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We're All About Italy

Cucina

Everything You Need to Know About Pasta

5/6/2020

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The History of Pasta

  • Dispelling a myth: The popular legend that Marco Polo brought back Chinese pasta is in fact a fictional story invented at the beginning of the 20th century by Macaroni Journal, an American journal published by the pasta industry and perpetuated in Hollywood films.
  • Of course, the Chinese had their own evolution of noodles: The earliest written record of noodles made from wheat is from a book dated to the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD).
  • In 2002, archaeologists found an earthenware bowl containing world's oldest known noodles made from millet flour, about 4000 years old, at the Lajia archaeological site along the Yellow River in China.
  • Proof that Marco Polo didn't discover pasta in China is found in a will penned in the year 1279 by Ponzio Baestone, a Genovese soldier who referenced "bariscella peina de macarone" (a small basket of macaroni). This was written 16 years before Marco Polo returned from China.
  • There is archaeological evidence suggesting the Etruscans made pasta as early as 400 B.C.
  • The Roman poet Horace wrote in 35 B.C., “I come back home to my pot of leek, peas and laganum”. Laganum was a flat dough, cooked first in water, then fried in oil, and in later years the frying was omitted.
  • Historians think laganum was the first sheet pasta and was used like lasagna is used today. Written in the 1st century A.D., the Roman cookbook Apicius, contains a recipe that describes layering laganum with meat and other ingredients like modern day lasagna.
  • The first Western mention of boiled noodles (called itriyah) is in the Jerusalem Talmud of the fifth century A.D., written in Aramaic, where the authors debate whether the boiled dough satisfied the laws about the use of unleavened bread.
  • In the 9th century, there are at least two written descriptions of itriyah (used as an Arab word) being used to describe the long, flat pasta called vermicelli (little worms).
  • In the 12th century, an Arab geographer, commissioned by the Norman king of Sicily, reported seeing pasta called itriyah being made.
  • From itriyah is derived the current day Sicilian dialect word for spaghetti, tria.
  • By 1400, pasta was being produced commercially in Italy. The pasta dough was kneaded by foot, a process that could take all day long. The dough was then extruded through bronze dies under great pressure, via a large screw press powered by two men or one horse. This pasta was dried for long storage.
  • In the 14th century, Sardinian merchants used the expression obra de pasta to refer to the dry pastas that they exported abroad.
  • Pasta came first... tomatoes were introduced in Italy in the 16th century but were not paired with pasta until the 18th century.
  • Thomas Jefferson was credited for bringing the first macaroni machine to America in 1789 after falling in love with macaroni in Naples.
  • The industrial era began at the end of the 19th century with the development of hydraulic presses, when all pastas were made from hard wheat.
  • The spread of pasta around the world was due in part to the immigration of Italians at the end of the 19th century, who brought their recipes and techniques to the USA and Latin America.
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Drying spaghetti, Naples 1900.
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Pasta press, 1950s, Naples
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Modern pasta extruding

