konjac noodles and kelp noodles with greens and mushrooms / pasta di konjac e pasta di alghe con verdure a foglia verde e funghi

July 31, 2020 | Simona

shirataki and kelp noodles with vegetables / 760896CD-FBA5-456B-B351-5ADB06937655

a bowl of great flavors
(napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Our Cook the Books Club selection this time brings us to China (Cina) with the novel Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah¹, which follows the adventures of the two Lee sisters in Beijing (Pechino). Born and raised in New Jersey, the sisters follow different careers: Claire becomes a lawyer and moves to the Chinese capital to work for a prestigious firm, while Isabelle works as a fact-checker at a magazine in New York and wants to be a writer. Isabelle loses her job in a bad way and her boyfriend ends their relationship. Nudged by friends, she joins her sister in China for a change of scenery, possibly a new career and an exploration of their parents’ country of origin.

In Beijing, Isabelle ends up working as food columnist for an expat magazine, which gives her a chance to explore the city and beyond, to meet people, to refine her knowledge of the language. Food plays a role in the novel in various ways: until her stay in Beijing, it was the only connection to China Isabelle had, via her mother; in her role of food writer, she comes to appreciate a much larger range of dishes from regions of China lesser known abroad; a number of important events and conversations in the novel occur around a table or at parties.

dumplings anyone?

An important part of the story is for Isabelle to leave the comfortable known and try new things, which is something I like to do in my cooking, lest I fall into a rut. The tradition of wheat noodles in Chinese cuisine was not a surprise for me, having been introduced to that in 2015 at the LongHouse event, where there was the gorgeous hand-painted dumpling shack in the photo. Although inclement weather forced us to take cover inside the barn, we still spent time learning about different types of wheat noodles and to fold dumpling dough around delicious fillings.

the konjac noodles (left) and kelp noodles I use in the recipe

The reading made me want to explore some new types of noodles. Leafing through The Ketogenic Kitchen² by Domini Kemp & Patricia Daly, a cookbook I like a lot, I encountered unknown-to-me konjac noodles and sea spaghetti, both gluten free and very low in carbohydrates. Konjac is a plant grown in South-East Asia, and according to Wikipedia³ it is native to the Chinese region of Yunnan. Spaghetti-shaped konjac noodles are also known as shirataki noodles. At the local grocery store, I found a version shaped as fettuccine. I also found kelp noodles, made from kombu (edible kelp), so konjac fettuccine and kelp noodles is what I used for my renditions of the dish (more details in the recipe below).

leafy greens from my garden
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I read other recipes⁴ using these noodles besides the one that provided the original inspiration, and, as usual, below is what my experiments and personal preferences made me settle on. While I rely on store-bought noodles, the greens come from my small garden, while the mushrooms come from the farmers’ market. One of the vendors I buy from makes “mystery” bags and that is what I like to get, as they contain a selection of the mushrooms variety they grow. I have also made the dish with just shiitake.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Konjac noodles and kelp noodles with greens and mushrooms

Ingredients:

4 ounces / 113 g kelp noodles
3.5 ounces / 100 g drained konjac noodles
4 ounces / 113 g leafy greens of choice (kale, chard, tatsoi, etc.), clean weight
4 ounces / 113 g shiitake mushrooms OR a mix that includes shiitake, maitake, king trumpets, wood ears, beech mushrooms, etc.
1 1/2 tablespoons / 22.5 ml extra-virgin olive oil OR algae oil
1.5 ounces / 42 g spring onion, red or white, OR torpedo onion, diced small
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 teaspoon crushed Aleppo pepper OR crushed chili pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon / 15 ml cider vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce OR coconut aminos
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Fine sea salt, to taste

Prepare the noodles and all the vegetables before starting to cook the dish.

The konjac noodles I use are fettuccine-shaped, packaged in water. I drain them, weigh the desired amount, then rinse them and finally cut them into shorter strands to make cooking and eating with the other ingredients easier.

I weigh the desired amount of kelp noodles, rinse them and prepare them according to the instructions in The Ketogenic Kitchen: I heat up water in a small pot (hot but not boiling), take the pot off the heat, plunge the noodles into in, stir and put the lid on. After 10 minutes, I drain the noodles and cut them into shorter strands to make cooking and eating with the other ingredients easier.

Set aside the noodles until ready to add them to the pan. For both types of noodles, follow the package instructions for storing what you don’t use for the dish.

Rinse the leafy greens and cut off any tough stems. Thinly slice stems of chard or tatsoi. Pile a few leaves, roll them tights and slice into thin strips. Set aside.

Clean the mushrooms and thinly slice them. Halve slices if large.

Warm up a wok or sauté pan over medium heat, then add the olive or algae oil and swirl to coat. Add the onion and ginger, stir well and turn down the heat to low. Cook until the onion is soft, 5 minutes or so, stirring almost constantly. Add the garlic, stir well and cook for 1 minute, while stirring, until garlic smells fragrant.

Add the pepper, cider vinegar and soy sauce or coconut aminos and stir well. Turn up the heat slightly and cook, while stirring, for 1 minute. Add the leafy greens, mushrooms, konjac noodles and kelp noodles and stir well. Turn down the heat to a level that makes the vegetables simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables and mushrooms are tender.

Adjust the salt (I find that the soy sauce or coconut aminos provide enough salt, so I don’t add any), give a final stir and serve immediately.

Serves 2-3

shirataki and kelp noodles with vegetables / IMG_3353

version with shiitake mushrooms only
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I am so glad I tried konjac noodles and kelp noodles! Together they complement well the texture of leafy greens and mushrooms. A lovely side dish for all seasons.

¹ The novel’s page on the author’s website which includes excerpts of reviews
²The Ketogenic Kitchen website.
³ Wikipedia article about konjac
⁴ For example this recipe and this recipe

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

pasta di konjac e pasta di alghe con verdure a foglia verde e funghi

or launch the pasta di konjac e pasta di alghe con verdure a foglia verde e funghi audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Claudia of Honey from Rock. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the table linens free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

frittata, spinach, dill, parsley, thyme, lovage, eggs, Asian cuisine

orecchiette (strascnat, handmade pasta)

January 29, 2016September 23, 2025 | Simona

strascnat (orecchiette) with crescenza cheese

Orecchiette literally means “small ears” (orecchie means ears in Italian). To make them, small pieces of dough are drawn across the wooden board with a blunt-tipped knife, or are stretched and turned inside out on a fingertip.

The latter method is the one I showed in my previous posts on orecchiette.¹ A video of a woman from Bari making strascnat (the name used in that city for orecchiette)² revealed to me the beauty of the former method. As the woman interviewed in this article³ (in Italian) says: “the women of Bari use the knife, the women ‘from the villages’ use their thumb.”

The dialectal word strascnat is sometimes written strascenate, sometimes strascinate. All these words come from the verb trascinare, which means to drag or draw and refers to the action of drawing the piece of dough across the wooden board to shape it. (Strascinati on this blog are a different kind of pasta, but as I have said a number of times, names of pasta shapes are rooted in local traditions and have local currency and I avoid getting hung up on them: the important thing is the shape.)

Signora Stella’s hands work quickly and precisely. I spent a good amount of time working on my technique and, while I am not as fast as signora Stella, I think my strascnat come out pretty nice. I now always use this method to make orecchiette. The short video shows my hands at work. Watch signora Stella² and watch me: we use different techniques. I don’t make any claims about mine, beyond the fact that it works for me.

You need to get a feel for how the blade thins the pasta and when it is time to release the pressure. If you make a mistake and an orecchietta comes out with a hole or otherwise misshapen (there is an instance of that in the video), remember that you can knead the dough and try again.

strascnat (orecchiette) with tomato sauce

The current selection of our Cook the Books Club is A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White, a novel about finding our place in the world, about belonging, love and loss, through the intersecting stories of two main characters plus people connected to them. I enjoyed reading the book and found the characters all interesting and well portrayed.

Food plays an important role in the novel, which revolves in part around a restaurant in New York City. Except for the bread mentioned in a few places, none of the dishes described inspired me (challah made with delayed fermentation⁴ has been part of my repertoire for years). Then I thought: if I were to work in a restaurant kitchen and could decide what to put on the menu, like Bobby does in the novel, what would I do? The answer came easily: handmade pasta—known shapes, like orecchiette, lesser known ones, plus shapes I invented.

my strascnat posing for the camera

The strascnat in the photo above were made with 50% semolina flour milled by Capay Mills⁶ from Rancho Llano Seco’s durum wheat (which I bought at the Temescal farmers’ market in Oakland) and 50% store-bought semolina flour.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for orecchiette (strascnat)

Ingredients for the pasta dough (I recommend weighing both flour and water because the quantities involved are small):

100 g / 3.5 ounces semolina flour of good quality
A pinch of salt
50 g / 1.75 ounces warm water

Note: if using 50 g Capay Mills semolina flour and 50 g “regular” semolina flour, increase the amount of water to 55 g / 2 ounces.

Ingredients for the cheese dressing:

1/2 tablespoon / 7 g butter
50 g / 1.75 ounces Crescenza cheese cut into small pieces

How to make the dough and shape strascnat
Make a dough with the ingredients and knead until nice and smooth. [This post (with video) talks about how to make semolina pasta dough] Let it rest, well covered (e.g., in a small ziplock bag or wrapped in plastic film), for 30 minutes or so.

Working on the kneading board, roll the dough into a thick salami and cut it into 5-6 pieces. Keep them covered while you shape the strascnat. Roll each piece into a pencil-size snake (3/8 inch / 1 cm thick), then place it so that it is perpendicular to your body. Cut a 3/8 inch / 1 cm long piece and draw it across the board with a blunt-tipped knife with a smooth blade thinning the dough and curling it into a little dome. Repeat.

As you shape the pasta, lay it out to dry on a lightly floured section of the kneading board (or a baking sheet lined with a cotton kitchen towel). Repeat until you have used up the prepared dough.

Cook the strascnat and dress as you like. The following cheese sauce is just a suggestion.

How to cook and dress the strascnat
Bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil, add some coarse salt, stir and then toss the pasta in it. The time needed to cook it is a bit variable, depending on how dry it is, but it is not long.

In the meantime, melt the butter in a skillet on gentle heat, then add the cheese and stir while it softens. You want to time this so that the cheese is just melted by the time the pasta is ready to join it.

Taste and stop the cooking when the pasta is ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain leaving a little bit of the cooking water clinging to the strascnat. Drop the pasta into the skillet with the melted cheese. Stir well over medium-low heat for half a minute or so, until the pasta is coated with the cheese. Plate and serve immediately.

The recipe makes two small portions (served as Italian first course), but it can be easily doubled.

Other suggestions:

strascnat with almond-hazelnut pesto⁶

A reminder that there is a page on the blog where you can browse the complete collection of handmade pasta shapes, some of them of my own creation.

