For the complete video click here.
For the whole lecture and recipes check the posts on May 21st, 22nd and 23rd.
Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Orecchiette alla caprese
For the complete video of this class click here.
LA CAPRESE:
La caprese รจ un antipasto with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and good olive oil. This is a variation for a quick and easy summery pasta sauce.
Ingredienti:
- pomodorini (cherry tomatoes), you can also use other kinds of tomatoes
- mozzarella fresca (fresh mozzarella, if you like it you can use mozzarella di bufala)
- foglie di basilico fresco (leaves of fresh basil)
- olio extravergine di oliva
- sale, pepe, peperoncino
- optional: capperi (capers). If you use capers in salt, rinse them well before use
- optional: percorino romano grattuggiato (grated)
If you do not like to cook a occhio, by eye, then for 4 people consider about 1 lb of pomodorini and 1 large mozzarella (7-8 oz).
Procedimento:
- lava e taglia (wash and cut) i pomodorini in quarters
- taglia la mozzarella a cubetti
- in una ciotola grande (in a large bowl) mescola (mix) i pomodorini, la mozzarella, few (washed) leaves of basil (whole, or broken in pieces, using your hands), olive oil, salt, pepper and red crushed pepper.
- If you like them, add a bunch of capperi and percorino romano.
- Your pasta sauce is ready, you do not need to cook anything! When the pasta is cooked and drained, mix all together in the bowl or in the pot.
Buon appetito =)
ORECCHIETTE FRESCHE:
Le orecchiette sono un tipo di pasta originario della regione Puglia.
Orecchietta lit. means little cute ear (orecchio or orecchia= ear).
Ingredienti (per 4 persone):
- 400 g di farina di grano duro (lit.flour of hard wheat -> durum flour, or sifted semolina flour - about 3 cups)
- un pizzico di sale
- acqua tiepida (warm water, as much as needed)
Procedimento:
- Impasta (knead) forcefully for at least 10 minutes. You want the dough to be hard, smooth and elastic. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes. If you do not have the patience (la pazienza) to wait it's ok ;)
- Roll pieces of dough into ropes as thin as a pens, and with a knife cut pieces of about 1/4". With your hands, or with the help of a knife, give these pieces the characteristic orecchietta shape.
Watch our videos or check out this link for visual help
http://www.gennarino.org/orecchiette.htm
- If you are not starving , let the orecchiette dry for a few hours.
Else skip this step.
- Cook your orecchiette in boiling salty water for about 10 minutes or until al dente.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Tagliatelle ai funghi
For the complete video of this class click here.
FUNGHI TRIFOLATI (= cooked with garlic and parsley):
Ingredienti:
- dried porcini or your favorite fresh funghi (mushrooms)
If you are making pasta for 4 people, use about 1 lb of fresh
mushrooms or 0.2 lb of dry mushrooms
- aglio (garlic), as much or as little as you want
- prezzemolo fresco (fresh Italian parsley)
- panna da cucina (the closest ingredient I found in the US is heavy cream), as much or as little as you want (you can use none)
- olio extravergine d'oliva, sale, pepe (pepper)
Procedimento:
- If you use dry mushrooms, soak them in warm water for about 1 hr.
If you use fresh mushrooms wash them and cut them in medium/small pieces.
- Make a soffritto (sweat) with garlic (whole cloves, easy to remove, or chopped) in olive oil
- aggiungi (add) i funghi e mescola (and mix). If you use dry mushrooms, you can add part of
the water in which you soaked them
- When the mushrooms are cooked (it takes 5-10 minutes), lower the heat to minimum, add heavy cream, salt, pepper and the parsley leaves (washed and finely chopped)
- Remove from the heat: i funghi sono pronti! Serve them mixed with your tagliatelle or
as a side dish (contorno)! If you want, top with your favorite grated cheese.
PASTA FRESCA: LE TAGLIATELLE
Ingredienti per 4 persone:
- 400 g =0.9 lb, a little more than 3 cups di farina (of flour - all purpose)
- 4 uova grandi (large eggs)
- un pizzico di sale (a pinch of salt)
- if needed to hold the dough together, due cucchiai di acqua tiepida (two spoons of warm water)
Procedimento:
- Place the flour on the counter or in una ciotola (a bowl), make a well in the center, put the eggs in the well and mix with your fingers or con l'aiuto (with the help) di una forchetta (of a fork).