Interesting Pasta Facts

  • Contrary to the Great Spaghetti Tree Harvest April Fool’s Day Hoax of 1957, pasta never has grown on trees.
  • The average person in Italy eats more than 51 pounds of pasta every year.
  • The average person in America eats only 15 pounds of pasta every year.
  • Top-quality pasta in Italy is made from durum wheat flour, which curiously is grown in North Dakota and shipped to Italy.
  • The United States with a population of over 320 million people produces 1.9 million tons of pasta annually.
  • Italy has about 60 million people and produces 2.75 million tons of pasta annually.
  • Each year, over 13 million tons of pasta are produced worldwide.
  • To cook one billion pounds of pasta, you would need over two billion gallons of water--enough to fill 75,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.
  • In Italy, pasta is the first, or Primo course and stands on its own.
  • In Italy, meat is not served in pasta recipes, but is served as the Secundo (second) course.
  • In Italy, pasta may be served with certain fruits of the sea, such as mussels or octopus.
  • Spaghetti and meatballs doesn’t exist in Italy, aside from in tourist restaurants.
  • The regional Abruzzo dish, Chitarra con Pallottini, is the closest thing to spaghetti and meatballs in Italy, pairing tiny meatballs with square sided spaghetti made on a wired pasta tool called a chitarra.
  • Spaghetti Bolognese doesn’t exist in Italy. In the area of Bologna the dish is called Ragù con tagliatelle.
  • Pasta isn't always cream colored: spinach makes it green, red pasta uses tomato, dark gray or black pasta uses squid ink, orange pasta contains carrots or pumpkin, green pasta can contain spinach or basil.
  • There are approximately 1500 different pasta shapes in Italy, with perhaps 5 times the number of names for each pasta shape, depending on region.
  • The most popular shapes of pasta in the U.S. are spaghetti, penne and rotini.
  • Historically in France, pasta were called nouilles, macaroni and lasagnas. In Provence, they were called menudez, macarons, vermisseaux or fidiaux.
  • There are two types of pasta: Fresh and dried. The fresh type is typically made with eggs, but can also be made with just water or olive oil and is used immediately or can be frozen for later use.
  • Dry pasta is made using water, and since it contains no eggs can be stored for very long periods of time--often years. Historically, before refrigeration, dry pasta was considered a long storage food.
  • A little known fact is that even pasta made with eggs, if dried completely, and kept in low humidity environment, can be stored for long periods of time.
  • 100% whole wheat pasta contains more fiber which causes it to be digested slower than regular pasta, causing a measurably higher calorie intake.
  • In the 1300s, Pope Benedict XII set strict quality standards for pasta.
  • The word pasta means "paste" in Italian, referring to the paste of water and flour created when making pasta.  
  • The longest single strand of pasta measured 12,388’ 5” and was achieved by Lawson Inc. in Tokyo , Japan, on 20 October 2010.
  • The world’s record for the most pasta consumed was broken by Matt Stonie, of hot-dog eating fame. He consumed 10 pounds in 8 minutes.
  • The first American pasta factory was opened in Brooklyn, New York, in 1848, by Antoine Zerega. He used a horse to power his machinery and dried the pasta on the roof.
  • One cup of cooked spaghetti contains 200 calories, 40 grams of carbs, and less than one gram of total fat.
  • There is no cholesterol in pasta made with water.
  • Linguini means "little tongue" and Vermicelli means "little worms". Many pasta names have meanings to describe their shape.
  • Couscous is a type of pasta.
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Cooking and Making Pasta
  • To cook 1 pound of pasta, you should boil at least 1 gallon of water. Most Americans don't use enough water when cooking pasta.
  • When cooking pasta in water, use the largest pot you have or your pasta might become a slimy, starchy mess.
  • You need to add sea salt to pasta water when cooking—enough to give the water the taste of the sea. A good handful will add lots of flavor to your pasta.
  • Adding salt also makes water boil faster.
  • Pasta should be added only after the water has come to a rapid boil.
  • Pasta can actually be “cooked” by soaking in warm water: Salt the water and stir. Add pasta let sit for 30 minutes, until the pasta rehydrates. This method is best to hydrate small pasta shapes intended to be added to soups.
  • You can use regular lasagna noodles in the same way as “no boil” noodles. Just be sure there is enough moisture covering the pasta when assembling your lasagna casserole.  
  • Never add oil to pasta water, no matter what your mother told you. The oil would prevent sauces from sticking to pasta.
  • To prevent any pasta from sticking together, after adding the pasta to the boiling water, give the pasta and water a couple of swirls with a wooden spoon.
  • To cook spaghetti, do not break in half, but add to the large pot of boiling water in a fan like motion. Within seconds, use a wooden spoon or tongs to gently push the spaghetti strands down into the water. Give a couple of stirs to the water.