¹ 1) orecchiette with tomato sauce; 2) burnt wheat orecchiette; 3) chickpea flour orecchiette
² Video of signora Stella making strascnat
³ Article on orecchiette baresi
⁴ My post on challah
⁵ Capay Mills
⁶ Recipe from The Four Seasons of Pasta by Nancy Harmon Jenkins and Sara Jenkins, reviewed in this post

This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Debra of Eliot’s Eats. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

orecchiette

or launch the orecchiette audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

pasta, semolina flour, Italian cuisine

vegetarian tsuivan (Mongolian stew) / tsuivan vegetariano (stufato mongolo)

December 22, 2015 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

vegetarian tsuivan (Mongolian stew) / IMG_4277

Strands of pasta (tasalsan guril), purple cabbage and purple carrots

The 21st country of our World Culinary ABC¹ is Mongolia (Mongolia). In researching dishes from the country in the heart of Asia, I found out about tasalsan guril, fried noodles.² These are short strands of pasta cut from a rolled sheet previously pan-fried. How could I not try to make them? And make them I did. I cooked the first batch in some of my homemade chicken broth and the resulting soup was excellent.

I then read that tasalsan guril may be used in tsuivan, a traditional Mongolian stew.³ What attracted me in this recipe was the way the noodles (fresh or fried) are steamed on top of the meat and vegetable medley. How could I not try to make it? And make it I did: a second hurrah for Mongolian cuisine. Tsuivan is an example of complete meal (pasto completo) in a bowl as it includes vegetables (verdure), meat (proteins) and noodles (carbohydrates). I can imagine it is quite comforting in the harsh climate (clima) of Mongolia, a country where "livestock outnumber people ten-to-one and pastoralism is one of the key economic activities, employing almost half of the population and accounting for 90 per cent of agricultural output."⁴

the color purple (il colore viola)

As I eat very little meat, I decided to make a vegetarian version of tsuivan, substituting the meat with more vegetables, pushing this towards the side dish camp. I also used less noodles. The bunch of purple carrots (with orange heart) and the red cabbage I bought at the farmers' market meant that my tsuivan was quite dark in color.

After tasting my first rendition of tsuivan, my husband asked for more carrots and less cabbage and in my second rendition I complied with his request. I also liked it better and that is the recipe I give below.

tasalsan guril (Mongolian fried noodles)

I also made different versions of tasalsan guril with different flour mixes and my favorite was: 50% all-purpose flour + 50% whole-wheat stone-ground white Sonora wheat⁵ locally grown and freshly milled by Capay Mills⁶, which I bought at the Temescal farmers' market. "Sonora: A softer, lower-protein white wheat somewhere between modern bread and pastry wheats; widely grown in California into the 1880s, it’s making a comeback."⁷

vegetarian tsuivan (Mongolian stew) / IMG_4283

tsuivan topped with fresh chèvre
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The Mongolian cheese-making practices I had read about in a post by Jann of the Traveling Food Lady⁸ gave me the idea of sprinkling some fresh goat cheese on my portion of vegetarian tsuivan: I loved the result.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Vegetarian tsuivan with tasalsan guril

Ingredients for the noodles:

50 g all-purpose flour
50 g whole-wheat stone-ground pastry flour
A pinch of fine sea salt
60 g warm water
Additional all-purpose flour to knead and roll the dough
Oil for pan-frying

Ingredients for the stew:

7 ounces / 200 g red onion
8 ounces / 225 g carrots (I used purple carrots)
14 ounces / 400 g cabbage (I used red cabbage)
2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 tablespoons / 15-30 ml water, as needed
1 cup / 240 ml vegetable broth + 1/4 cup / 60 ml water
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste (depending on how salty the broth is)
One batch of noodles
Fresh goat cheese, optional
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

How to make the pasta dough
In a small bowl, weigh the flours, add the salt, then weigh the water. (I recommend weighing both flour and water because the quantities involved are small.)

With a fork, spread the water through the flour. When there is no more free water, drop the fork in favor of your fingers, then use your hands. As you work the crumbly mix, you will see and feel it come together into a cohesive whole.

Empty the bowl onto your working surface, scraping well the bottom and side. Start kneading the dough: push the dough away from you with their heel of your hand (given the small size of the dough, one hand will be enough), then with the help of the other hand gather it back toward you folding it on itself and turning it 90 degrees. (This video shows how I make semolina dough: the kneading motion is the same.) Sprinkle a bit of all-purpose flour on the working surface, as needed, to prevent sticking.

Knead the dough until it is smooth, 8-10 minutes. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes or so, well-covered (e.g., in a small ziplock bag or wrapped in plastic film) so it doesn't dry out.

How to make the fried noodles (tasalsan guril)
Warm up a generously oiled skillet on low heat. Time this with rolling the dough so that by the time the skillet is hot, the first piece of dough is ready to be pan-fried.

Cut the dough into four pieces and roll one piece into a sheet about 3 inches / 7.5 cm wide and 1 mm thick. If you use your machine, roll down to the last but one notch. This dough is soft and easy to roll by hand, which is what I did. Sprinkle all-purpose flour on the dough as needed to prevent sticking.

To fit one sheet of rolled dough in my skillet, I cut it in half crosswise. Place the rolled dough into the skillet and pan-fry on both sides on gentle heat. The original recipe states: "The primary purpose of the frying is to dry the noodles, so hat they don't stick anymore during further processing."² I turn it after about 1 1/2 minutes, and after another 1 1/2 minutes take it out of the skillet (this depends on several variables, so you'll need to find what works for your dough and skillet). As you can see from the photo above, this gives me nicely cooked sheets with some darker spots. They need to be pliable so you can later cut them into strips.

When done, transfer cooked sheets on a plate. Continue rolling the dough and pan-frying the sheets until all dough is used, re-oiling the skillet after each batch. Stack 3-4 sheets neatly and cut into strips 1/4 inch / 6 mm wide. Repeat until all sheets are cut. Set aside until ready to cook.

How to prepare the vegetables
Quarter the onion and cut each quarter crosswise into 1/8 inch / 3 mm thick slices.

Scrub carrots well and scrape surface to remove a thin layer of skin. Grate carrots using the extra-coarse side of a hand grater.

Quarter the cabbage and cut each quarter crosswise into slices not wider than 1/4 inch / 6 mm.

How to cook the stew
Warm up the olive oil in a soup pot on medium heat. (I use a 6 quart / 5.67 liter one, because that's what I have. If I had a 5 quart / 4.75 liter I would try using it.)

Add the onion and stir well. Sauté for a minute, then lower the heat and cook for 12 minutes or so, until soft, stirring often.

Add the grated carrots, stir and cook for 5 minutes.

Add 1-2 tablespoons water, as needed, to prevent sticking.

Add garlic, stir and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the cabbage, put the lid on the pot and and let it cook 4-5 minutes to wilt slightly.

Heat up the broth and water, then pour into the pot and stir.

Turn up the heat to bring to a boil, then turn it down and let vegetables simmer for 4-5 minutes. Stir well.

Place the cut noodles in a layer on top of the vegetable, covering them all, then put the lid on the pot.

Turn up the heat to fill the pot with steam, then lower the heat and cook for 16 minutes without disturbing the lid. (Noodles made with only all-purpose flour need 15 minutes to cook.)

Crumble some fresh goat cheese, if using (about 2 tablespoons per person).

Stir vegetables and noodles. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.

Place the stew in bowls and serve with some crumbled goat cheese, if using, and parsley.

Serves 4-5

¹ The World Culinary ABC kick-off post
²The recipe for tasalsan guril that inspired me
³The recipe for tsuivan that inspired me
⁴ Source (see also this article on Mongolian agriculture)
⁵ Sonora wheat (image)
⁶ Capay Mills
⁷ Source
⁸ Making cheese in Mongolia (see also the other 3 posts on Mongolia on the same blog)

I contribute my stew to the 21st installment of the Abbecedario culinario mondiale (World Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 26 countries of the world using the alphabet as guide. U like Ulan Bator (Mongolia) is hosted by Un Uomo dal Bagno alla Cucina.

The list of recipes contributed to the event and their slide show.

FTC disclosure: I have received the placemat free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

stufato mongolo vegetariano

or launch the stufato mongolo vegetariano audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

tsuivan, tasalsan guril , noodles, cabbage, stew, Mongolian cuisine

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tsuivan vegetariano (stufato mongolo)

fettucce di pasta (tasalsan guril), cavolo rosso e carote viola

La ventunesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale¹ è la Mongolia. Cercando piatti tipici di questo paese nel cuore dell'Asia, ho scoperto tasalsan guril,² una specie di tagliatelle corte tagliate da un pezzo di impasto precedentemente steso e fritto in una padella con un po' d'olio. Come potevo non provarle? La prima volta che ho fatto questo tipo di pasta l'ho cotta nel mio brodo di pollo fatto in casa. Risultato? Un'ottima zuppa.

Ho poi letto che tasalsan guril si possono usare nel tsuivan, un tradizionale stufato mongolo.³ Questa ricetta mi ha attirato perché la pasta (fresca o fritta) si cuoce col vapore nella pentola insieme a carne e verdure. Come potevo non provarlo? Un altro gol per la cucina mongola. Tsuivan è un esempio di pasto completo: comprende infatti verdura, carne (proteine) and pasta. Posso immaginare che questo piatto sia di conforto nell'aspro clima della Mongolia.

il colore viola

Dal momento che mangio pochissima carne, ho creato una versione vegetariana dello tsuivan, spingendolo verso il campo "contorni," sostituendo la carne con verdure aggiuntive . Ho anche usato meno pasta. Le carote viola (con il cuore arancione) e il cavolo rosso che ho comprato al farmers' market hanno contribuito a creare uno tsuivan scuro.

Dopo aver assaggiato la prima versione dello tsuivan, mio marito mi ha chiesto di rifarlo con meno cavolo e più carote e la seconda volta che l'ho fatto ho soddisfatto tale richiesta. Il risultato è piaciuto di più anche a me ed è questa la ricetta che descrivo qui sotto.

la mia version di tasalsan guril

Ho anche preparato diverse versioni di tasalsan guril con diverse combinazioni di farine e quella che preferisco è: 50% farina bianca + 50% farina integrale di grano Sonora⁴ di produzione locale macinata a pietra.

tsuivan con formaggio caprino fresco
(tovaglietta de La FABBRICA del LINO)

La produzione casearia descritta in un post da Jann di Traveling Food Lady⁵, mi ha fatto pensare di cospargere del formaggio caprino fresco sbriciolato sulla mia pozione di tsuivan vegetariano e il risultato mi è piaciuto molto.

Ingredienti per la pasta:

50 g farina bianca
50 g farina integrale per dolci macinata a pietra
un pizzico di sale fino
60 g acqua calda
farina per stendere la pasta
olio d'oliva per la padella

Ingredienti per lo stufato:

200 g cipolla rossa
225 g carote (io ho usato carote viola)
400 g cavolo cappuccio (io ho usato quello rosso)
2 cucchiai / 30 ml olio extra-vergine di oliva
3 spicchi d'aglio tritati
1-2 cucchiai / 15-30 ml acqua, q.b.
240 ml brodo vegetale + 60 ml acqua
sale fino e pepe nero macinato fresco, a seconda del gusto (dipende da quanto sale c'è nel brodo)
una dose di pasta
formaggio caprino fresco, facoltativo
2 cucchiai di prezzemolo fresco tritato finemente

Preparare l'impasto
In una ciotola pesare le farine, aggiungere il sale e pesare l'acqua. Con una forchetta mescolare gli ingredienti e quando non c'è più acqua libera, abbandonare la forchetta a favore delle vostre dite a poi delle mani. Man mano che lo lavorate, vedrete e sentirete l'impasto diventare coeso.