If you use a pasta machine, lightly dust it and the dough with flour each time you run the pasta through it. Start from the widest setting and switch to the narrower until you reach the desired thickness.
If you use the rolling pin, be sure to dust it and the counter with flour; flatten down to a thickness on about half a mm. Essentially as thin as you can.
- Cut the pasta in your favorite shape. Tagliatelle are about 5-7 mm (0.2/0.3") wide, pappardelle are wider (1.5-2 cm)
Look here for some ideas
http://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Pasta-fresca-all-uovo.html
Commenti e variazioni:
- You can save the scrap pieces of irregular shape: they even have a name maltagliati (badly cut).
- Cook your pasta in boiling salty water for 3-5 minutes
- If you made too much, freeze it before you cook it. In that case do not let it thaw before cooking it.
- You can make pasta with less or senza uova (without eggs): in this case use only warm water.
FUNGHI TRIFOLATI (= cooked with garlic and parsley):
Ingredienti:
- dried porcini or your favorite fresh funghi (mushrooms)
If you are making pasta for 4 people, use about 1 lb of fresh
mushrooms or 0.2 lb of dry mushrooms
- aglio (garlic), as much or as little as you want
- prezzemolo fresco (fresh Italian parsley)
- panna da cucina (the closest ingredient I found in the US is heavy cream), as much or as little as you want (you can use none)
- olio extravergine d'oliva, sale, pepe (pepper)
Procedimento:
- If you use dry mushrooms, soak them in warm water for about 1 hr.
If you use fresh mushrooms wash them and cut them in medium/small pieces.
- Make a soffritto (sweat) with garlic (whole cloves, easy to remove, or chopped) in olive oil
- aggiungi (add) i funghi e mescola (and mix). If you use dry mushrooms, you can add part of
the water in which you soaked them
- When the mushrooms are cooked (it takes 5-10 minutes), lower the heat to minimum, add heavy cream, salt, pepper and the parsley leaves (washed and finely chopped)
- Remove from the heat: i funghi sono pronti! Serve them mixed with your tagliatelle or
as a side dish (contorno)! If you want, top with your favorite grated cheese.
PASTA FRESCA: LE TAGLIATELLE
Ingredienti per 4 persone:
- 400 g =0.9 lb, a little more than 3 cups di farina (of flour - all purpose)
- 4 uova grandi (large eggs)
- un pizzico di sale (a pinch of salt)
- if needed to hold the dough together, due cucchiai di acqua tiepida (two spoons of warm water)
Procedimento:
- Place the flour on the counter or in una ciotola (a bowl), make a well in the center, put the eggs in the well and mix with your fingers or con l'aiuto (with the help) di una forchetta (of a fork).
- Impasta (knead) thoroughly: the dough is very hard to knead but you want it to become smooth.
If you prefer you can use un robot da cucina (a food processor).
- Let the dough rest for about 1 hr (wrapped in plastic film). If you are
impatient, you can skip this step.
- Flatten the dough using a pasta machine or a rolling pin.If you use a pasta machine, lightly dust it and the dough with flour each time you run the pasta through it. Start from the widest setting and switch to the narrower until you reach the desired thickness.
If you use the rolling pin, be sure to dust it and the counter with flour; flatten down to a thickness on about half a mm. Essentially as thin as you can.
- Cut the pasta in your favorite shape. Tagliatelle are about 5-7 mm (0.2/0.3") wide, pappardelle are wider (1.5-2 cm)
Look here for some ideas
http://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Pasta-fresca-all-uovo.html
Commenti e variazioni:
- You can save the scrap pieces of irregular shape: they even have a name maltagliati (badly cut).
- Cook your pasta in boiling salty water for 3-5 minutes
- If you made too much, freeze it before you cook it. In that case do not let it thaw before cooking it.
- You can make pasta with less or senza uova (without eggs): in this case use only warm water.
Friday, May 11, 2012
La pasta frolla
For the complete video click here!
La pasta frolla is a basic dough for cookies and torte such as la crostata and la torta di frutta (I will post the recipe tomorrow).
Ingredienti (per una crostata per 6 persone, about 26 cm in diameter):
La pasta frolla is a basic dough for cookies and torte such as la crostata and la torta di frutta (I will post the recipe tomorrow).