  • If you have average sized hands and grip spaghetti between your thumb and forefinger (making a circle about 1-1/4” across), that should give you enough for two servings.
  • Cover your pasta pot with a lid left 1-2” open along one side to prevent it boiling over.
  • To prevent spill-overs, place a large wooden spoon across one side of the pot, then rest the lid on top.
  • Pasta should be cooked al dente (to the tooth). You can test a piece of pasta by biting into it. If you still see a little white center and there still a resistance in the pasta when bitten, it is done.
  • Undercook pasta slightly when making a recipe that requires adding pasta to a sauté pan to finish cooking in the sauce. The liquids of the sauce will finish cooking the pasta and add flavor to it.  
  • Store bought, dried pasta cooks in 8-12 minutes. Wheat or spinach pasta takes longer. Fresh pasta cooks quickly within 3-4 minutes.  
  • When finishing your pasta along with a sauce in a sauté pan, add 2-3 tablespoons of the pasta cooking water to the pan. The starchy water will help the sauce thicken.  
  • You can drain pasta with a spider or scolapasta (colander), but don’t rinse it. Rinsing would remove starch which helps sauces stick to your pasta.
  • Sauces should be tossed with the pasta (allowing the sauce to be soaked up by the pasta) instead of serving naked pasta with sauce sitting on top.
  • Anyone can make fresh pasta without a machine: Place the flour on a work surface in a volcano shaped mound. You can then make a basin in the middle of the volcano to contain eggs or water. You then use hands or a fork to mix the flour into the wet ingredients until a rough dough is formed. Knead the dough until smooth for 5-10 minutes, then roll or shape your pasta.  
  • Fresh pasta can be made with a variety, or even a mix of flours: durum semolina, finely-milled 00 flour, all-purpose flour, buckwheat flour, wheat flour, etc. Never use bread flour to make pasta as it contains too much protein and creates too much gluten.    
  • Fresh pasta can be laid out on sheet pans lined with cotton kitchen towels, lightly dusted with flour or corn meal, then dried for later use.
  • Fresh pasta, after dried, can be frozen, spread apart on sheet pans, then when rock hard, bagged for future use.
  • The secret to making ravioli that don’t explode when boiled is making sure that there are no air pockets in with the filling when you seal them.
  • Frozen, “fresh” pasta can be stored in a freezer for 3 months.
  • Making fresh pasta is easy to do, even by hand. You can learn to make many traditional shapes with nothing more than your hands, fingers, a rolling pin, a bench scraper and a long knife.
  • If a pasta dough is well worked, smooth then rested, it should not give any problems or stick when run through a pasta machine.
  • Fresh pasta dough should be covered and rested for one hour before running through a pasta machine.
  • A batch of pasta dough can be divided into 4 equal pieces, then roughly shaped and rolled into ¼” thick rectangles, ready for rolling through a pasta machine.
  • Pasta machines typically have numbered settings, from thickest to thinnest. You start rolling, twice on each number, from thickest to the thinnest setting that matches the type of pasta you are making. Not all pasta types should be paper thin, as a slightly thicker pasta holds heavier sauces better.
  • When using a pasta machine (the roller type), never clean it with water. Just lightly brush off any residue. If your pasta dough is made correctly, it will not be sticky or floury. If it feels sticky, then your pasta dough needs a little more flour, not your pasta machine.
  • You don’t need a machine or roller to make pasta. You can use a rolling pin to flatten your pasta and then cut your shapes with a pasta cutting roller or a knife. You can cut strips of fettuccine, squares for making ravioli or tortellini, or snakes cut into 2” long pieces for making dumpling shapes, like cavatelli.
  • Before cooking fresh pasta, you should dry it for at least 30 minutes.
  • Dust freshly made pasta with a bit of flour, then lay out in one layer on sheet pans to dry.
  • For long pasta, like fettuccini or spaghetti, flour the pasta and drop into loose “nests” on a sheet pan to dry.
  • Fresh pasta can be totally dried in 24 hours for longer storage.
  • Fresh pasta, after an initial drying, can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
  • After totally drying fresh pasta on sheet pans, they can be placed into a freezer until rock hard, then stored in plastic bags for use within 2-3 months.
  • Don't place sauces on top of naked pasta, instead, either finish the pasta in the saucepan or mix the sauce with the pasta in a large pasta bowl.
  • Which pasta to use for a recipe depends on the type of sauce:
    1. Tubular shapes like penne and ziti are perfect with hearty, thick sauces like ragu.
    2. Pasta with ridges, called rigate, grip sauce even better.
    3. Wide, flat pastas like pappardelle are ideal for holding creamy sauces.
    4. Long, round pastas like spaghetti are best with oil or tomato sauces, which coat each strand evenly.
    5. Chunky vegetable or meaty sauces are best paired with larger shapes that have cups or large cavities to grip the large particles.