Vuotare la ciotola sulla spianatoia, raschiando bene le pareti e il fondo. Cominciate ad impastare: spingere l'impasto con la base della mano in modo da allontanarlo da voi (data la piccola quantità di impasto una mano è sufficiente), poi con l'aiuto dell'altra mano piegarlo su se stesso e riportarlo verso di voi, al contempo ruotandolo 90 gradi. (Questo video mostra come preparo l'impasto con la semola: i movimenti sono gli stessi.) Infarinare leggermente il piano di lavoro per evitare che l'impasto si appiccichi.

Continuate fino a quando l'impasto è bello liscio, 8-10 minuti. Coprire l'impasto in modo che non si asciughi (per esempio avvolgendolo con della pellicola) e farlo riposare per una mezz'ora.

Preparare la pasta (tasalsan guril)
Scaldare una padella ben oliata. Coordinate lo stendere la pasta in modo che il primo pezzo sia pronto per essere fritto quando la padella è calda.

Tagliare l'impasto in quatto pezzi e stenderne uno in una striscia larga circa 7,5 cm e spessa 1 mm. Se usate la macchina per la pasta, fermatevi alla penultima tacca. L'impasto è morbido e facile da stendere a mano, che è quello che faccio io. Infarinare leggermente l'impasto per evitare che si appiccichi.

Per fare entrare un pezzo di pasta nella mia padella lo taglio a metà per largo. Depositare i pezzi nella padella e friggere da entrambi i lati a fuoco dolce. La ricetta originale dice: "Il motivo principale della cottura in padella è quello di far asciugare la pasta in modo che non si attacchi durante le fasi di preparazione successive."² Io giro la pasta dopo 1 minuto e mezzo e la tolgo dal fuoco dopo un altro minuto e mezzo. Deve rimanere flessibile in modo da poter poi essere tagliata a strisce. Trasferire la pasta fritta su un piatto.

Continuare a stendere la pasta e a friggerla fino a quando tutto l'impasto è consumato. Oliate di nuovo la padella dopo aver tolto ciascun pezzo d'impasto.

Impilare allineandoli 3-4 pezzi e tagliarli a fettucce larghe 5 mm. Ripetere fino a quando tutti i pezzi sono tagliati. Mettere da parte fino a quando è il momento di usare la pasta.

Preparare le verdure
Tagliare la cipolla in quattro e tagliare per largo ciascun quarto a fettine spesse 3 mm.

Lavare bene le carote e raschiarne la superficie con una lama per rimuovere la pellicina. Grattugiatele con la grattugia a buchi grossi.

Tagliare il cavolo in quattro e tagliare ciascun quarto per largo a fettine spesse 5-6 mm.

Cuocere lo stufato
In una pentola scaldare l'olio su calore medio. (Io ne ho usata una da 6 quarti / 5,67 litri, perché è quella che ho. Se ne avessi una da 5 quarti / 4,75 litri avrei provato ad usarla.)

Aggiungere la cipolla e mescolare. Cuocere per un minuto poi abbassare il calore a medio-basso e cuocere per 12 minuti, fino a quando sia tenera, mescolando spesso.

Aggiungere le carote, mescolare e cuocere per 5 minuti.

Aggiungere 1-2 cucchiai d'acqua, q.b. per prevenire che le verdure si attacchino sul fondo.

Aggiungere l'aglio, mescolare e cuocere per un paio di minuti.

Aggiungere il cavolo, incoperchiare e far cuocere 4-5 minuti per far appassire leggermente.

Scaldare brodo e acqua, versarli nella pentola e mescolare.

Aumentare il calore per portare a bollore, poi abbasare e far sobbollire le verdure per 4-5 minuti. Mescolare bene.

Deporre la pasta tagliata sulle verdure in modo da formare uno strato uniforme che le copra tutte, poi incoperchiare la pentola.

Aumentare il calore per far riempire la pentola di vapore, poi abbasare e cuocere per 16 minuti senza toccare il coperchio. (La pasta fatta con solo farina bianca cuoce in 15 minuti.)

Sbriciolare del formaggio caprino fresco, se lo si usa (circa 2 cucchiai a persona).

Mescolare verdure e pasta. Assaggiare e correggere sale e pepe.

Impiattare lo stufato e servirlo con sopra del formaggio caprino fresco (se lo si usa) e prezzemolo tritato.

Porzioni 4-5

¹ Post inaugurale dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale
²La ricetta per tasalsan guril che mi ha ispirato (in inglese)
³La ricetta per tsuivan che mi ha ispirato (in inglese)
⁴ Sonora wheat (immagine)
⁵ Making cheese in Mongolia (vedi anche gli altri 3 post sulla Mongolia sullo stesso blog, in inglese)

Con il mio stufato partecipo alla ventunesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare 26 paesi del mondo usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. U come Ulan Bator (Mongolia) è ospitata da Un Uomo dal Bagno alla Cucina.

La lista di ricette contribuite all'evento e lo slide show che le mostra.

FTC disclosure: Ho ricevuto la tovaglietta gratuitamente dall'azienda produttrice (la FABBRICA del LINO). Non ho ricevuto e non riceverò alcun compenso per presentarlo sul mio blog. Le opinioni espresse nel post sono interamente personali.

crozets

December 1, 2015 | Simona

done with cutting crozets

For me, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais, was a movie before it was a novel. Ten minutes into it, I started fidgeting. Five minutes later, my husband and I agreed it was not worth watching further. Nothing happened in that quarter of an hour to make us wonder what would happen next.

With that history, I approached the book with caution and was pleasantly surprised. It is much better than the movie, at least until the midpoint: the story, the characters (particularly the protagonist's mother) and the descriptions are interesting and enjoyable. At the scene in the chapel my suspension of disbelief shattered, then the novel became another story of apprenticeship in the kitchen.

The book has a lot of dishes in it, but what intrigued me was the location of the French village where the protagonist's family moves, the Jura, so I did some research on French mountain cuisine and read about crozets, a type of pasta typical of Savoie (which is south of Jura) traditionally made "from wheat flour, buckwheat or a mixture of both."¹

pretty speckled dough

The dry version of this pasta can be purchased in boxes. It comes in three varieties: plain, with buckwheat flour and with mushrooms.²Differently from pizzoccheri, the famous pasta made with buckwheat flour (farina di grano saraceno) typical of Valtellina (Italy), crozets contain eggs. Also, the crozet dough I made has less buckwheat flour than the dough I make for pizzoccheri. I followed the ratio of 2 parts wheat flour to 1 part buckwheat flour that Clotilde Dusoulier has in her recipe for Buckwheat Pasta Dough³ and, as usual, I made a small batch, using one egg (un uovo di pasta).

As you can see from the photo, the dough was quite pretty, of a pastel yellow and speckled, thanks to stone-ground buckwheat flour. Traditionally this pasta is used to make gratins and I was planning to do something along those lines, but an unwelcome cold requiring chicken soup therapy for my husband sent the crozets into hot chicken broth. My version of crozets combined the richness of egg with the rustic texture of stone-ground buckwheat flour. They were a great company to the pieces of chicken that enriched the soup.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Crozets

Ingredients for the pasta dough:

55 g all-purpose flour, plus more, as needed, to obtain a firm dough
25 g buckwheat flour, possibly stone-ground
A pinch of salt
one 55 g egg, possibly from pastured poultry

Ingredients for the soup:

3 cups / 700 ml chicken⁴ or vegetable broth, homemade or, if store-bought, organic
1 batch crozets
7 ounces / 200 g cooked chicken, diced
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional)

Make crozets
On the working surface or in a bowl, create a well with the flours and salt and crack the egg directly into it. Scramble the egg with a fork. Draw flour from the sides of the well into the center, mixing well with the egg.

Trade the fork for your fingertips. Draw flour until a soft dough forms. If you started in a bowl, empty it on the working surface and scrape its side and bottom well.

Starts kneading the dough: push the dough away from you with their heel of your hand (given the small size of the dough, one hand will be enough), then with the help of the other hand gather it back toward you folding it on itself and turning it 90 degrees. Add a bit more flour (5 grams or so) to obtain a soft, non-sticky dough. Continue kneading in the same way.

Knead the dough until it is smooth, 8-10 minutes. Let the dough rest for an hour or so (at least half an hour), well covered (e.g., in a small ziplock bag or wrapped in plastic film) so it doesn't dry out.

Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces, flatten both with a rolling pin and then roll by hand or with a pasta machine. This is a fairly thick pasta, so I stop at the last but two notch of my pasta machine. Sprinkle the dough with all-purpose flour as needed to prevent sticking.

Sprinkle the dough with a bit of all-purpose flour, then cut each piece into 1/4-inch / 6 mm wide strips (basically, tagliatelle) with the machine attachment or by hand. In the latter case, fold a 3-inch strip of pasta lengthwise away from you. Continue folding the strip until the entire pasta sheet is folded into a flattened roll. With a sharp knife, cut across the flattened roll. Immediately unfold the cut strips, then line them up and cut them across into 1/4-inch / 6 mm wide squares. (I do this with my bench scraper rather than a knife.)

cutting crozets

Sprinkle the crozets with flour and run your fingers through them (see top photo) to ensure that they are well separated and don't stick together.

Continue until you cut all the dough, kneading and rolling again cutouts as needed.

Make the soup
Bring the broth to a boil in a saucepan and add the crozets. Cook until tender (the time needed depends on how dry they are). In the meantime, if the chicken is cold, warm it up in the microwave. Once the pasta is cooked, add the chicken to the soup and stir. Take the saucepan off the heat.

Ladle the soup into bowls and optionally sprinkle a bit of Parmigiano-Reggiano on it. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-4

comforting

Thanks to the book, I went on a journey of discovery and am pleased to have found crozets. (I suspect you will read more about this pasta soon.)

¹ A Savory Savoie Tradition: Crozets
² Crozets — A Savoie Pasta
³ Buckwheat Pasta Dough recipe in Clotilde Dusoulier's The French Market Cookbook
⁴ My post on my chicken stock/broth

This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

crozets

or launch the crozets audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

pasta, soup, buckwheat flour, chicken, French cuisine

semolina pasta dough / impasto per pasta di semola

November 18, 2015December 12, 2025 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

initial phase (i.e., before kneading the dough)

Recipes for handmade pasta usually instruct you to make a well in the flour and put the liquid (water or eggs) in it, then use a fork or your fingers to mix the two and finally use your hands to knead. But pasta recipes usually instruct you to make a large batch of dough, which I do not recommend when you are learning. This post shows how I make a small batch of pasta dough using semolina flour and water. (The process is almost the same when I make egg pasta, but since there are a few differences, I will devote to it a separate post.)

