Recently in scordo pasta challenge Category

The other night I responded to my mother's question by stating that I cooked mafalde (a wide flat pasta shape with ruffled edges and shape #77 in the Scordo Pasta Challenge) with wild dandelion greens, onion, garlic, cubed salmon and black grouper, and extra virgin olive oil.  My mother's response went something like this, "ah, typical Vinny dish" meaning while I respect classic dishes I often improvise with weekday meals where I'm driven by 1., what's available at the market and in our pantry and 2., time! 

I like orecchiette because the shape holds the condiment or sauce well making it a very versatile pasta shape.  

Baking requires precision and following recipes one to one; a process that goes against our imporvizational talents and cooking whatever looks good at the market or is contained in our Italian pantry.  For example, the following pasta dish came about because the acclaimed (sarcasm) writer for Scordo.com returned from a tough tennis match famished and was faced with the prospect of a Saturday filled with hunger or making a pasta dish with whatever was available in the house.  

Recently, I was fortunate enough to try Calugi's dry tagliolini from Cambiano Castelfiorentino situated between Livorno and Firenze in northwestern Italy.  Calugi makes their tagliolini with eggs and flour but adds truffle for a subtle flavor component.  Calugi uses a special process to create their handmade pasta using special machines regulated at a very low speed to guarantee a perfectly even dough. The dough is then rolled out, cut and laid on special sheets of paper - all folded in the traditional way. The pasta is left in special drying rooms at room temperature with a gradual but continuous change of air for about two days.  The pasta is then beautifully packaged - the best I've seen! 

In many Indian religious traditions, such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, it is believed that when a human dies s/he is reborn into a new body.  You'll also find the same concept in Greek philosophical thought.  In my view, the idea of reincarnation sounds pretty damn good, but I'd certainly wouldn't want to come back as a living and breathing thing (certainly, not a human being with all of the complexities associated with consciousness and morality - one lifetime of figuring out what to believe in, what is right and wrong, and how one ought to live is plenty for me ).  Rather, I'd want to come back as a perfect representation of food (to serve a single function and then expire <read: be eaten!>).  Some of the examples I've been thinking about include the tomato, the fig, cured pork, and pasta.  Just think: coming back as a pasta shape to be made into a wonderful dish that is consumed by a hungry Italian who would be instantly satisfied (how's that for a fulfilling, yet short, existence).

You have to admire any book that documents well over 110 authentic Italian pasta sauces and the hundreds of pasta shapes that marry best to a given sauce.  If a book goes further and contains beautifully rendered graphic shapes for each pasta then you have a timeless cookbook that should be part of every Italian kitchen.  

Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kenedy's recently published The Geometry of Pasta, in it's simplest form, is a guide to basic pasta shapes (and a topic that has been covered exhaustively by Oretta Zanini De Vita in her magnificent work the Encyclopedia of Pasta).  However, what elevates the book to a worthwhile work is the emphasis on the critical, and often overlooked concept that:

the form (namely, the pasta shape) is critical, and deeply related to, the flavor (pasta condiment or sauce).

Begin to prepare your lasagna by placing the pasta on the bottom of a pan, then add sauce, mozzarella, and grated cheese. Repeat until your ingredients run out!  Note: the top layer should be the sauce with a bit of grated cheese, if you'd like. Place aluminum foil over baking dish and bake in oven at 375°F for 40 minutes.  The ideal lasagna should be about the right combination of pasta, tomato sauce, and cheeses and not simply a cheese bomb!

 

Here, then, is my recipe made with, mostly, chicken brodo and spinach tortellini.  Tortellini is also a pasta so this counts towards the Scordo Pasta Challenge - shape #145)    

You can prepare your pasta in a separate pot and add to your soup pot five minutes prior to the pasta being fully cooked.  You can finish cooking the tortellini in the brodo (on a high simmer / light bowl).  