--Jerry Finzi

Useful Pasta Tools on Amazon
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You might also be interested in...

Map of Italian Regional Pastas
Corzetti: A Regional Pasta that Really Leaves an Impression
Sugo: The "Sunday Gravy" of my Childhood
Discover Pallottine from Abruzzo
The Light Way to Make Potato Gnocchi
The Rarest Pasta in the World - Threads of GodTorta Rigatoni
Piede Bolognese al Forno - Baked Standing Rigatoni Pie with Bolognese




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When I Was a Kid, I Learned that Spaghetti Grew on Trees...

4/30/2020

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I'm not a gullible man. Even as a boy, I wasn't one to believe everything I was told. I always asked questions... "Why? Where? When? How?" I read lots of books, including my entire encyclopedia set and my Atlas. I loved science and the arts. I used both sides of my brain. But as a 12-year-old watching the old Jack Parr show in 1963, I tended to to go by the old adage, "Seeing is believing"--especially if you see it on TV!

Big mistake!

What I saw was a very legitimate sounding short documentary film with a very scholarly, British voice talking about the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, and mentioning the "tremendous scale of the Italian's... (harvest)" and the "vast spaghetti plantations in the Po valley". From that point on, until I was in my early twenties, I actually believed there was some sort of special tree or bush in Italy that produced some sort of spaghetti... fruit, pod or otherwise. It wasn't until I saw Jack Parr himself talking about the hoax on the Tonight Show in the early 1970s that I learned the embarrassing truth--a "truth" that I would argue about with my non-Italian friends growing up... "Real Italian spaghetti grows on trees!", I would insist.

Parr claimed they didn't get a single call about the segment and most people bought it hook, line and sinker. OK, so maybe I was a bit gullible. But it was a very convincing documentary film, produced originally as a serious film for, of all things, a British news show... and besides, I was only 12!

On April 1, 1957, on April Fool's Day (Pesce d'Aprile in Italian), the BBC television show Panorama aired the short "documentary" about the "spaghetti harvest" in Ticino, Switzerland, on the border of the Italian Alps. The film shows spaghetti trees ripe with long strands of spaghetti and a farming family harvesting by hand, putting the spaghetti into baskets and then carefully laying them out to dry in the "warm Alpine sun." 

Some viewers bought it entirely and called BBC to find out where they could buy some of the "real spaghetti". Many British gardeners wanted to know how to buy a spaghetti bush for their own garden. Others were very angry that a joke was portrayed as a serious subject on a real news program.

Still others--like me--just tucked this into their knowledge banks, unquestioningly and carried it as a "truth" through at least part of their lives, being even more convinced every time they heard the expression "fresh pasta"... of course, that must be referring to the real stuff fresh picked from the trees! What did I know. After all, neither my Mother or Grandmother made fresh spaghetti, because spaghetti trees probably didn't grow in our climate. All I ever saw growing up was dried, boxed spaghetti--you know, the fake stuff.
The following video is the original broadcast in 1957 in England...
The following video gives a behind the scenes take on
the Spaghetti Hoax story from a member of the Panorama
production team who came up with the idea...

The next video shows a further chapter of this hoax broadcast
in 1967 in Britain explaining how the spaghetti crop was being ruined by a terrible pest--the spag-worm, or "troglodyte pasta".
("Troglodyte" refers to a person so stupid because he lives in a cave).

In 1978, San Giorgio Pasta produced a remake of the
Spaghetti Hoax for one of their TV ads.

Finally, cooking know-it-all, Martha Stewart (I'm not a fan) got into the act
in 2009 with her own little spoof about her Spaghetti Bush,
"spago officinalis" ("official string") trees.


PictureItalian snake bean seeds on Amazon
Well, I've had a lot more culinary education since being misled by that little April Fool's prank when I was young and impressionable: my Mom and Dad taught with every loving dish they put in front of me; Grandma taught me her authenticity; having home and studio in Manhattan for so many years where varied cuisines are around every corner also taught me; In my 30s, I finally learned how to cook from Julia Child, Craig Clairborne, Marcella Hazan, Mary Ann Esposito and Pierre Franey. I now make fresh pasta with my son, Lucas from time to time. And during our Voyage throughout Italy, I never saw a single strand of spaghetti on a bush, tree or vine. Ever. (OK, so I did look, just to be sure.)

However, I have since learned that there are actually spaghetti alternatives that grow from Madre Terra. I even grew 2 foot long "snake" beans a few years ago that came pretty close.  Here are a few veggie spaghetti alternatives...