This short video shows my hands kneading the dough:

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Semolina pasta dough

Ingredients:

100 g / 3.5 ounces semolina flour of good quality
A pinch of salt
50 g / 1.75 ounces warm water

In a small bowl, weigh the flour, add the salt, then weigh the water. I recommend weighing both flour and water because the quantities involved are small. Using volume to measure the ingredients may lead to a significant error and if you are not familiar with how the dough feels, it would be difficult to correct it.

With a fork, spread the somewhat recalcitrant water through the flour. When there is no more free water, drop the fork in favor of your fingers, then use your hands. As you work the crumbly mix, you will see and feel it come together into a cohesive whole. The graininess persists for a while.

Empty the bowl onto your working surface, scraping well the bottom and side. Besides the shaggy dough, there will be some free flour. Start kneading the dough: push the dough away from you with their heel of your hand (given the small size of the dough, one hand will be enough), then with the help of the other hand gather it back toward you folding it on itself and turning it 90 degrees (see the video above). Incorporate all the semolina flour.

Continue kneading the dough in the same way. You will see and feel the graininess give way to smoothness. You don’t need to flour your working surface, as the dough will not stick to it.

Knead the dough until it is smooth and firm, 8-10 minutes. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes or so, well-covered (e.g., in a small ziplock bag or wrapped in plastic film) so it doesn’t dry out.

Follow the chosen recipe to shape the dough.

For suggestions, visit the page on my blog where you can browse the complete collection of handmade pasta shapes, some of them of my own creation, a good number of them with accompanying video.

pasta, semolina, pasta dough, Italian cuisine

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impasto per pasta di semola

fase iniziale (prima di cominciare ad impastare con le mani)

Le ricette per la pasta fatta a mano di solito dicono di disporre la farina a fontana e di versare al centro il liquido (acqua o uova), poi usare una forchetta o le dita per mescolare e infine le mani per impastare. Tali ricette di solito danno le dosi per fare una quantità di impasto piuttosto grossa, cosa che sconsiglio quando si sta imparando. In questo post vi mostro come faccio una piccola quantità di impasto con semola e acqua. (Quando faccio la pasta all’uovo seguo un procedimento quasi identico, ma ci sono alcune differenze importanti, per cui dedicherò ad esso un altro post.)

Questo breve video mostra le mie mani che impastano:

Ingredienti:

100 g semola di grano duro
Un pizzico di sale
50 g acqua calda

In una ciotola pesare la semola, aggiungere il sale e pesare l’acqua.

Con una forchetta mescolare gli ingredienti e quando non c’è più acqua libera, abbandonare la forchetta a favore delle vostre dite a poi delle mani. Man mano che lo lavorate, vedrete e sentirete l’impasto diventare coeso. Ancora per un po’ rimane granelloso.

Vuotare la ciotola sulla spianatoia, raschiando bene le pareti e il fondo. Oltre all’impasto mezzo formato ci sarà ancora un po’ di semola libera. Cominciate ad impastare: spingere l’impasto con la base della mano in modo da allontanarlo da voi (data la piccola quantità di impasto una mano è sufficiente), poi con l’aiuto dell’altra mano piegarlo su se stesso e riportarlo verso di voi, al contempo ruotandolo 90 gradi (vedi il video in alto).

Continuate ad impastare allo stesso modo. Sentirete che l’impasto diventa man mano più liscio. Non c’è bisogno di infarinare il piano di lavoro, dal momento che l’impasto non è appiccicoso.

Continuate fino a quando l’impasto è bello liscio, 8-10 minuti. Coprire l’impasto in modo che non si asciughi (per esempio avvolgendolo con della pellicola) e farlo riposare per una mezz’ora, poi riprendetelo e procedete a formare la pasta secondo le istruzioni della ricetta che avete scelto.

Per suggerimenti, visitate la pagina sul mio blog sono elencate le mei ricette per pasta fatta a mano, alcune di mia creazione e molte corredate da un video di dimostrazione.

blueberry varenyky / varenyky con ripieno di mirtilli

August 16, 2015 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

making blueberry varenyky

In our World Culinary ABC¹ we have arrived in Ukraine (Ucraina), represented by the port city of Odessa. By a series of coincidences, my husband and I recently hiked to, and spent a night at, Odessa Lake² in Rocky Mountain National Park³. So, while I have no personal images of Odessa to share, I can show you how beautiful Odessa Lake is.

Odessa Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park / IMG_3615

arriving at Odessa Lake

Odessa Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park / IMG_3616

Odessa Lake and Notchtop Mountain in the evening

To celebrate our virtual visit to Ukraine, I chose to make my version of blueberry varenyky.

Varenyky are stuffed with a variety of fillings such as mashed potato, ground meat, liver or offal, cabbage, sauerkraut, fish, hard-boiled egg (a Mennonite tradition) or a combination of these. Typical sweet fillings include quark or cottage cheese, or fruits such as sour cherries, berries and currants.⁴

it's blueberry season!

I made blueberry varenyky using both the cocoa pasta dough I recently used to make tagliatelle⁵ and the plain version of the same dough (sans cocoa).

The cocoa version was more difficult to photograph due to the clash between dark brown and deep purple-blue, but I love the cocoa pasta dough.

cocoa pasta dough

There are many recipes for the blueberry filling. I wanted something that would highlight the distinct flavor of fresh blueberries. I adapted the recipe found in the book The Glorious Noodle by Linda Merinoff.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Blueberry varenyky

Ingredients for the pasta dough:

1 tablespoon / 7 g unsweetened cocoa (cacao amaro) + 80 g all-purpose flour + more as needed OR
85 g / 3 ounces all-purpose flour + more as needed
1 large egg (weighing no less than 2.2 ounces / 62 g with the shell)

Ingredients for the blueberry filling:

1 pound / 450 g fresh blueberries, preferably organic
1 tablespoon / 12 g ultra-fine or granulated sugar

Additionally:

1 1/2 tablespoons / 21 g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Powdered sugar (zucchero a velo), to taste (optional)

Makes 28-30 varenyky

How to make the pasta dough
Weigh the flour in a bowl, then add the egg and mix into a cohesive dough, first with a fork and then with your hands. If making the cocoa version, stir that and the flour with a metal whisk until the cocoa is well dispersed before adding the egg.

Empty the bowl onto a kneading board (scraping the container well) and start kneading the dough with your hands.

Add a bit more flour, if needed, to obtain a dough that is not sticky, but should not feel hard when kneaded. Knead for 8-10 minutes, folding the dough on itself towards you and pushing it away from you with the heels of your hands in a fluid motion that should feel relaxed and meditative. Cover well (e.g., wrapped in plastic film), and let rest for about an hour.

How to make the filling
Stem, rinse and drain the blueberries. Set aside 1/3 and place the rest in a saucepan. It is best to reserve the smallest blueberries, since they will remain whole and large blueberries make it more difficult to seal the varenyky. Sprinkle the sugar on top and stir. Cook over medium heat while stirring until the berries are surrounded by juice. This will take about 4 minutes.

Turn down the heat to low and simmer the blueberries for 15 minutes, stirring often for the first 10 minutes and constantly for the last 5 minutes. Fold in the raw blueberries. Remove the pan from the heat and let the blueberries cool before using.

How to make the varenyky
Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces, flatten both with a rolling pin and then roll with a pasta machine until you are down to the last notch. Sprinkle the dough with a small amount of all-purpose flour as needed to prevent sticking. Note: While you want to make sure the dough does not stick to either the board or the rolling pin, avoid having too much flour on the surface where you will deposit the filling, because you need to make the border stick.

Cut the pasta into rounds with a 3-inch / 7.5 cm scalloped cookie cutter. Place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of each round, fold it in half to form a half moon (mezzaluna), and carefully press the border all around to seal the edge. In some versions of varenyky, the border is pleated as decoration, but I personally prefer the flat version. Using a scalloped cookie cutter means the border is not plain.

To prevent the dough from drying out while you work, roll half at a time and make sure you keep scraps covered, so you can re-roll and cut them. Fill the dough as you cut it so it doesn't dry. Place the completed varenyky on a floured plate.

How to cook and dress the varenyky
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add some coarse salt and stir. Drop 1/3 of the varenyky into the water, making sure they don't crowd, and bring back to boiling. Cook the varenyky until done (3 minutes or so). The amount of time needed depends on a few factors, so the best way to handle this is to watch attentively and taste a corner.

While the first batch of varenyky is cooking, melt the butter in a ramekin and warm up the leftover blueberry filling on very gently heat. Keep warm while the varenyky cook.

When the varenyky are ready, drain them well with a strainer and drop them on a plate. Drizzle 1/3 of the melted butter, stir gently and keep warm while you cook the others. When all the varenyky are cooked and buttered, optionally dust them lightly with some powdered sugar, then distribute the leftover blueberry filling on them. Serve immediately.

tossed and ready to be served
(napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO, Seta decor collection)

Freeze the varenyky you won't cook. When you want to prepare them, drop the frozen varenyky into the boiling water and proceed with the cooking and dressing as above.

¹ The World Culinary ABC kick-off post
²Odessa Lake
³ Rocky Mountain National Park⁴ Wikipedia: varenyky
⁵ Post on cocoa tagliatelle

I contribute my blueberry varenyky to the 15th installment of the Abbecedario culinario mondiale (World Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 27 countries of the world using the alphabet as guide. O like Odessa (Ukraine) is hosted by Stefania of BigShade.

The list of recipes contributed to the event and their slide show.

FTC disclosure: I have received the napkin free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

varenyky con ripieno di mirtilli

or launch the varenyky con ripieno di mirtilli audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

varenyky, dumplings, blueberry, ravioli, dessert, Ukrainian cuisine

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varenyky con ripieno di mirtilli

fasi di preparazione dei varenyky

La quindicesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale¹ è l'Ucraina, e a rappresentare il paese è Odessa. Per una serie di coincidenze, io e mio marito di recente passato una notte con la tenda vicino al Lago Odessa² nel Parco Nazionale delle Montagne Rocciose³. Non ho immagini di Odessa da condividere, ma posso farvi vedere il Lago Odessa.

arrivo al Lago Odessa

Lago Odessa e Monte Notchtop di sera

Per celebrare questa tappa ho preparato la mia versione dei varenyky con ripieno di mirtilli.

I varenyky vengono preparati con diversi ripieni, come patate passate, carne tritata, fegato o frattaglie, cavolo cappuccio, crauti, pesce, uova sode o una combinazione di tali ingredienti. Ripieni dolci tipici sono formaggio quark o cottage, oppure frutta come amarene, frutti di bosco e ribes.⁴

è la stagione dei mirtilli

Ho preparato i varenyky usando sia la pasta al cacao che ho usato di recente per fare delle tagliatelle ⁵ sia la versione semplice dello stesso impasto (senza cacao).

La versione al cacao è più difficile da fotografare per via del marrone e blu-viola, ma la pasta al cacao mi piace un sacco.

pasta al cacao

Ci sono molte ricette per il ripieno ai mirtilli. Io ne volevo una che mettesse in risalto il sapore dei mirtilli freschi. Ho adattato la ricetta che ho trovato nel libro di by Linda Merinoff The Glorious Noodle.