 

(photo: hot broth ready for tortellini)

You can of course make your own tortellini or buy some perfectly fine tortellini from your local Italian specialty store.  I like spinach tortellini for the color and subtle flavor of the spinach in the dough.  Add grated Parmigiano-Reggiano before serving and enjoy with a cold glass of lager or white wine.  Note: I know purist would argue for a lighter colored brodo but I enjoy a slightly darker brodo simply because of the enhanced flavor; moreover, I also like adding some of the meat used to make the brodo in the serving bowl along with the tortellini.

I bet you thought the Scordo Pasta Challenge lost a bit of steam during the late summer!  You shouldn't, however, fear because we're back with shape #72A, the extraordinary linguine fine (a variation of the standard linguine shape that's quick cooking <4 minutes!> and wonderful with delicate sauces such as calamari in tomato sauce.).

(photo: the calamari are then stewed in tomato sauce for about 10 minutes)

(photo: chicken legs with whie wine, onion, zucchini, and a bit of hot pepper)

Zitoni Casarecci is an extremely long pasta which is bent about halfway in length (it's about 4x the length of a typical strand of linguine).  The pasta has a large hole running the length of it's shape and holds sauce / condiment very well.  The short version of Casarecci goes well with a meat sauce and so does the Zitoni variant.  My Calabrian mother informed me that Zitoni Casarecci was often sold at her local pasta shape in Pellegrina (Bagnara Calabra) by the pound (dry of course, as fresh pasta is not often found in Calabria).  The pasta designated an important time and was only purchased a few times a year (due to cost).  Typically, the pasta is broken into short lengths before boiling.  I was especially excited about the quality of the Casarecci and I've been re-energized to continue the Scordo Pasta Challenge!

The Scordo Pasta Challenge putters along even in the oppressive East coast heat - long live the king of starches.   
(photo: the boil; 6-7 minutes)


(photo: tossed in olive oil, parsley, and garlic)


(photo: the pasta obsession is passed on to the next generation)

I used Rustichella Chitarra and prepared a pesto sauce to accompany the pasta.  The squared edges on the long pasta did a great job of adhering to the wonderfully thick and aromatic pesto sauce (see my recipe via Genoa-born neighbor Amelia).  The pesto sauce recipe has an interesting ingredient, so be sure to click through!

(photo: salad with Romaine, dandelion greens, tomatoes, Persian cucumber, red onion, Greek feta with a mustard dressing)

My pasta intake is increasing in proportion to my current home improvement projects; good for getting weekend project completed but not for the author's waistline.  Long live the Scordo Pasta Challenge.  

When it comes to living life, I'm a sucker for both luxurious and practical things.  I'm equally comfortable driving a Honda or a Mercedes-Benz or living amongst nose-in-the-air snobs or dyed in the wool blue collar types.  I lean towards the practical and modest side of living, but who doesn't like nice, luxurious, things on occasion.  

When selecting vegetables at the market I'm drawn to fancy Sicilian eggplant or in season fava beans (think of these vegetables as the equivalent of fancy German vehicles), but when it comes to the ultimate practical (or working class) vegetable it's Escarole that gets me excited (think of Escarole as the Honda Accord of greens).   

Escarole is a workhorse vegetable and is incredibly easy to prepare and almost impossible to overcook.  Escarole goes well with beans and a hearty broth or as an alternative to sautéed spinach.  Recently, I've been experimenting with escarole and pasta combinations (given, you guessed it, the Scordo Pasta Challenge). In turn, I've come up my definitive escarole and pasta dish: Sauteed escarole with garlic, onion, potato, red pepper flakes, and imported Italian provola.

Here are the ingredients:

- ¾ of a head of escarole (small to medium size head)

- 4 large cloves of garlic

- ¼ of a potato, thinly sliced.

- ½ a large onion (red or white)

- 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

- ½ cup of pasta water

- ¼ pound of linguine 

- 3-4 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil

- 1 cup of grated imported provola (by the best you can afford and grate it like you would for a pizza <shredded>)

(photo: combined ingredients minus the pasta and provola)