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Spaghetti Squash
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Yellow squash, zucchini, sweet pepper "spaghetti"
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Spaghetti String Beans as pasta
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Long string bean "spaghetti"
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Cucumber "spaghetti"
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Vegetable "Spaghetti" can be made by a julienne of carrots, leek, zucchini and yellow squash
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Spaghetti Squash seeds on Amazon
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Premium V Slicer spiralizer on Amazon
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Kitchenaid's Spiralizer Attachment on Amazon
If you want to make your own, fresh "veggie spaghetti" at home, pick up a Premium Vegetable Spiralizer from Amazon or the attachment we use for our stand mixer, the Kitchenaid Spiralizer Attachment. It's a lot easier than picking the spaghetti from the trees, collecting in baskets and spreading them out in the sun to dry...

(Damn you, Jack Parr and your dry sense of humor!)

--Jerry Finzi
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What do Italians Eat on Fat Tuesday? Lasagna di Carnevale, of Course!

2/25/2020

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Fat Tuesday is called Mardi Gras in French but in Italy it's known as Martedì Grasso. Ash Wednesday--the beginning of Lent and fasting until Pasqua--happens the day before Martedì Grasso, which gives Italians a reason to feast and party. During Lent, Catholics are expected to give up something they love as penance. When I was a boy, the rules were very loose--giving up something you didn't like anyway was a way around the rules. But Italy is a Catholic state and many still observe full sacrifice. While some might replace meat only on Fridays with fish, others give up meat entirely during Lent. (More modern twists are giving up texting, Facebook or TV).

Broken down from the Latin, Canem Levare (meat lift), the festive celebration of Carnevale can literally be thought of as a time when meat is lifted away from meals--as a sacrifice. Carnevale in Italy starts on Giovedí Grasso, the Thursday before Fat Tuesday. During this time Italy celebrates Carnevale in towns like Venice, Viareggio and the Emilia-Romagna town of Cento. But Carnevale is widespread in Italy, just as Lent is... so just before giving up meat, they feast on it...

In Southern Italy, especially around Naples, the end of Carnevale is celebrated by eating Lasagne di Carnevale, a rich lasagna layered with a choice of meats, typically polpette (meatballs), sausage or a meat ragu. If you know how to make a lasagna (here's our Eggplant Lasagna recipe), then you know the basics of making a Lasagna Carnevale. Just layer in small meatballs or cut up large ones in small pieces or slices. You can also include slices of sweet or spicy sausage or a thick meat sauce (like our Bolognese recipe).

Guess what we are eating tonight?

--Jerry Finzi


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The Rarest Pasta in the World - Threads of God

3/12/2019

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In the small Sardinian town of Nuoro, there are a very few women (you might count them on one hand) who still know how to make what many say is the rarest type of pasta in Sardinia Italy and perhaps the whole world...
Su filindeu (in Sardinian dialect), and in Italian, Fili di Dio, can be translated as either Wires, Yarns or Threads of God. You might think of this pasta as the elevated and rarer version of angel hair pasta.

Filindeu is tied to a religious ritual celebrated in the region of Nuoro in the town of Lula. La Festa di San Francesco is held on May 1st at the Chiesa della Solitudine di Nuoro.

Oddly, this celebration is tied to a murder in the year 800 AD. Accused of murder and being hunted down for his crime, a young man claimed innocence and took refuge in a cave about 15 miles from Nuoro. He was discovered, brought to trial and miraculously (to him) declared innocent. He had prayed to Saint Francis during his time of refuge in the cave and thus built a shrine in the cave in honor of his patron saint.  In autumn on October 4th, there is a second procession to the cave and shrine followed by a celebratory feast of filindeu.
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High level of gluten development
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A whole filindeu sheet lifted from its drying basket
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The 256 strands are incredibly thin
The dough to make this special pasta is durum semolina, water and a bit of salt, without leavening. It is then kneaded for a very long time to stretch the gluten, making it very soft with amazing elasticity--the key to making the long strands. The dough is rolled by hand into 8 long, thin snakes, which are folded, halved and pulled, only to be folded and stretched again--32 times in total--resulting in 256 thread-like thin bundles of parallel groups of pasta.