Ingredienti per la pasta:

7 g cacao amaro + 80 g farina di grano + q.b. per impastare e spianare
OPPURE
85 g farina di grano + q.b. per impastare e spianare
1 uovo codice 0 (peso non inferiore a 62 g col guscio)

Ingredienti per il ripieno ai mirtilli

450 g mirtilli freschi, preferibilmente bio
1 cucchiaio / 12 g zucchero superfine o semolato

Ingredienti per il condimento:

20 g burro
zucchero a velo, q.b.

Dose per 30 varenyky

Come preparare la pasta
Pesare la farina in una ciotola, poi aggiungere l'uovo e mescolare il tutto (prima con una forchetta e poi con le mani) fino ad ottenere un impasto. Se fate la versione al cacao, mescolarlo bene alla farina prima di aggiungere l'uovo.

Vuotare la ciotola sul piano di lavoro e lavorare fino a quando l'impasto sia liscio. Farlo riposare, ben coperto (per esempio, avvolto in pellicola), per una un'oretta.

Come preparare il ripieno
Mondare, sciacquare e scolare i mirtilli. Metterne da parte 1/3 e mettere il resto in un pentolino. È meglio tenere da parte i mirtilli più piccoli, dal momento che rimarranno interi e grossi mirtilli rendono più difficile chiudere i varenyky. Spolverare lo zucchero sui mirtili e mescolare. Cuocere a fuoco medio mescolando fino a quando i mirtilli sono circondati dal loro succo. Ci vogliono circa 4 minuti.

Cuocere i mirtilli a calore basso per 15 minute, mescolando spesso i primi 10 minuti e sempre negli ultimi 5 minuti. Aggiungre i mirtilli messi da parte. Mescolare bene, poi togliere il pentolino dal fuoco e far freddare prima di usare.

Come fare i varenyky
Tagliare l'impasto in due pezzi uguali, spianarli un po' con un matterello e poi con la macchina per la pasta fino all'ultimo spessore. Spolverare l'impasto con un pochino di farina per evitare che si attacchi, ma evitare di avere farina sulla superficie dove depositerete il ripieno, altrimenti sara difficile sigillare il bordo.

Tagliare la pasta con uno stampino rotondo smerlato di 7,5 cm di diametro. Depositare un cucchiaino (5 ml) di ripieno al centro di ciascun cerchio, piegarlo a metà a formare una mezzaluna e premere il bordo tutto intorno per sigillarlo bene. In alcune versioni dei varenyky, il bordo viene pieghettato a formare una decorazione, ma io preferisco la versione piatta. Dal momento che utilizzo uno stampino smerlato, il bordo non è liscio.

Per evitare che l'impasto si asciughi mentre lavorate, spianate una meta per volta e tenete coperti i ritagli in modo che possiate spianarli di nuovo e tagliarli. Riempite e chiude l'impasto man mano che lo tagliate in modo che non si asciughi. Depositare i varenyky su un piatto infarinato.

Come cuocere e condire i varenyky
Portare a bollore acqua in una pentola capiente, salare l'acqua e tuffare 1/3 dei varenyky nell'acqua in modo che abbiano spazio per emergere. Riportare a bollore. Cuocere 3 minuti circa. Il tempo preciso dipende da vari fattori, quindi la cosa migliore è controllare con attenzione e assaggiare un angolo per verificare che i varenyky siano pronti.

Mentre il primo gruppo di varenyky cuoce, fondere il burro e scaldare a fuoco dolcissimo il resto del ripieno di mirtilli. Tenere caldo fino a quanto tutti i varenyky sono cotti.

Quando sono pronti, scolarli bene con una schiumarola e depositarli su un piatto. Versarci sopra 1/3 del burro fuso, mescolare delicatamente e tenere al caldo mentre cuocete gli altri varenyky. Quando sono tutti cotti, spolverarli con dello zucchero a velo (facoltativo), distribuire su di essi il ripieno di mirtilli rimasto. Servire immediatamente.

varenyky con ripieno di mirtilli / IMG_3635

mescolati e pronti per essere serviti
(tovagliolo de La FABBRICA del LINO, collezione Seta decor)

Congelare i varenyky che non cuocete. Quando volete prepararli, tuffateli nell'acqua bollente ancora surgelati e procedete con la cottura come sopra.

¹ Post inaugurale dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale
²Odessa Lake [in inglese]
³ Rocky Mountain National Park [in inglese]
⁴ Wikipedia: varenyky [traduzione mia]
⁵ Post sulle tagliatelle al cacao [in inglese]

FTC disclosure: Ho ricevuto il tovagliolo gratuitamente dall'azienda produttrice (la FABBRICA del LINO). Non ho ricevuto e non riceverò alcun compenso per presentarlo sul mio blog. Le opinioni espresse nel post sono interamente personali.

Con questi varenyky con ripieno di mirtilli partecipo alla quindicesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare 27 paesi del mondo usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. O come Odessa (Ucraina) è ospitata da Stefania di BigShade.

La lista di ricette contribuite all'evento e lo slide show che le mostra.

cocoa tagliatelle with ricotta, raspberry coulis and chocolate sauce / tagliatelle al cacao con ricotta, salsa di lamponi e salsa di cioccolato

August 9, 2015 | Simona

cocoa tagliatelle with ricotta raspberry coulis and chocolate sauce / IMG_3530

pasta for dessert

Author Patricia V. Davis is writing a trilogy set on the Queen Mary¹, the retired ocean liner moored in the harbor of Long Beach, CA. In anticipation of the first book of The Secret Spice Cafe Trilogy², titled Cooking for Ghosts and Lost Lovers, Patricia has launched a contest that runs until August 15. The idea is to prepare a personal interpretation of one of two dishes that appear in the book: Cristiano's Spiced Shrimp Rohini or Angela's Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Tarts.

I thought about various ways of deconstructing the dessert and created this recipe. If I were the pastry chef at the Secret Spice Cafe, this would be my raspberry chocolate specialty, something rather surprising — though knowing that I am Italian, the guests would understand.

cocoa pasta dough

The dessert is composed of four elements:

cocoa tagliatelle
ricotta, which I make at home³
raspberry coulis
chocolate sauce

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Cocoa tagliatelle with ricotta raspberry coulis and chocolate sauce

The recipe makes two portions.

Ingredients for the cocoa pasta:

1 tablespoon / 7 g unsweetened cocoa (cacao amaro)
80 g all-purpose flour + more as needed
1 large egg (no less than 2.2 ounces / 62 g)

Ingredients for the raspberry coulis (see Note #1 below):

12 ounces / 340 g fresh raspberries
1 tablespoon / 12 g ultra-fine or granulated sugar
1 teaspoon / 5 ml fresh lemon juice

Ingredients for the chocolate sauce (see Note #2 below):

75 ml heavy whipping cream
50 ml non-fat milk
3 tablespoons / 1 1/2 ounces / 42 g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 ounces / 115 g good quality chocolate 70%, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon / 2.5 ml vanilla extract
1/16 teaspoon fine sea salt

Additionally:

70 g / 2 1/2 ounces fresh ricotta, possibly homemade

Important: I listed the ingredients and provided the instructions following the order of the recipe name. However, both the raspberry coulis and the chocolate sauce can be prepared before the pasta and refrigerated until ready to use.

Note #1: these quantities make more than necessary for the pasta and you can halve them. My thought is that, since you are going through the effort of straining the puréed raspberries to obtain a smooth sauce, you may as well make a nice batch. You will certainly find ways of using it.

Note #2: these quantities make more than necessary for the pasta. However, the sauce keeps in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 weeks and you can find ways of using it within that time. This chocolate sauce was derived from a recipe by David Lebovitz⁴.

How to make the cocoa tagliatelle
Weigh the flour and cocoa in a bowl and stir them with a metal whisk until the cocoa is well dispersed, then add the egg and mix into a cohesive dough, first with a fork and then with your hands.

Empty the bowl onto a kneading board (scraping the container well) and start kneading the dough with your hands.

Add a bit more flour if needed to obtain a dough that is not sticky, but should not feel hard when kneaded. Knead for 8-10 minutes, folding the dough on itself towards you and pushing it away from you with the heels of your hands in a fluid motion that should feel relaxed and meditative. Cover well (e.g., wrapped in plastic film), and let rest for about an hour.

Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces, flatten both with a rolling pin and then roll with a pasta machine until you are down to the last but one notch. Sprinkle the dough with all-purpose flour as needed to prevent sticking.

Let the rolled dough rest for a short while. Sprinkle the dough with a bit of all-purpose flour, then cut each piece into tagliatelle (long strips that are 1/4-inch / 6 mm wide) with the machine attachment or by hand. In the latter case, fold a 3-inch strip of pasta lengthwise away from you. Continue to fold the strip until the entire pasta sheet is folded into a flattened roll. With a sharp knife, cut across the flattened roll. Immediately unfold the cut tagliatelle.

Lay out the tagliatelle in such a way that they don’t stick to each other until you are ready to cook them.

How to make the raspberry coulis
Place raspberries in a bowl and add and sugar. Stir well and let sit for half an hour or so. Process the raspberries briefly with an immersion blender. Press through a fine-mesh strainer, using a spatula to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard seeds.

In a saucepan, bring raspberry sauce to a simmer and maintain for 8 minutes or so to reduce it. Remove from the heat, let cool a bit, then add the lemon juice and stir well.

Can be prepared in advance, and, once cooled, refrigerated in a lidded container.

How to make the chocolate sauce
In a small saucepan, warm up the cream, milk and butter until the fluid begins to steam.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate, vanilla, and salt, stirring until the chocolate is melted and the sauce is smooth. It will take a little while, so be patient and keep stirring. The chocolate aroma will make this a pleasant task.

Can be prepared in advance. Once the sauce reaches room temperature, pour it in a glass jar, place the lid on and store in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 weeks. Warm up the amount of the sauce you need by putting it in a jar or ramekin and placing it in a pan of very hot water.

How to cook and dress the cocoa tagliatelle
Bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil. Since the pasta takes only a short time to cook, prepare the sauces just before tossing it into the boiling water.

Place 1 1/2 tablespoons / 22.5 ml of chocolate sauce in a ramekin and gently heat until the sauce melts. I do this by heating up in a small saucepan enough water so that I can immerse the ramekin in it without having the water come up its rim. Immerse the ramekin in the water and remove the pan from the heat. Stir as the sauce melts.

Place 3 tablespoons / 45 ml of raspberry coulis in a ramekin and gently heat to lukewarm. I do this in the microwave set to defrost checking often.

Prepare the ricotta as the water comes to a boil. I like to think about this dessert as shared by a couple and given that it is eaten warm, I dress it and toss it in a serving bowl, then plate it and serve immediately. Put the ricotta in a bowl and mash it with a fork to make a cream. If it is on the dry side, add to it a teaspoon or so of the pasta cooking water.

Add some coarse salt to the boiling water, stir and then toss the tagliatelle in it. Bring water back to boiling and keep it there. The time needed to cook the tagliatelle is only a few minutes, so don’t wander away.

