ricotta

recipe: onion and ricotta tart

| Simona

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onion and ricotta tart / torta salata con cipolle e ricotta

| Simona
dinner plate: savory tart, frittata and cabbage salad / DSC_7891

onion and ricotta tart in good company
(tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO)

In her memoir Unearthed: Love, Acceptance, and Other Lessons from an Abandoned Garden1 author Alexandra Risen2 tells two stories of discovery: one pertains the garden around the house into which she moves with her husband and young son and the other pertains her Ukrainian-born parents, who were displaced by WWII and finally migrated to Edmonton, Canada, in 1953. 

The book is a pleasure to read. Each chapter moves forward both the story of the garden’s restoration / development and Risen’s personal journey through her earlier life and her mother’s final years. Being a mother herself, Risen reflects how her experience informs her relationship with her son. Each chapter ends with a suggestion on how to make use of plants or fruit foraged in the garden. Not all such suggestions are recipes: for example, there are instructions on how to make a wreath with willow branches, and Valentine cards with bleeding heart flowers.

While a lot of the book is serious—from the Prologue, in which Risen describes her last meeting with her father, to the story of the hardships imposed on both parents by history and the war, to her mother’s funeral—there are also a lot of light moments, mostly related to the evolution of the garden, from dealing with contractors, regulations and unexpected disasters, to how Risen’s husband and son find their place in the garden and make space in themselves for it.

There are no similarities between my parents and Risen’s in terms of character, heritage, or experience—besides the fact that they all lived during WWII. My childhood was also different from hers on many levels. Finally, I am not a gardener, though I have a beloved garden. I think the characteristic that brings me closest to Risen and that has made her book such an interesting reading for me is the desire to understand our parents, a desire that in both cases is intertwined with their aging and death.

FTC disclosure: I have received an advanced reading copy of Unearthed from the publisher3. I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for discussing it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

If I were to have tea with Risen one day, I would have garden stories of my own to share, about raccoons and nasturtium, fox and foxglove, poppies and kale, deer and swimming pool. I would also make sure I have some Earl Grey tea to offer her and a slice of the onion and ricotta tart I created inspired by her book.

Our gardens are in different zones, so it is not surprising that different plants grow in them. The one plant I cannot do without from my garden is thyme (timo): I use fresh thyme in most of my dishes. The other day, this is what I saw when I passed one of the several thyme plants I have:

bee on thyme flowers / IMG_4672

a busy bee on thyme

Nasturtium grows exuberantly in my garden, as I have written here and elsewhere4. I can harvest flowers, leaves and seedpods to use in the kitchen. I use some flowers in the tart. The last plant from my garden I use is winter savory.

garden nasturtium / IMG_1660

garden nasturtium grows exuberantly in my garden

When Risen finds sugar maples in her garden, she taps them and makes maple syrup (sciroppo d’acero). I cannot follow her in this enterprise. One of my favorite DIY endeavors is making ricotta using the whey (siero di latte) left over after making certain kinds of cheese. Finally, fresh onions, tender, juicy and sweet, are one of my favorite ingredients this time of the year. To develop the tart recipe I used red onions from the farmers’ market and candy onions5 from my CSA box.

As base for the tart, I used a beloved simple dough from La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiare bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well6), the seminal Italian cookbook Pellegrino Artusi self-published in 1891:

153. PASTA MATTA (CRAZY DOUGH) It is called crazy not because it is likely to do something mad, but for the simplicity and ease with which it can serve as the necessary dress for a variety of dishes, as you will see.

Sprinkle water and salt in due proportion over the flour and form a dough loaf that can be rolled out wafer thin.

Differently from the previous version of the dough I presented here7, this time I used all stone-ground whole-wheat flour of three wheat varieties, all grown in California. The result is a decidedly rustic tart that is great warm out of the oven but also reheated the day after.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Onion and ricotta tart

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 1 3/4 ounces / 50 g whole-wheat pastry flour, possibly stone-ground (I use locally grown soft white wheat Alturas and milled by Beck’s Bakery8 )
  • 7/8 ounces / 25 g whole-grain stone-ground Sonora wheat (locally grown and freshly milled by Capay Mills9) OR whole-wheat flour, possibly stone-ground
  • 7/8 ounces / 25 g sprouted whole-wheat flour, possibly stone-ground (I use locally grown sprouted Blanca Grande wheat freshly milled by Capay Mills)
  • A pinch of fine sea salt
  • 2 ounces / 55 g lukewarm water
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 ml extra-virgin olive oil

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 12 ounces / 340 g fresh onions, possibly organic, clean weight (for example, torpedo or candy)
  • 2 teaspoons / 10 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • Leaves of several sprigs of fresh thyme
  • Leaves of a sprig of winter savory, chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
  • 1/16 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • A dozen fresh garden nasturtium flowers, cleaned (optional)
  • 5 ounces / 140 g fresh ricotta, possibly homemade

How to make the crazy dough
Place the flours and salt in a bowl, add the water and oil and mix until you obtain a dough. Knead until nice and smooth. Let it rest, well covered (e.g., wrapped in plastic film), for half an hour. 