Ingredienti (per una crostata per 6 persone, about 26 cm in diameter):
(250 g is about 0.55 lb)
- 250 g di farina (flour)
- 125 g di burro freddo tagliato a cubetti (cold butter
cut in cubes)
- 75 g di zucchero (sugar)
- 2 tuorli (or rossi) d'uovo (egg yolks) a temperatura ambiente (at
room temperature)
- mezza buccia di limone grattuggiata (half a lemon zest
grated)
- mezzo cucchiaino di lievito istantaneo (half a teaspoon
of baking powder)
- 1 pizzico di sale (a pinch of salt)
- 1 pizzico/1 goccio di vaniglia (pinch/tiny bit of
vanilla - goccia= drop)
Procedimento:
- In una ciotola (in a bowl) mescola (mix) la farina, il
lievito, lo zucchero, il sale e la buccia di limone.
- Aggiungi (add) i tuorli d'uovo e il burro. Impasta
(knead) con le dita (with -your- fingers) per meno di mezzo minuto (for less than half a minute).
- if it does not stick together, add some cold water or an egg white
- if it does not stick together, add some cold water or an egg white
- Form a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for
at least 30 minutes, ideally a couple of hours.
La pasta frolla is now pronta (ready) to make una torta or you can
simply flatten it, cut it in your favorite shapes and bake it (at 350 F) to
make biscotti.
Comments and
variations:
- you can use un robot da cucina
- you can prepare more dough and freeze it =)
- you can substitute all or part of the butter with extra
virgin olive oil: not
as tasty,
but healthier
- in a few years you can add 1/2 a tablespoon of scotch
to the dough
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Pasta con i broccoli
Ingredients:
- about 400g of pasta of any shape (I recommend short pasta)
- extravirgin OLIVE oil (use the amount of olive oil you are comfortable with, usually 2-3 spoons are enough)
- salt (sale), pepper (pepe), dry crushed red pepper (peperoncino)
- 2 garlic (aglio) cloves
- 2 anchovies (acciughe)
- 1 broccolo (yes, one broccolo, plural broccoli)
- grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese
Vegetarians can prepare the same sauce without anchovies.
Directions:
Heat a pot of water.
Wash the broccolo. Remove stem: cut high enough so that large individual broccoli florets fall away as you cut. If you want to eat the stem, slice it thinly.
When the water boils, add the salt and the broccoli. The broccoli take about 12 minutes
to cook, so if the pasta needs to cook for the same time, add the pasta immediately.
Most pasta shapes cook in less than 12 minutes, in this case you want to add the pasta after a few minutes.
In the meantime warm up the olive oil in a saucepan at low heat, add the garlic (the whole pressed cloves, or chopped or minced, according to your taste), the anchovies and peperoncino. The anchovies will melt.
Once drained, return the pasta to its pot or to the saucepan and sautee quickly over high heat.
Serve and top with grated cheese!
- about 400g of pasta of any shape (I recommend short pasta)
- extravirgin OLIVE oil (use the amount of olive oil you are comfortable with, usually 2-3 spoons are enough)
- salt (sale), pepper (pepe), dry crushed red pepper (peperoncino)
- 2 garlic (aglio) cloves
- 2 anchovies (acciughe)
- 1 broccolo (yes, one broccolo, plural broccoli)
- grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese
Vegetarians can prepare the same sauce without anchovies.
Directions:
Heat a pot of water.
Wash the broccolo. Remove stem: cut high enough so that large individual broccoli florets fall away as you cut. If you want to eat the stem, slice it thinly.
When the water boils, add the salt and the broccoli. The broccoli take about 12 minutes
to cook, so if the pasta needs to cook for the same time, add the pasta immediately.
Most pasta shapes cook in less than 12 minutes, in this case you want to add the pasta after a few minutes.
In the meantime warm up the olive oil in a saucepan at low heat, add the garlic (the whole pressed cloves, or chopped or minced, according to your taste), the anchovies and peperoncino. The anchovies will melt.
Once drained, return the pasta to its pot or to the saucepan and sautee quickly over high heat.
Serve and top with grated cheese!
Pasta all'amatriciana e pasta al pomodoro
It serves 4 ... depending on who is invited for dinner. On average consider 100g per person. Yes: we use a scale in the kitchen...and we cook by eye. You will never find a measuring cup in an Italian kitchen.
Ingredients:
- about 400g of bucatini, thick spaghetti or another pasta shape (it is difficult to find bucatini in an American grocery store) -- I usually buy the Barilla brand, one box contains 1 Lb ~ 454g.