When the pasta is ready, remove from the heat, pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and then drain the pasta, leaving a bit of water clinging to it. Toss pasta and ricotta. For the presentation, arrange pasta in a nest shape, pour raspberry sauce in the center, then make a ribbon all around it with the chocolate sauce. Toss well before serving.

If you prefer, divide the ricotta into two bowls and proceed as above, but diving the ingredients between the two bowls and repeating the steps for each one.

cocoa tagliatelle with ricotta, raspberry coulis and chocolate sauce/ IMG_3527

the view from above

I enjoyed making pasta with cocoa, and you will see another version in the next post: stay tuned.

As mentioned at the beginning, this recipe was inspired by, and developed for, the recipe contest organized by Patricia V. Davis. The contest is open until August 15. Details are available on the Secret Spice Cafe's Facebook page.

¹ Wikipedia: The Queen Mary
² Cooking for Ghosts and Lost Lovers web page
³ One of the posts in which I talk about making ricotta
⁴ Recipe for Salted Butter Chocolate Sauce by David Lebovitz

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

tagliatelle al cacao con ricotta, salsa di lamponi e salsa di cioccolato

or launch the tagliatelle al cacao con ricotta, salsa di lamponi e salsa di cioccolato audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

cocoa pasta, noodles, ricotta, raspberries, chocolate, Italian cuisine

tagliatelle al matcha (tè verde) / matcha noodles / green tea noodles

May 14, 2015 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

matcha noodles dressed with Crescenza cheese

The eleventh stop of our World Culinary ABC¹ is Japan (Giappone). Japanese food is the first ethnic food I discovered after moving to California. There was a Japanese restaurant close to my husband's office and we often went there for dinner. When we chose our wedding date, we asked the Japanese lady who owned it to cater the reception. And so it was that we had a sushi chef at our house, much to our guests' delight. Probably the most moving memory for me is that of my mother offering the kimono-clad lady a slice of homemade tiramisù, our wedding cake. Neither spoke the other's language and so the exchange was solemnly silent.

If I ever visit Japan, I will be looking for people practicing the ancient art of marbling called suminagashi, meaning floating ink. I learned this marbling techniques several years ago from Robin Heyek², who went to Japan to research it. Making suminagashi requires concentration and attention and it is, in a sense, a ceremony. The ink pattern composed on the surface of the water is fragile³. The artist needs to decide when it is the right moment to freeze it on paper.

tea and tools

To celebrate this stop, I did something that had been on my wish list for a while: I used matcha⁴ — the green tea used for the Japanese tea ceremony⁵ — as an ingredient of pasta dough. I already had matcha and also the traditional bamboo scoop, called chashaku, and bamboo whisk, called chasen (both visible in the photo above). The dough was unexpectedly difficult to work by hand, so I used my pasta machine to roll it and cut tagliatelle. The flavor of matcha comes through: I dress the pasta lightly so as to maintain it.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for matcha noodles

Ingredients for the pasta (I recommend weighing both flour and water because the quantities involved are small):

5 g matcha
95 g semolina flour
60 ml warm water
A pinch of salt

Ingredients for the dressing:

1/2 tablespoon / 7 g butter
50 g / 1 3/4 oz. Crescenza cheese cut into small pieces⁶
Petals of one calendula flower⁷ (optional: it provides a nice color accent)

How to make the noodles
Measure the matcha and flour in a bowl and stir them with a metal whisk until the matcha is well dispersed, then add water and salt and mix into a dough, first with a fork and then with your hands.

Note: if you have the chasen (bamboo whisk) and like to use it, you can also mix matcha and hot (not boiling) water with it, then, once it is dissolved, add semolina flour and salt and mix into a dough, first with a fork and then with your hands.

Regardless of the method used, knead the dough until it is cohesive, then let it rest, covered, for 5 minutes or so. Knead it some more until smooth. Let it rest, well covered (e.g., wrapped in plastic film), for half an hour or so.

Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces, flatten both with a rolling pin and then roll with a pasta machine until you are down to the last but one notch. Let rest for a few minutes then cut each piece into tagliatelle (1/4-inch / 6 mm wide) with the attachment. Lay out the noodles in such a way that they don't stick to each other until you are ready to cook them.

noodles laid out to dry
(linen place mat from La FABBRICA del LINO)

How to cook and dress the noodles
Bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil, add some coarse salt, stir and then toss the noodles in it. The time needed to cook it is a bit variable, depending on how dry they are, but it is not long.

Taste and stop the cooking when the noodles are ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain leaving a little bit of the cooking water clinging to the noodles. Drop the pasta into the skillet with the melted cheese. Stir well over medium-low heat for half a minute or so, until the noodles are coated with the cheese. Sprinkle calendula petals, if using and give a final stir. Plate and serve immediately.

The recipe makes two small portions (served as Italian first course), but it can easily be doubled.

ready to be plated

Bringing this pasta to the table will definitely surprise your guests.

¹ The World Culinary ABC kick-off post.
² Robin Heyeck
³ More details on suminagashi on this page.
⁴ Wikipedia entry for matcha.
⁵ Wikipedia entry for Japanese tea ceremony.
⁶ My post on homemade Crescenza cheese.
⁷ Wikipedia entry: Calendula officinalis.

FTC disclosure: I have received the place mat free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting the product on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

I contribute my pasta to the 11th installment of the Abbecedario culinario mondiale (World Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 27 countries of the world using the alphabet as guide. K like Kyoto (Japan) is hosted by Sabrina of Nato sotto il cavolo.

The list of recipes contributed to the event and their slide show.

I contribute my dish also to the current edition of Pasta Please, a pasta-centric event created by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes and hosted this month by Jen of Jen's Food.

The roundup of the event.

As always, when I try something new, I was a bit worried about embarking in this adventure and in fact I encountered unexpected difficulties, but in the end I am happy about the result. I am contributing my matcha-flavored pasta to Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire them to try new things. This month the event is hosted by Jordan and Cindy from My Daughter and I.

The roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post

tagliatelle al matcha (tè verde)

or launch the tagliatelle al matcha (tè verde) audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

noodles, matcha, pasta, green-tea, Japanese cuisine

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tagliatelle al matcha (tè verde)

tagliatelle al matcha condite con crescenza

L'undicesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale¹ è il Giappone. La cucina giapponese è stata la prima cucina etnica che ho scoperto dopo essermi trasferita in California, grazie ad un ristorante giapponese che si trovava vicino all'ufficio di mio marito.

Se mai visiterò il Giappone cercherò di trovare chi ancora pratica l'antica arte del suminagashi, parola che significa "inchiostro che galleggia". Ho imparato questa tecnica per marmorizzare alcuni anni fa da Robin Heyek². Per fare suminagashi occorre concentrazione e attenzione ed è in un certo senso una cerimonia³. Il disegno creato con l'inchiostro sulla superficie dell'acqua è fragile. L'artista deve decidere quando sia il momento giusto per fermarlo sulla carta.

tè e strumenti per prepararlo

Per celebrare questa tappa ho usato il matcha⁴ — lo speciale tè verde giapponese usato per la cerimonia del tè⁵ — come ingrediente per preparare la pasta. Avevo il matcha e anche sia il tradizionale cucchiaino di bambu, chashaku, e il frullino, chasen (entrambi visibili nella foto in alto). L'impasto è inaspettatamente difficile da lavorare a mano e quindi uso la mia macchina per fare la pasta per stenderlo e produrre le tagliatelle. Il sapore caratteristico del matcha si sente: un condimento a base di Crescenza⁶ fa sì che tale sapore si mantenga nel piatto finale.

Ingredienti per l'impasto:

5 g matcha
95 g semola di grano duro
60 ml acqua calda
Un pizzico di sale

Ingredienti per il condimento:

7 g burro
50 g Crescenza tagliata a pezzetti
Petali di una calendula⁷ (facoltativi: danno una gradevole nota di colore)

Come preparare l'impasto e fare le tagliatelle
Mettere il matcha e la semola in una ciotola e mescolarli con una frusta fino a quando il matcha è ben disperso, poi aggiungete l'acqua e il sale e mescolate il tutto (prima con una forchetta e poi con le mani) fino ad ottenere un impasto.

Nota: se avete il frullino apposito (chasen) e vi piace usarlo, mescolare con esso il matcha e l'acqua molto calda (ma non bollente) fino a quando il matcha è dissolto. Poi aggiungere la semola e il sale e mescolare il tutto (prima con una forchetta e poi con le mani) fino ad ottenere un impasto.

Indipendentemente dal metodo usato inizialmente, lavorare gli ingredienti fino ad ottenere un impasto coeso. Far riposare, coperto, per 5 minuti e poi impastare di nuovo fino a quando sia liscio. Farlo riposare, ben coperto (per esempio, avvolto in pellicola), per una mezz'ora.

Tagliare l'impasto in due pezzi uguali, spianarli un po' con un matterello e poi con la macchina per la pasta fino al penultimo spessore. Far riposare qualche minuto e poi tagliare ciascun pezzo in tagliatelle con lo speciale accessorio. Depositare le tagliatelle su una superficie dove non attacchino fino a quando siete pronti per cuocerle.

tagliatelle messe ad asciugare
(tovaglietta di lino de La FABBRICA del LINO)

Come cuocere e condire le tagliatelle
Cuocere le tagliatelle in abbondante acqua salata. Il tempo necessario varia a seconda di quanto sono asciutte, ma non è lunghissimo.

Nel frattempo, far sciogliere il burro in una padella a fuoco basso, poi aggiungere il formaggio e mescolare mentre si ammorbidisce col calore. Fate in modo che il formaggio sia appena sciolto per quando la pasta sia pronta ad essere aggiunta.

Quando le tagliatelle sono cotte, versare un bicchiere d'acqua fredda nella pentola, mescolare e scolarle lasciando un pochino di acqua di cottura. Versarle nella padella con il formaggio fuso. Mescolare bene su fuoco medio-basso per circa mezzo minuto, fino a quando il formaggio sia ben distribuito sulle tagliatelle. Spargere i petali di calendula, se li usate e dare un'ultima mescolata. Impiattare e servire immediatamente.

Questa ricetta fa due porzioni come primo piatto e si può facilmente raddoppiare.

pronte ad essere impiattate

Con questa pasta decisamente sorprenderete i vostri ospiti.

¹ Post inaugurale dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale.
² Robin Heyeck
³ Maggiori detagli sul suminagashi su questa pagina (in inglese).
⁴ Wikipedia: matcha
⁵ Wikipedia: cerimonia del tè.
⁶ Il mio post sulla Crescenza fatta in casa (in inglese).
⁷ Wikipedia: Calendula officinalis.

FTC disclosure: Ho ricevuto la tovaglietta gratuitamente dall'azienda produttrice (la FABBRICA del LINO). Non ho ricevuto e non riceverò alcun compenso per presentare il prodotto sul mio blog. Le opinioni espresse nel post sono interamente personali.

Con questa ricetta partecipo all'undicesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare 27 paesi del mondo usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. K come Kyoto (Giappone) è ospitata da Sabrina di Nato sotto il cavolo.