These threads are then stretched across a large, flat tray called a fundu, traditionally woven from leaves of the local asphodel plant (a member of the lily family), often used in basket-making. To aide in the stretching, the dough is occasionally dipped in salt water--the timing of this sensed only by the experience of the artisan making the pasta. 
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A very special squid ink version of filindeu
This process is repeated until a single layer of "threads" cover the entire fundu. the basket is then rotated by about 60° with another layers of pasta "threads" laid down. This is repeated a third time creating three crisscrossed layers of "threads". The tray is placed in the sun to dry causing the three layers to stick together while creating a stiff fabric of pasta looking very much like a course textured cheesecloth.
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For the feast, the filindeu is broken into pieces and put in boiling mutton broth. Grated pecorino (sheep) cheese is added to complete the soup. I don't know about you, but I've always loved my soup loaded with noodles--perfect for when the cold weather hits.

If you're ever in Sardinia, look for packages of filindeu shards. Some have realized that this is a real Sardinian treasure and are trying to expand the availability of this pasta.

Sadly, this unique pasta technique is in danger of becoming extinct. For example, Only one of Paula Abraini’s two daughters knows basic technique but seem uninterested in continuing the tradition. Abraini also has no granddaughters to pass he skills along to. The two other women in Abraini’s family who still carry on the tradition are both in their 50s and also have no successors to this tradition.

Paula Abriani was so concerned about the techniques of making su filindeu disappearing, that she went to the local government to see if there was some money to open a school. There wasn't. Then she tried to teach young locals to make it in her home--they got discouraged with its complexity and gave up. Luckily, she was invited to Rome by the gourmet magazine Gambero Rosso so they could film her techniques for posterity. She has also started making filindeu for several restaurants who serve her amazing pasta to clients from around the world. The preservation of her tradition is looking a bit brighter!

If you're traveling to Nuoro, search out the women who still make this pasta for a lesson on how it's done. They have learned the skill from their mothers who learned it from their mothers and so on, going back three hundred years. Ask, plead or beg for a lesson from either Paola Abraini, Salvatora Pisano or Grazia Selis. If you're lucky enough to get a little lesson from them, don't forget to say "thank  you" in Sarda, the Sardinian dialect... grazie meda! And give them a solemn promise that you will pass along their skills.

--Jerry Finzi
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You might also be interested in...

How to Cook Pasta: 101
Map of Regional Pasta
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Pasta
Sexy Pasta Shapes!

The LIGHT Way to Make Potato Gnocchi
Canederli: The Italian Matzo Ball
Does Adding Water to a Pasta Sauce Make a Difference?
Making Fresh Pasta: A Family Tradition
Test Driving the Kitchenaid Pasta Extruder
Spaghetti the Grows on Trees?
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Our Bolognese Sauce Recipe

2/21/2019

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Growing up, one of my favorite things to ask for when my family went to a restaurant was "meat sauce". Meat sauce on spaghetti. Meat sauce on ravioli. Meat sauce on veal cutlets. I'd even ask for meat sauce on top of chicken parmesan! Well, I've grown up and matured (OK, somewhat). In this article I'll show you how to make a grown-up version of "meat sauce"--Ragù alla Bolognese.

One of the very first meals we had during our Voyage to Italy was Pici al Ragù... a Tuscan version of Spaghetti Bolognese. We had just gotten off the train from Rome in the small Tuscan town of Chiusi Scalo ("Scalo" designates the part of a town that surrounds a railway station). Chiusi proper, an historic Tuscan town with proud roots back to the Etruscans, was up on the nearby hilltop.

We were so weary from having traveled about 16 hours or more, first by air to Rome and then by train from Rome to Chiusi, where we were to pick up our rental car. And at this point we were also famished--needing to re-fuel. When we got off the train, the Hertz office was closed for riposa (a 3 hour siesta), so we had planned to have lunch while we waited. I had already picked out the trattoria that we would eat at, selected weeks before while fine-tuning the details on my Google Earth maps... we would eat our first Italian meal at Trattoria Porsenna, one block from the train station. It was a fantastic choice. With only 12 tables and a casual country style, we order a bottle of gassata for the table and waited for our meals. When the Pici al Ragù came, I couldn't believe how delicious it was.