- extravirgin OLIVE oil (use the amount of olive oil you are comfortable with, as long as it does not stick, usually 1 spoon is enough)
- salt (sale), pepper (pepe), dry crushed red pepper (peperoncino)
- about half teaspoon of sugar (zucchero)
- if you are at least 21, 1 glass of wine -- red or white, it does not have to be particularly good
- half chopped onion (cipolla)
- about 350g of PLAIN strained/chopped tomatoes (pomodori) -- I buy Pomi' at Shaws
- 100g of pancetta (lit. cute belly -> bacon) in cubes -- You can find cubetti (=little cubes) of pancetta Citterio, from Trader Joe's. I was told that in the US you make bacon from pig's cheek, also called jowl bacon, that is equivalent to our guanciale (the kind of pancetta I would use in Italy). You can use any good bacon and cut it in cubetti.
- grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese
Vegetarians can prepare the same sauce without pancetta, and the result is a tasty
tomato sauce. In this case you may want to add extra spices (e.g. basil, oregano).
Directions:
Cook the onion and olive oil at low heat in a saucepan. When the onion is soft and translucent the
sweat (il soffritto) is ready.
Add the diced pancetta until the bacon is brown.
Then pour the wine on the pancetta and onion mix -- if you have no wine just skip this step. Let it simmer on a high flame until almost dry. You want the alcohol to evaporate completely.
Add the tomatoes, half a glass of water, sugar, a pinch of salt, crushed red pepper and pepper as you like.
At this point you start heating a pot of water.
Let the sauce cook on a low flame for at least 20 minutes (if you leave it longer you may need to add water), mixing from time to time.
About 10 minutes before dinner add salt to the boiling water you heated in the pot and cook the pasta al dente.
Once drained, return the pasta to its pot or to the saucepan and mix quickly with the sauce on the low flame.
Serve and top with grated cheese!
How much salt do you need to put in the boiling water for pasta?
Start with a small amount (1-2 spoons), after the pasta has cooked for a few minutes taste it and decide whether you want to add more salt. In Italy we use coarse salt (sale grosso), but in the US fine (regular) salt is more common. Notice that if you use iodized salt you may need a little more because ... it is less salty :)
Ingredients:
- about 400g of bucatini, thick spaghetti or another pasta shape (it is difficult to find bucatini in an American grocery store) -- I usually buy the Barilla brand, one box contains 1 Lb ~ 454g.
- extravirgin OLIVE oil (use the amount of olive oil you are comfortable with, as long as it does not stick, usually 1 spoon is enough)
- salt (sale), pepper (pepe), dry crushed red pepper (peperoncino)
- about half teaspoon of sugar (zucchero)
- if you are at least 21, 1 glass of wine -- red or white, it does not have to be particularly good
- half chopped onion (cipolla)
- about 350g of PLAIN strained/chopped tomatoes (pomodori) -- I buy Pomi' at Shaws
- 100g of pancetta (lit. cute belly -> bacon) in cubes -- You can find cubetti (=little cubes) of pancetta Citterio, from Trader Joe's. I was told that in the US you make bacon from pig's cheek, also called jowl bacon, that is equivalent to our guanciale (the kind of pancetta I would use in Italy). You can use any good bacon and cut it in cubetti.
- grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese
Vegetarians can prepare the same sauce without pancetta, and the result is a tasty
tomato sauce. In this case you may want to add extra spices (e.g. basil, oregano).
Directions:
Cook the onion and olive oil at low heat in a saucepan. When the onion is soft and translucent the
sweat (il soffritto) is ready.
Add the diced pancetta until the bacon is brown.
Then pour the wine on the pancetta and onion mix -- if you have no wine just skip this step. Let it simmer on a high flame until almost dry. You want the alcohol to evaporate completely.
Add the tomatoes, half a glass of water, sugar, a pinch of salt, crushed red pepper and pepper as you like.
At this point you start heating a pot of water.
Let the sauce cook on a low flame for at least 20 minutes (if you leave it longer you may need to add water), mixing from time to time.
About 10 minutes before dinner add salt to the boiling water you heated in the pot and cook the pasta al dente.
Once drained, return the pasta to its pot or to the saucepan and mix quickly with the sauce on the low flame.
Serve and top with grated cheese!
How much salt do you need to put in the boiling water for pasta?
Start with a small amount (1-2 spoons), after the pasta has cooked for a few minutes taste it and decide whether you want to add more salt. In Italy we use coarse salt (sale grosso), but in the US fine (regular) salt is more common. Notice that if you use iodized salt you may need a little more because ... it is less salty :)
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