La lista di ricette contribuite all'evento e lo slide show che le mostra.

vermicelli di riso fatti in casa / homemade bun rice noodles

March 22, 2015 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

homemade bun rice noodle soup / IMG_2887

western-style broth meets eastern-style rice noodles

The eighth stop of our World Culinary ABC¹ is Vietnam. To celebrate our virtual visit I made bun rice noodles from scratch. Making an Asian pasta had been on my to-do list for a long time. Having found a detailed recipe from a reputable source², I went to work: the process was interesting and the result quite nice.

The original recipe calls for a pound of rice flour, but I applied the rule I repeat in each of my pasta posts³ and quartered the quantities. Please, read carefully the note about flour below.

Ingredients for the noodles:

4 ounces / 113 g white rice flour (see Note below)
210 ml / 1 cup – 2 tablespoons water (#1)
water #2 (see recipe for details)
2 teaspoons / 10 ml grapeseed oil, or other flavorless vegetable oil
1 ounce / 28 g tapioca starch (tapioca flour is a synonym)
1/2 tablespoon coarse salt

Ingredients for the soup:

Homemade chicken broth
Fresh chives

Update: Note about the flour. I originally used white rice flour I had at home, bought some time ago from the bulk section of my local grocery store (flour #1). The recipe I followed says to use Thai white rice flour (which reportedly is ground finer than American white rice flour). When I was able to find it, in a grocery store in Oakland's Chinatown, I made a comparison between that (flour #2) and the white rice flour I bought again from the local store, since I had depleted my original cash (flour #3).

After repeated tests, I can say that Thai white rice flour gave the same result as flour #1, which I originally used. They performed better than flour #3. The difference is barely noticeable if you consume the noodles immediately. The noodles made with flour #3 tended to stick together if not used right away, a tendency that got worse with time.

Hence, I also recommend to use Thai white rice flour, if you can find it. If not, try using a finely ground white rice flour and make a small batch like I did. Do not use sweet rice flour (a.k.a., glutinous rice flour).

Prepare the batter the day before
In a small bowl, whisk together the rice flour and water #1 until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand for for 24-28 hours in a draft-free place (I put it on top of the refrigerator, my fermentation station). The batter should ferment a bit and develop a slight tang, but if that doesn't happen, it won't affect the recipe, so you can proceed.

How to make the dough
When you are ready to make the noodles, uncover the bowl. You should see that the flour has settled at the bottom and that there is a layer of water over it. Pour off that water slowly so as not to disturb the flour. When I used flour #1 (see Note above), this measured 1/4 cup / 60 ml or so. When I used Thai white rice flour and flour #3 it measured 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons / 90 ml. If you removed the lesser amount, add 2 teaspoons / 10 ml water to the batter. If you removed the larger amount, add 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon / 20 ml water to the batter. Stir well to make a smooth batter.

Fill a 4 quart / 4 liter pot with 3 quarts / 3 liters of water and heat it up, so it will be boiling by the time you are ready to cook the bun rice noodles.

Put the oil in a 1 quart / 1 liter saucepan and heat on high. When the oil is hot, pour the rice flour batter into the saucepan. Turn down the heat to medium and stir the batter with a wooden spoon, making sure you scrape the bottom and sides of the pan. If you've ever made pâte à choux, this passage will feel familiar. The batter will quickly thicken as you stir it. Turn down the heat and keep stirring until the dough becomes so stiff that the wooden spoon can stand up in it.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, let it cool slightly so you can handle it. Sprinkle the tapioca starch on it and knead to incorporate it. When almost all the starch has been incorporated, empty the bowl on a working surface lightly sprinkled with tapioca starch and knead the dough until it is smooth, a minute or so. The dough is supple but not sticky.

homemade bun rice noodle dough / IMG_2842

the dough ready to be extruded

How to make and cook the noodles
Prepare an ice bath in a bowl: fill it in half with water and add a dozen ice cubes. Place it near the stove.

Prepare the potato ricer (schiacciapatate). Use a kind that has holes on the bottom only and not on the sides. Mine has two changeable disks and I use the one with the smaller holes.

When the water in the pot is almost boiling, add the coarse salt and stir. Bring water to a rolling boil.

another use for the potato ricer

Place the dough into the potato ricer (see photo above). Working over the pot, press the potato ricer to extrude the noodles directly into the boiling water. Lower the potato ricer so that the bottom almost touches the water surface and jiggle it to break off the noodles (see Andrea's video²).

bun rice noodles cooking

Keep the water at a low boil. The noodles surface and then gather to one side of the pot. Take the noodles out of the water with a spider strainer or similar tool and place them straight into the ice bath. Be gentle as the noodles are delicate. When the noodles have cooled, drain and rinse under running cool water to remove the excess starch. Drain well.

If you make more than one batch of noodles, I recommend you clean the potato ricer in between uses.

drained bun rice noodles ready to be used

My recommendation is to eat the noodles soon after they are made.

In the top photo, you can see the soup (minestra) I made by simply heating up some of my homemade chicken broth and adding bun rice noodles and a sprinkling of snipped fresh chives. (My broth is never clear because I put a lot of vegetable trimmings in it, besides the chicken.) With the bun rice noodle recipe above you can make 4 bowls of soup served as an appetizer.

a fun pairing: bun rice noodles and fresh cannellini beans

In the photo above, I paired bun rice noodles with cannellini beans I bought fresh last summer and froze straight out of the pod. I also made some rolls with vegetables, bun rice noodles and chopped toasted peanuts (no photo). The soup was the most successful use for the noodles.

Now I am ready to make at home some other type of Asian pasta.

¹ The World Culinary ABC kick-off post.
² Andrea Nguyen's post on Viet World Kitchen is quite detailed and includes a video where you can see how the noodles are extruded into the boiling water. Her source is Charles Phan’s recipe for rice noodles which I actually read before Andrea's post. Phan's reference to pâte à choux is spot on: that's exactly how the process of cooking the dough feels. The thing that intrigued me in Phan's recipe was the dough fermentation. After reading Andrea's experiences, I've always fermented my dough 24-28 hours.
³ My collection of handmade pasta.

monochrome

I contribute my bun rice noodles to the 8th installment of the Abbecedario culinario mondiale (World Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 27 countries of the world using the alphabet as guide. H like Hanoi (Vietnam) is hosted by Sabrina of Les madeleines di Proust.

The list of recipes contributed to the event and their slide show.

I was a bit worried about failing in this adventure, but pushed myself to try and I am glad I did. I am contributing my first adventure in homemade Asian pasta to Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire them to try new things. This month the event is hosted by Cynthia from Eat Munch Love.

The roundup of the event.

The bottom photo is my contribution to edition #160 of Black and White Wednesday – A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted until April 1 by me, Simona of briciole.

The photo was shot in color with my iPhone and then converted to sepia (Lightroom preset B&W Look 1).

The gallery of image contributed to the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post

vermicelli di riso fatti in casa

or launch the vermicelli di riso fatti in casa audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

rice flour, noodles, soup, Vietnamese cuisine

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vermicelli di riso fatti in casa

brodo in stile occidentale con vermicelli in stile orientale

L'ottava tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale¹ è il Vietnam. Per celebrarla ho preparato in casa i vermicelli di riso. Era da un po' di tempo che volevo provare a fare una pasta asiatica e dopo aver trovato una buona ricetta² mi sono messa all'opera. Un procedimento interessante mi ha dato un buon risultato.

La ricetta che ho seguito utilizza una libbra di farina di riso (450 g), ma io ho applicato la regola che ripeto in tutti i miei post sulla pasta fatta in casa³ e ho utilizzato un quarto degli ingredienti. Vi raccomando di fare lo stesso. Per favore, leggete con attenzione la nota sotto riguardante la farina di riso.

Ingredienti per i vermicelli:

113 g farina di riso bianca (vedi Nota in basso)
210 ml acqua (numero 1)
acqua numero 2
10 ml olio di vinaccioli o altro olio vegetale insapore (dal sapore neutro)
28 g amido di tapioca (o farina di tapioca, che è la stessa cosa)
mezzo cucchiaio di sale grosso

Ingredienti per la minestra:

brodo di pollo fatto in casa
erba cipollina fresca

Aggiornamento: Nota riguardante la farina. Per fare i vermicelli all'inizio ho usato farina di riso bianca che avevo a casa, comprata sfusa qualche tempo fa al supermercato locale (farina numero 1). La ricetta che ho seguito dice di usare farina di riso bianca tailandese (che a quanto ho letto è macinata più fine di quella americana). Quando sono riuscita a trovare tale farina, in un negozio nella Chinatown di Oakland, ho fatto un confronto tra essa (farina numero 2) e la farina di riso che ho comprato di nuovo al supermercato locale, dal momento che l'avevo finita (farina numero 3).

Dopo diversi test, posso dire che la farina di riso bianca tailandese ha dato lo stesso risultato della farina numero 1 che ho usato all'inizio. Hanno dato un risultato migliore della farina numero 3. La differenza è minima se consumate i vermicelli immediatamente. Quelli fatti con la farina numero 3 tendevano ad appiccicarsi l'uno all'altro se lasciati riposare, una tendenza che aumenta col passare del tempo.

Quindi anche io raccomando di utilizzare la farina di riso bianca tailandese, se riuscite a trovarla. Altrimenti, utilizzate una farina di riso bianca macinata fine e preparate una quantità ridotta di impasto, come ho fatto io. Non usate farina di riso glutinoso.

Preparare la base il giorno precedente
In una ciotolina mescolare acqua (numero 1) e farina di riso fino ad avere un impasto liscio. Coprire la ciotola e far riposare l'impasto per 24-28 ore in un luogo al riparo da correnti (nel mio caso sopra al frigorifero). L'impasto dovrebbe fermentare un po', ma se non succede potete proseguire lo stesso con la ricetta.

Preparare l'impasto
Quando siete pronti a preparare i vermicelli, scoprite la ciotola. Vedrete che la farina si è depositata sul fondo e c'è uno strato di acqua sopra di essa. Versarla lentamente per eliminarla senza disturbare la farina. Quando ho usate la farina numero 1 (vedi Nota in altro) quest'acqua era circa 60 ml. Quando ho usate la farina tailandese e la farina numero 3 quest'acqua era circa 90 ml. Se eliminate la quantità minore, aggiungete all'impasto 10 ml d'acqua. Se eliminate la quantità maggiore, aggiungete all'impasto 20 ml d'acqua. Mescolare bene per creare un impasto liscio.

Riempire una pentola alta da 4 litri con 3 litri d'acqua e scaldarla in modo che sia a bollore per quando siete pronti a cuocere i vermicelli.

Versare l'olio in una pentola da un litro e scaldarlo a calore elevato. Quando l'olio è bollente, versare l'impasto di farina di riso nella pentola. Abbassare il calore a medio e mescolare con un cucchiaio di legno, facendo attenzione a raschiare il fondo e le pareti della pentola. L'impasto si addensa rapidamente mentre lo mescolate. Abbassare il calore e continuare a mescolare fino a quando l'impasto non sia così sodo che il cucchiaio di legno infisso in esso rimane diritto.

