ice water. Cover the cool pan and freeze until the contents are firm but not frozen solid, about 1 hour. At the same time, freeze all the parts of a meat grinder. Or if you’re making the filling ahead, refrigerate the filling for up to 1 day, then freeze everything until firm but not frozen solid, about 30 minutes.

  Grind the cold meat mixture using a meat grinder fitted with a large die. If you don’t have a meat grinder, you can chop it in small batches in a food processor using 4-second pulses. Try not to chop it too finely; you don’t want meat puree. Weigh the mixture (it should be about 1¼ pounds), then add an equal weight of ricotta cheese. Stir in the egg and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch plain tip or into a ziplock plastic bag with one corner cut to make a small piping hole. Seal and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

  Lay a pasta sheet on a lightly floured work surface and cut into 4-inch squares. You should get 10 to 12 squares from the sheet. Repeat with the remaining pasta until you have a total of about 24 squares. Spritz the pasta lightly with water as you work to keep it from drying out. Refrigerate any remaining pasta for another use.

  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the pasta squares, quickly return to a boil, and cook for 15 to 20 seconds. Immediately transfer the squares to ice water to stop the cooking. Lay the pasta squares flat on kitchen towels and pat dry.

  Preheat the oven to 500°F. If you have convection, turn it on to help brown the top of the pasta.

  Pipe a 1-inch-thick line of the cold filling along one edge of each pasta square. Starting at the filled side, roll the pasta to the edge of the unfilled side to enclose the filling (see photos at the beginning of the recipe).

  Spread a thin layer of the béchamel over the bottom of a large baking dish. Place the cannelloni, seam side down, in the dish and top with the remaining béchamel. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and bake until the cheese melts and browns on top, 8 to 10 minutes. Garnish with the herbs before serving.

  PREP AHEAD

  The pasta, sauce, and filling can all be made ahead and refrigerated in airtight containers for 3 days. Reheat the sauce in a saucepan over low heat before assembling the dish.

  If you can’t find ricotta impastata, drain whole-mik ricotta instead. Line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place over a bowl. Put the ricotta in the sieve, cover, and let drain in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

  BEVERAGE—Andrea Oberto, Barbera d’Alba 2007 (Piedmont): True, Barbera goes with everything, but this plump, juicy, blackberry-driven example from Oberto becomes something new when the porcini béchamel summons an earthy, truffled note in the wine.

  Fazzoletti WITH SWISS CHARD AND SHEEP’S MILK RICOTTA

  Here’s one of the simplest rolled pastas to make: just squares of pasta. Fazzoletti means “handkerchiefs” and refers to the way the squares fold over themselves naturally when you toss the pasta with the sauce. I decided to doctor these up a little bit by stuffing them. You put a little filling on a square, fold the square into a triangle, then put on a little more filling and fold it again into a smaller triangle. When you bite into the pasta you get a cascading effect of pasta, filling, pasta, filling.

  MAKES 4 SERVINGS

  FILLING

  1 tablespoon olive oil

  12 ounces Swiss chard leaves (stems removed)

  2 cups sheep’s milk ricotta cheese or drained whole-milk ricotta

  1 egg, beaten

  Generous grating of nutmeg

  6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

  Salt and freshly ground pepper

  SAUCE

  2 tablespoons unsalted butter

  ¼ cup finely chopped onion

  2 tablespoons tipo 00 or all-purpose flour

  2 cups whole milk, heated

  Salt and freshly ground pepper

  8 ounces Basic Egg Pasta Dough, rolled into sheets

  6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

  18 fresh sage leaves

  Freshly cracked pepper, for garnish

  For the filling: Heat the oil in a
large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the chard and toss with tongs to coat with the oil. Cover the pan and cook, tossing occasionally, until the chard is tender, about 8 minutes. Cool briefly and chop into bite-size pieces. Mix with the ricotta, egg, nutmeg, Parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

  For the sauce: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft but not browned, about 3 minutes. Stir in the flour until the mixture is bubbling, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the hot milk in 3 additions, stirring until smooth and bubbling between each addition. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Strain the sauce and set aside to cool.

  Lay a pasta sheet on a lightly floured work surface, one long side parallel to the edge of the counter. Trim the short ends so they are straight and cut the sheet into 4-inch squares. Repeat with the remaining pasta, lightly spritzing the pasta with water as you go to keep it from drying out. You should have at least 16 pasta squares.

  Preheat the oven to 400°F.

  Put ½-tablespoon mounds of filling in the center of each square and sprinkle with about ½ teaspoon of the Parmesan. Fold each square in half again by bringing the opposite corners together over the filling to make a triangle and gently spreading out the filling as you fold, pressing the edges together to seal them. Spoon another ½-tablespoon mound of filling onto the center of the triangle. Sprinkle the filling with another ½ teaspoon Parmesan, then fold in half again into a smaller triangle, gently spreading out the filling and pressing the edges to seal. Put the folded fazzoletti on a lightly oiled baking sheet while you fill and fold the rest of the pasta sheets.