By the way... Pici is a sort of thick, hand rolled spaghetti. Ragù is basically a meat sauce, the best of which is Ragù alla Bolognese, which originated in Bologna but is found all over Italy nowadays. People will tell you that "spaghetti Bolognese" doesn't exist in Italy--but it does. The sauce will just be called "Ragù" instead of "Bolognese", as in "Spaghetti al Ragù",  and typically in place of spaghetti the dish is usually served with tagliatelle, a long, flat, fresh pasta noodle--"Tagliatelle al Ragù".

Historic records even prove that in centuries past, spaghetti (dried) was commonly used with a Ragù sauce anyway. (NOTE: In the weeks that followed, we saw "Spaghetti alla Bolognese" listed on many menus). So, whatever the name, and no matter what type of pasta you put under it, I knew that this was the Ragù I wanted to duplicate when I returned back home.

Ingredients
2 pounds ground beef (80% or less fat)
1/4 pound speck (cut 1/4" thick), 1/4" dice (Speck is a smoked prosciutto)
1 large Vidalia onion (or 2 large yellow onions)
1 teaspoon sugar (for sauteing onions)
4 tablespoons canola oil (for sauteing)
3 carrots, 1/4" dice
3 celery stalks, 1/4" dice
4 garlic cloves, smashed then diced
5 bay leaves (remove after cooking)
1-1/2 tablespoons thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1-tablespoon dried basil
1 cup full bodied red wine (Primativo, Montepulciano, Chianti, etc.)
1-28 ounce can Tuttorosso crushed tomatoes
1-6 ounce can tomato paste
1 cup heavy cream
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My Bolognese sauce
Directions
  1. Heat 4 tablespoons of canola in in large stock pot, then add the onions, carrots and celery. Sprinkle in the sugar. Saute on medium heat until onions are translucent.
  2. Add the diced Speck and saute for 1 minute, then add the diced garlic. Cook for another minute or two, but don't burn the garlic.
  3. Add the ground beef and cook on moderate flame, stirring occasionally until lightly browned. You can add the spices at this point... basil, thyme, pepper flakes and bay leaves. 
  4. As the meat cooks, turn over the mixture to allow for equal browning and distribution of the spices. 
  5. Turn up the flame and add the wine. Using a flat bottom wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the pan (you want to get up any fond that might have developed). Cook for 2 minutes until the alcohol has evaporated from the wine. 
  6. Turning the flame down to medium, add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and combine well into the meat/vegetable mixture. Cook for 3-5 minutes.
  7. Next, add the heavy cream, mix, then turn the flame down to simmer (use a smaller back burner, or use a heat diffuser plate under your pot).
  8. Simmer, stirring occasionally and cook for 3 hours covered. Then, remove the lid and continue simmering for another hour or until the sauce thickens considerably (making sure the bottom of the pot doesn't burn). If you feel like your sauce hasn't thickened enough, you can always use an the old Italian Nonna's trick.... toss in a handful or two of breadcrumbs).

This recipe will make enough Bolognese sauce for several meals. It also freezes very well.

If you would like to make fresh tagliatelle to go with your Bolognese sauce, read Making Fresh Pasta at Home: Not a Necessity, but a Tradition.

Or, try making our Torta Rigatoni Piede Bolognese al Forno - Baked Standing Rigatoni Pie with Bolognese. Or, try Baked Standing Rigatoni in a Mug. It's also wonderful spread on a bruschetta for a small lunch or snack.

Buon appetito!

--Jerry Finzi
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Spaghetti Donut: Si o No?

9/8/2018

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Simple and Quick: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

