A DUO OF DELECTABLE PASTA RECIPES

Recipes Excerpted from “Pasta Sfoglia” by Ron Suhanosky

RISOTTO ALL’AMARONE, PRUNES, CRUSHED AMARETTI

I saw red wine used to make risotto for the first time when we were working at La Crota, near Alba. RISOTTO AL BAROLO is a classic dish in which Barolo, a full-bodied red wine, is used instead of the more traditional white wine. For my dish, I’ve chosen another full-bodied red wine, Amarone, because its lush, ripe flavor works so well with the prunes and amaretti.

SERVES 4–6

2 tablespoons grape seed oil
1 cup coarsely chopped onions
2 cups carnaroli rice
1 cup Amarone wine
6 cups water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup quartered pitted prunes
6 amaretti cookies (3 double packages), crushed

1. Add the grape seed oil and onions to a 3-quart saucepan. Turn on the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. (It’s important that the onions don’t take on color.)

2. Add the rice to the pan and stir into the onions. Let the rice “toast,” or dry out—you’ll see the kernels become opaque—about 1 to 2 minutes. Agitate the pan from time to time to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom. Add 1/2 cup of the Amarone and cook until evaporated. Begin to add the water, 2 cups at a time. Keep stirring in order to release the starch. Continue to shake the pan. When a wooden spoon dragged through the rice reveals a pathway, add the next 2 cups water. Add the salt and pepper.

3. During the addition of the remaining 2 cups water, add 3 tablespoons of the butter and the Parmesan cheese. Begin to make the topping: Add the prunes, the remaining 1/2 cup Amarone, and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter to a small skillet. Turn on the heat to medium high. Reduce the liquid to a syrup, about 8 to 10 minutes.

4. Add the risotto to a warm shallow bowl. Place the topping in the center and let it sink into the risotto. Garnish with the crushed amaretti. Alternatively, make individual plates for each person to be served.

5. Serve immediately.

GOAT’S MILK CHEESE, PUMPKIN, CANNELLONI, BÉCHAMEL, PUMPKIN SEEDS, BREAD CRUMBS

On one of our visits to the great pasta city of Bologna, Colleen and I took a chance and ate at a little restaurant that we had noticed as we walked around the city. We were delighted with the food that we were served. One dish that stayed with me was the pumpkin-filled tortellini served floating in a delicious broth. I was sold on the combination of pureed pumpkin wrapped in pasta.

As I very often honor the places where I’ve had good food experiences, I offer this recipe, created for the city of Bologna not only because of its pumpkin and pasta combination but also because of its classic besciamella, béchamel, which is a much-used sauce in the city’s cucina.

Makes 12 Cannelloni | Serves 4–6

1 recipe Fresh Egg Pasta, cut into sheets for filled pasta (below)
One 3-pound pumpkin, such as New England sugar pie, wrapped in aluminum foil
1 pound Goat’s Milk Cheese
1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 cups whole milk
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
Grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the foil-wrapped pumpkin until a tester easily passes through it, about 2 1/4 hours. Remove the pumpkin and lower the oven to 250°F. Let the pumpkin cool before opening it.

2. Cut open the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. Rinse the seeds and spread them out evenly on a baking sheet with sides. Bake in the 250°F oven until brown and crispy, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove the flesh of the pumpkin from the rind. It should yield about 2 cups (see Note) Raise the oven heat to 400°F.

3. Add the goat’s milk cheese, 3/4 cup of the pumpkin flesh, 1 teaspoon of the salt, 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper, the nutmeg, and maple syrup to a large mixing bowl. Fold together to combine.

4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta sheets to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Plunge the pasta into a large mixing bowl filled with ice water to halt the cooking. Let cool. Lay the pasta sheets fl at on a clean, dry work surface and moisten each sheet with a drop of olive oil. They can be piled one on top of the other.

5. MAKE THE BÉCHAMEL: Scald the milk and bay leaf in a nonreactive saucepan over high heat. Remove from the heat. Brown the butter with the remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a nonreactive saucepan over high heat. Add the flour and stir continuously until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup of the warm milk to the fl our mixture and stir to fully incorporate. Add the mixture back into the warm milk. Turn the heat to medium and whisk until the mixture resembles sour cream.