How to prepare the onions
Slice onions into thin half moons. If large, cut in short sections.

Heat olive oil in a skillet. (Alternatively, if you have an oil mister, coat well the bottom of the skillet.) Add onion and stir to coat. Add the thyme and winter savory leaves and stir. Cook on gentle heat until the onions are tender, 20 minutes.  

Season with salt and pepper, add the nasturtium flowers, if using, and stir. Let cool while you roll the dough. 

IMG_4674How to prepare the base and assemble the tart
Preheat oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Lightly dust with flour a piece of parchment paper about 13 inches / 33 cm wide. Working on the parchment paper placed over a working surface, roll the dough into an 11-inch / 28 cm diameter disk. 

Add the ricotta to the onions and stir until distributed uniformly. Spread the onion and ricotta on the rolled dough to form an even layer, leaving a 1-inch / 2.5 cm border of clean dough all around.

Fold the uncovered border of dough over the filling and pleat it at regular intervals.

The final act
Slide the parchment paper with the assembled tart onto a baking sheet.

Bake approximately 32 minutes until the crust is crisp. Check after 30 minutes of baking.

Take out of the oven, cut and serve.

Serves 4-6

onion and ricotta tart / DSC_7894

a rustic tart with a surprisingly delicate flavor

I love this tart: it is surprisingly delicate in flavor and the creaminess of ricotta makes it rich without being heavy. The crazy dough offers a rustic support to the duo. 

UnearthedBlogpartyThis post participate to the blog party organized by the Book Club Cookbook (Twitter – Facebook – Pinterest

Check out the Unearthed blog party page 

1 The book’s page on the publisher’s site
2 Alexandra Risen’s Facebook page and Instagram account @alexandrarisen
3 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Twitter • Facebook • Tumblr • Pinterest • Instagram
4 Garden Nasturtium on my writing blog
5 Candy onions from my CSA box
6 English version of Artusi’s cookbook
7 Post with recipe for Carrot and fromage blanc tart
8 Beck’s Bakery, Arcata
9 Capay Mills

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

torta salata con cipolle e ricotta

or launch the torta salata con cipolle e ricotta 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.]

FTC disclosure: I have received the linen 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.

tart, onion, ricotta, Italian cuisine

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

| 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 / IMG_3518

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

recipe: cocoa tagliatelle with ricotta, raspberry coulis and chocolate sauce

| Simona

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mezzi tubi rigati (pasta fatta a mano) / ridged half-pipes (handmade pasta)

| Simona
IMG_2343 / mezzi tubi rigati (pasta fatta a mano) / ridged half-pipes (handmade pasta)

sunbathing in the morning on linen (from La FABBRICA del LINO)

A recent morning at the beginning of a pasta making session, the gnocchi board on my table gently tugged at my sleeve to remind me of its presence. I picked it up and put it in front of me on the kneading board, then started to play with other tools and the semolina dough I had prepared. 

As in the making of garganelli, I used a thin dowel as mini rolling pin to obtain the shape I called mezzi tubi rigati. This short video shows my hands at work:

  

As you can see from the video, to make a ridged half-pipe (mezzo tubo rigato) the piece of dough gets partially wrapped around the mini rolling pin. The video also shows how to troubleshoot the case when the mezzo tubo adheres to the board at the end of the rolling: use the pin, not your hands, to pick it up. 

The dough I used for this pasta is the semolina dough I have described before. The version in the two photos below includes with a minor variation that is completely optional: a teaspoon of grape seed flour (Cabernet Sauvignon), which gives the pasta a beige color. 

IMG_2259 / mezzi tubi rigati (pasta fatta a mano) / ridged half-pipes (handmade pasta)

beige pasta stands out on white linen (from La FABBRICA del LINO)

In the photos, the pasta rests on linens by la FABBRICA del LINO, which I like because of their natural look, soft feel and simple elegance. I think they go quite well with my handmade pasta. (Plus, they need no ironing.)

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

As usual, I recommend to start with a small amount of dough, 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. Once the pasta is ready, you can dress it as you prefer, for example with a simple tomato sauce (sugo di pomodoro).

IMG_2254 / mezzi tubi rigati (pasta fatta a mano) / ridged half-pipes (handmade pasta)

vintage Homer Laughlin "Chanticleer" plate on Italian linen
(from La FABBRICA del LINO)

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for mezzi tubi rigati (handmade pasta)

Ingredients for the pasta dough:

  • 100 g / 3.5 ounces semolina flour of good quality OR 1 teaspoon grape seed flour + enough semolina flour to make 100 g / 3.5 ounces total
  • 50 g / 1.75 ounces warm water
  • A pinch of salt

Ingredients for the tomato sauce:

  • 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • A shallot, minced
  • Leaves of a sprig or two of thyme
  • A small garlic clove, thinly sliced
  • 2 cups / 475 ml strained roasted tomatoes (thawed, if frozen)
  • Fine sea salt, to taste
  • Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, to taste

Note #1: I recommend weighing both flour and water because the quantities involved are small.