7/23/2018

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We all have days when we don't know the answer to the question, "What's for dinner?" Busy papa, busy Mama, busy Nonna... stuff happens and we forget to plan ahead. But even if you are a newcomer to the Cucina Italiana, there are always simple, quick meals that you can throw together without any pre-planning, as long as your Italian Pantry is stocked with essentials.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil) is one of the simplest, yet fulfilling meals any Italian can make. The cooking time is little more than the time it takes to boil your dried spaghetti and can be a base recipe for adding ingredients from leftovers. Even the most basic Italian pantries should have a box of spaghetti, extra virgin olive oil and garlic...
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Ingredients
  • 1 lb spaghetti (optional: fettuccine, bucatini)
  • 6 garlic cloves, skins removed
  • EVO - extra virgin olive oil
  • Sea salt
  • Fresh ground pepper
  • Peperoncino (red pepper flakes - omit if you don't want heat)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley (adds color & sweetness, but optional)
  • Fresh ground Pecorino Romano (also, aged cacciocavallo or Parmigiano Reggiano)
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Directions
  1. Fill your pasta pot with water, add a handful of sea salt and bring to a rapid boil.
  2. Add your spaghetti into the pot, fanning it out around the edge of the pot. Gently push the pasta into the water as it softens and bends, then give a couple of swirls to make sure all the strands are separated. Boil the pasta, partially covered (place a long wooden spoon under one side of the lid to prevent over-boiling) until the pasta is al dente.
  3. Meanwhile, remove the paper skins from the garlic and cut into thin slices. Do not mince or use a garlic press (which would make their taste too hot). You want a garlicky, sweet taste.
  4. Heat 2 tablespoons of  EVO on a medium-low heat in a saute pan. Add the garlic and peperoncino, then heat slowly until the garlic is lightly browned. Remove from heat.
  5. When the pasta is cooked, drain it well (reserve some of the pasta water). 
  6. Place the saute pan back on a medium heat, then add the pasta, parsley and a handful of pecorino Romano to the saute pan, tossing or mixing using a pair of tongs. (Adding a tablespoon or two of pasta water while tossing will help bind the sauce to the pasta.)
  7. Salt and pepper to taste and serve. Top with grated or shaved pieces of Pecorino Romano.

Serve with slices of crusty bread and some Chianti for a simple and tasteful meal.

This recipe is certainly a classic from Naples, but you can think of it as a base recipe for adding other ingredients: halved cherry tomatoes, diced prosciutto, capers, olives, etc. Don't ever hesitate to be creative with Italian recipes!

Buon appetito!

--Jerry Finzi


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Pasta Mia! A Dress So Nice I could Eat the Whole Thing

6/1/2018

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Outfit made from dried pasta seen in a kitchen supply shop in Florence, Italy

(The hair gives new meaning to Angel Hair Pasta!)

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Pasta Hacks: Cooking Pasta 101

4/27/2018

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  1. Obey the the most important rule and use the largest pot you own for cooking pasta.  If you use a small pot and too little water, you will get a starchy mess and your pasta might stick to each other.
  2. Always add a generous amount of sea or Kosher salt to your pasta water. It helps water boil faster and adds flavor to the pasta.
  3. When cooking any pasta--fresh or dry--make certain the water is in a rapid boil before adding pasta.
  4. For spaghetti, fan the pasta out and lean them against the side of the pot--spacing the pieces away from each other. Then, with a spoon or tongs, press the pasta down gently as the water starts to soften it. Give a good stir after all is submerged. 
  5. After your pasta is placed in boiling water, stir strongly for 20-30 seconds, getting a vortex going. This will prevent sticking.
  6. If you like to break spaghetti in half, grab your batch of halved spaghetti around the middle, then let the spaghetti fall into the center of your pot as you turn your hand, allowing them to fall separately. This will fan out the pasta like spokes of a wheel, preventing it from sticking to each other in those first crucial seconds. As before, stir into a vortex.
  7. NEVER add oil to the pasta water... no matter what your Nonna told you. Pasta should absorb its sauce to enhance the flavor of the dish. Oil will prevent that from happening.
  8. Bring your water back up to a boil quickly by covering the pot with the lid slightly ajar. You can place a wooden spoon under one side of the lid to prevent boil-over.
  9. Alternate: To keep the pasta from boiling over while cooking, place a wooden spoon across the top of your pot. When the bubbles touch the spoon's handle, the boiling settles down. Uncovered pots do take longer to reach a boil.
  10. Do NOT rinse pasta after draining--ever. This would wash off the starchy surface which helps a sauce stick and become absorbed by the pasta.
  11. When you're planning a baked pasta recipe in a casserole, try this trick: Place the pasta in a bowl of well-salted water, swirl it around the bowl a few times with your hands, then let it rest while you cook the sauce or prep other ingredients. The pasta will absorb the perfect amount of water by the time you are ready to put your casserole together. Drain any water left after about 30 minutes of soaking. This hack can also trim at least 10 minutes from your normal bake time.
--GVI
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Map of Italian Regional Pastas

4/17/2018

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Map courtesy of TasteAtlas.com, a great website that is map-driven. Zoom in on a part of Italy  that interests you, and click on links to various food specialties and recipes from that region.
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