6. Spread the olive oil in a baking dish. Cut 2 inches off the length of each pasta sheet and cut each sheet into 6 by 4-inch pieces. Line up the pasta pieces lengthwise on a clean, dry work surface. Evenly distribute ¼ cup of the goat cheese–pumpkin filling about 1 inch from the bottom of each sheet. Roll, making sure that the seams overlap. Place each roll seam side down, side by side, in two rows, in the baking dish. Pour all but 1 cup of the béchamel over the top. Combine the bread crumbs and 1 cup toasted pumpkin seeds and sprinkle over the top. Place the baking dish on a baking sheet with sides. Bake until the sides are bubbling and the top is golden brown, about 1 hour.

7. Place the cannelloni on a warm serving platter or make individual dishes for each person. Nap with the remaining béchamel.

8. Serve immediately with grated Parmesan cheese.

NOTE: Freeze leftover pumpkin flesh in an airtight container for future use.

FRESH EGG PASTA

Sitting at the table in my great-grandmother’s kitchen, watching her make pasta, is where my story begins. At her home every Sunday, instead of playing with my sisters, I gravitated toward the kitchen, fond of the comfort I felt being around Big Nonna—my mother’s grandmother. I liked the way she moved around her kitchen.

I watched her make many pasta dishes, and for those that required fresh pasta, I watched her make that, too. I bought my first hand-crank pasta maker when I was sixteen, and it wasn’t long before I started to experiment with making my own versions of her egg pasta. Over the years, I have refined my dough recipe until I finally settled on this one. I’ve also realized that an electric machine is the most expeditious way to roll and cut pasta. Because the electric machine works so quickly and precisely, the task of making fresh pasta becomes less intimidating.

I find that the food processor method works best when you’re making a small amount of dough. The blade of the processor not only incorporates the ingredients, but also helps to knead the dough.

MAKES ABOUT 1 POUND DOUGH | SERVES 4–6

2 cups all-purpose fl our
3 eggs
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Rice flour for dusting

1. Add the all-purpose fl our, eggs, extra virgin olive oil, and salt to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse several times until the dough resembles medium crumbs.

2. Turn out the dough onto a clean, dry, rice fl our–dusted work surface. Gather the dough together and knead it until it comes together and is smooth and elastic. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel or plastic film and let rest for at least 10 minutes or up to 2 hours.

STORAGE: The dough, tightly wrapped with plastic film, can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 2 weeks. Defrost in the refrigerator. The dough will discolor slightly, but its flavor will not be affected.

THIS DOUGH IS USED FOR: pappardelle, tagliatelle, fettuccine, lasagne, rotoli, spaghetti,and filled pasta.

To cut the fresh pasta for filled pasta: cuscinetti, ravioli, triangoloni, tortellini, lasagne,
cannelloni, and rotoli with an electric pasta maker

1 Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Flatten each piece into a disk and dust with rice flour.

2 Set the roller of the electric pasta maker at number 1. Feed the disks, one at a time, through the roller three times. Fold each end of the dough to meet in the middle and press down on the middle to seal. Feed the open side of the dough through the roller three times. Fold the ends to meet in the middle and press down to seal.

3 Adjust the setting to number 2. Feed the open side of the dough through the roller twice.

4 Adjust the setting to number 3. Feed the dough through the roller twice. The sheet will be quite long now. Cut it in half and feed each piece through the roller once more.

5 Adjust the setting to number 4. Feed the pasta sfoglie through the roller twice.

6 Adjust the setting to number 5. Feed the pasta sfoglie through the roller twice. Dust each sfoglia with rice flour and layer one on top of the other. If you aren’t going to use the pasta sfoglie right away, cover them with a slightly dampened kitchen towel to keep them from drying out. Do not refrigerate—the sfoglie will stick together.

7 Cut the pasta sfoglie according to the individual recipes.

FILLED PASTA WITH A HAND-CRANK PASTA MAKER: Proceed as directed for the electric pasta maker, except at number 5, feed the pasta sfoglie through three times.