Trasferire l'impasto in una ciotola pulita e farlo intiepidire un po' in modo da poterlo manipolare. Distribuire l'amido di tapioca sulla superficie e impastare per incorporarlo. Quando quasi tutto l'amido è incorporato, vuotare la ciotola sul piano di lavoro leggermente infarinato con la tapioca e lavorare l'impasto fino a quando sia omogeneo, circa un minuto. L'impasto è morbido ma non appiccicoso.

impasto per vermicelli di riso fatti in casa / IMG_2842

l'impasto pronto ad essere pressato

Come formare e cuocere i vermicelli
Preparare una ciotola con acqua ghiacciata: riempirla a metà di acqua e poi aggiungere una dozzina di cubetti di ghiaccio. Mettere la ciotola vicino ai fornelli.

Preparare lo schiacciapatate. Usare un tipo che ha i fori solo sul fondo e non ai lati. (Il mio ha due dischi intercambiabili e uso quello con i fori più piccoli.)

Quando l'acqua nella pentola ha quasi raggiunto il bollore aggiungere il sale grosso e mescolare. Portarla a bollore come per la pasta.

impasto per vermicelli di riso fatti in casa / IMG_2843

un altro modo di utilizzare lo schiacciapatate

Mettere l'impasto nello schiacciapatate (vedi foto qui sopra). Stando sopra la pentola, pressare lo schiacciapatate e far uscire i vermicelli direttamente nell'acqua bollente. Abbassare lo schiacciapatate in modo che la sua base quasi tocchi l'acqua a scuoterlo in modo da far staccare i vermicelli (vedi anche il video nel post di Andrea²).

vermicelli di riso durante la cottura / IMG_2853

bvermicelli di riso durante la cottura

Mantenere l'acqua a bollore delicato. I vermicelli salgono in superficie e poi si raccolgono verso un lato della pentola. Con un colino a retino o strumento simile tirare fuori dall'acqua i vermicelli e versarli delicatamente nell'acqua ghiacciata preparata in precedenza. Quando sono tiepidi, scolarli e sciacquarli in acqua fresca corrente per rimuovere l'eccesso di amido. Scolare bene.

vermicelli di riso scolati e pronti per l'uso

La mia raccomandazione è di consumare i vermicelli quanto prima.

Nella foto in alto potete vedere la minestra che ho preparato semplicemente scaldando del mio brodo di pollo fatto in casa e aggiungendo i vermicelli di riso e un po' di erba cipollina tagliuzzata. (Il mio brodo non è mai limpido perché oltre al pollo ci metto molti avanzi di verdure.) Con la ricetta dei vermicelli in alto potete fare 4 tazze di minestra da servire come primo.

vermicelli di riso fatti in casa con fagioli / IMG_2852

una coppia speciale: vermicelli di riso fatti in casa con fagioli cannellini

Nella foto qui sopra ho impiattato i vermicelli con dei fagioli cannellini comprati freschi l'estate scorsa, sgranati e surgelati. Li ho anche usati per fare degli involtini primavera con verdure varie e arachidi tostate tritate (niente foto). Secondo me sono al meglio nella minestra.

Adesso sono pronta a provare a fare altri tipi di pasta asiatica.

¹ Post inaugurale dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale.
² Il post di Andrea Nguyen su Viet World Kitchen è alquanto dettagliato e comprende un breve video dove potete vedere come lei pressa i vermicelli direttamente nell'acqua bollente. La ricetta di Andrea deriva da quella di Charles Phan che di fatto io avevo consultato prima di trovare il post di Andrea. Il paragone che Phan fa con l'impasto dei bigné è preciso: cuocere l'impasto per i vermicelli somiglia alla cottura dell'impasto per i bigné. L'elemento della ricetta che mi ha attirato in particolare è la fermentazione dell'impasto. Dopo aver letto i risultati degli esperimenti di Andrea, io ho sempre fermentato il mio impasto per 24-28 ore.
³ La mia collezione di pasta fatta in casa.

Con questa ricetta partecipo all'ottava tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare 27 paesi del mondo usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. H come Hanoi (Vietnam) è ospitata da Sabrina di Les madeleines di Proust.

La lista di ricette contribuite all'evento e lo slide show che le mostra.

cecamariti (handmade pasta shape)

March 8, 2015 | Simona

spindle-shaped, delicate cecamariti (literally, husband blinders)

No husband was hurt in the making of this pasta. Blinding here is used in the sense of dazzling. Cecare is a dialectal form of the verb accecare. Mariti is the plural of marito, husband.

In Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, there is a good amount of one person trying to dazzle another (not necessarily a husband). While reading the book, I remembered seeing an entry for cecamariti ¹ in the Encyclopedia of Pasta by Oretta Zanini De Vita: it was time to learn more.

There are at least two types of pasta called cecamariti. The special characteristic of the one discussed here is that it is made with bread dough. When one thinks about it, it makes sense that, in an environment in which women made bread at home, a piece of dough would be used to make pasta.

Finding a recipe was a bit of a challenge, as those in Italian instruct you to get "500 g of bread dough", while the one in English² uses active dry yeast. I decided to try using some of my sourdough starter (pasta madre). Later, I made the dough using instant yeast. Below I give both recipes.

The procedure I use to shape cecamariti is personal, based on Zanini De Vita's description and the drawing in her book. You can see my hands at work in the video below:

As usual, I recommend to start with a small amount of dough (impasto), so you can give yourself time to learn the hand movements without being overly worried about how much more dough is waiting to be processed.

ready for the fork

The pasta cooks quickly and profits, in my opinion, from a light sauce. In the photo above you see it dressed with my usual tomato sauce, but I have also made it with chèvre melted with a small amount of butter and also used it in my recipe for poulet yassa³ (Senegalese chicken).

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for cecamariti (handmade pasta shape)

Version 1: cecamariti using sourdough starter

Ingredients for refreshing the starter (see below for timing):

1 ounce / 28 g sourdough starter
2 ounces / 56 ml water at room temperature
2 ounces / 56 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour (this is the flour I use to make bread)

Ingredients for the pasta dough

1.5 ounces / 42 g prepared starter
1.5 ounce / 42 ml water at room temperature
1/2 ounce / 14 g stone-ground whole-wheat flour
2.5 ounces / 70 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
1/2 g sea salt

Version 2: cecamariti using instant yeast

Ingredients for the pasta dough

1.5 g / 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 ounces / 56 g water at room temperature
1/2 ounce / 14 g stone-ground whole-wheat flour
3 ounces / 85 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
1/2 g sea salt

Ingredients for the dressing:

1/3 cup / 80 ml tomato sauce made with strained roasted tomatoes (detailed in this post)
Freshly grated 1/2 ounce / 15 g Parmigiano-Reggiano

Note: I recommend weighing all ingredients.

Version 1: cecamariti using sourdough starter

Preparing the starter
The evening before you plan to make the pasta, when you refresh your sourdough starter, put in a small container the starter ingredients.

Cover the container and let the starter ferment in a draft-free place (in my case, the top of the refrigerator) until the following day, when you'll make the pasta dough.

How to make the dough for version 1 of cecamariti
Weigh the starter and water in a small bowl and stir to loosen the starter. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to make a shaggy dough. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

Empty the bowl onto a kneading board lightly floured and knead the dough until nice and smooth. Lightly dust a bit of flour on the board to prevent sticking. The final dough should be supple, not sticky.

Clean and oil the bowl. Letter fold the dough and place it in the bowl. Cover tightly and place in a draft-free place. How long it takes the dough to rise depends a lot on the room temperature. (As our house is quite cool, I usually place the bowl in the oven turn it on to proofing for a few minutes, then turn it off. If it is a sunny day, our living room becomes warm as the sun turns the corner, so I put the bowl there.) It takes several hours for the dough to be ready for the next step (in my case, usually 6). Keep this in mind and run your test so you can estimate when to mix the dough so the pasta is ready for the meal of choice. See also the timing for Version 2 below.

Version 2: cecamariti using instant yeast

How to make the dough for version 2 of cecamariti
Weigh the yeast and water in a small bowl and whisk lightly. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to make a shaggy dough. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

Clean and oil the bowl. Letter fold the dough and place it in the bowl. Cover tightly and place in a draft-free place. How long it takes the dough to rise depends on the room temperature also in this case, but it is a shorter time, in my case usually 1 1/2 hours.

the leavened dough (made with starter) turned upside-down:
it is ready to be shaped

How to shape cecamariti using either version 1 or 2 of the dough
The dough is ready when a dimple made on the dough with your fingertip persists. Lightly flour your working surface and a wooden board where you will place the cecamariti.

The dough and the resulting pasta are delicate so use a light hand in handling them and minimize the need to move them around. I line up the cecamariti on a wooden board that I can then bring close to the cooking pot.

Working on the kneading board, roll the dough into a thick salami and cut it into 2 pieces. Keep one covered while you shape the first. Roll each piece into a snake 1/2 inch / 1.2 cm thick in diameter, then cut into 1/2 inch / 1.2 cm long pieces. As this is bread dough, hence elastic, it will tend to shorten after you stop rolling. Hence, I roll one section of the snake at a time, cut a few squares and shape them, then roll the next section and so on.

While you want the surface where the dough and the shaped cecamariti rest to be lightly floured to prevent sticking, you want the area where you are rolling the dough and shaping the cecamariti free of flour otherwise the dough will slide on it.

Place a small piece of dough under your index and middle finger. Start rolling gently and once you have a cylinder, separate the fingers so the ends start being tapered. Move to using the index and middle fingers of both hands to obtain a spindle-shaped cecamarito 2 1/2-3 inches / 6.5-7.5 cm long. Gently transfer to the floured board, making sure the cecamariti don't touch each other, or they will stick. Shape the next piece.

Repeat until you have used up the prepared dough.

When you are half-way done shaping the dough, you may want to start heating the water.

How to cook the cecamariti
Bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil. Since the pasta cooks quickly, prepare the sauce before you start cooking the pasta. In my case, I place the tomato sauce into a small skillet and warm it up over low heat. I also grate the cheese.

Add some coarse salt to the pot of boiling water, stir and then with the help of a bench scraper slide the cecamariti in it gently but quickly. The time needed to cook them is quite short. The pasta puffs up and floats as it cooks. Taste it for doneness after one minute.

Drain the pasta using a slotted spoon and drop in the skillet with the tomato sauce. Turn up the heat to medium-low and stir delicately for about half a minute. Sprinkle half the grated cheese and stir to distribute. Remove from the heat, sprinkle the rest of the cheese and stir. Plate and serve immediately.

The recipe makes two small portions (served as Italian first course).

cecamariti ready for the plate

This pasta is a pleasant surprise: tender and light, it has become an immediate household favorite. I have a preference for the one with starter, which is airier and tastier.

A reminder that there is a page on the blog where you can browse the complete collection of handmade pasta shapes, some of them of my own creation.

¹ cecamariti in the Encyclopedia of Pasta by Oretta Zanini De Vita
² recipe for cecamariti by Jenn Louis
³ recipe for poulet yassa (Senegalese chicken)

This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

This is also my contribution to the 23rd edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

cecamariti

or launch the cecamariti audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

pasta, Italian cuisine