Note #2: to make the mini rolling pin, purchase a 1/4-inch / 6 mm diameter dowel at the hardware store and cut a piece about 7 inches / 18 cm long. Better yet, cut two or three (the dowel is long enough) so if/when one gets a bit sticky, you have a dry one available.

How to make the dough and shape mezzi tubi rigati
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., wrapped in plastic film), for half an hour 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 mezzi tubi. Roll each piece into a thin snake (3/8 inch / 1 cm thick), then cut into 3/4 inch / 2 cm long pieces.

Place the gnocchi board parallel to you, with the handle pointing left if you are right handed, right otherwise. Working on the gnocchi board, shape each piece into a mezzo tubo rigato with the mini rolling pin (see Note #2 above).

Place a piece of dough on the gnocchi board fairly close to the end (on the opposite side of the handle) with its long sides parallel to the board's ridges. Place the rolling pin lengthwise on the piece of dough so that it touches the side furthest from you. Roll the rolling pin on the piece of dough towards you pressing so that the dough wraps about 3/4 of the way around it.

Do not press hard or the dough will stick to the dowel or to the board, or it will wrap completely around the rolling pin. Gently detach the mezzo tubo from the rolling pin without misshaping it and lay it out to dry on a lightly floured section of the kneading board (or a baking sheet lined with a cotton kitchen towel or, in my case, a linen placemat).

Have two mini rolling pins ready to work with and exchange them every few pieces of pasta. Insert one into some flour in between uses, so it dries out.

Repeat until you have used up the prepared dough.

I suggest making this pasta at least a few hours ahead of cooking so it firms up a bit. In my experience, it keepts its shape quite well during cooking (see photo of the plated mezzi tubi rigati below).

Cook the mezzi tubi rigati and dress as you like. The following tomato sauce is just a suggestion.

How to prepare the tomato sauce
In a small saucepan, warm up the olive oil, then add shallot and thyme. Cook gently for a few minutes, then add garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes. Adjust salt, to taste. 

Note that this will make more sauce than you need to dress the orecchiette, but once you have the sauce ready, I am sure you'll find ways of using it, like making more handmade pasta.

How to cook the mezzi tubi rigati
Bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil, add some coarse salt, stir and then toss the mezzi tubi in it. The time needed to cook them is a bit variable, depending on the size and dryness of the pasta, but it is not long.

In the case of the photo above, I warmed up the slow-roasted tomatoes so by the time the pasta was cooked, the sauce was ready to go with it.

Taste and stop the cooking when the mezzi tubi are ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain the mezzi tubi. Place them in a bowl, sprinkle a bit of the cheese on them and stir briefly, then distribute some tomato sauce and toss. (When dressing pasta, remember that the sauce is an accompaniment and as such it should play its part discreetly, not overwhelm the protagonist.) Finally, sprinkle some cheese on top and serve immediately. 

Alternatively, while the pasta is cooking, place a few tablespoons of the tomato sauce in a small skillet and warm it up. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot and stir. Drain the mezzi tubi leaving a little bit of the cooking water clinging to the pasta and drop into the skillet with the sauce. Stir well over medium-low heat for about half a minute. Sprinkle some of the cheese and stir one last time. Plate and sprinkle a bit more cheese on the top. Serve immediately.

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

IMG_2261 / mezzi tubi rigati / ridged half-pipes (handmade pasta) on linen placemat from La FABBRICA del LINO

pretty in sepia on white linen from La FABBRICA del LINO

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

New bww logoThe photo is my contribution to edition #153 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 this week by Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu.

The photo was shot in color with my iPhone and then converted to sepia (Lightroom preset Sepia Tone).

The gallery of images contributed to the event.

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

mezzi tubi rigati

or launch the mezzi tubi rigati fatti a mano 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, grape seed flour, semolina flour, Italian cuisine

 

strascinati rigati (pasta fatta a mano) / ridged strascinati (handmade pasta)

| Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

IMG_2030 / handmade ridged strascinati (pasta)

variation on a theme of ridges

I am not yet done playing with my bamboo sushi rolling mat and pasta dough. Here's my latest creation: a traditional shape (strascinati, which I have already presented in personal variations made with toasted semolina flour or chestnut flour) executed on the sushi rolling mat (stuoino di bambù per sushi), so that it acquires ridges across its surface. In this short video, you can see my hands at work:

  

Note on the tool: There are various types of bamboo sushi rolling mats and not all of them work well. The diameter of the bamboo skewers and the way they are held together make a difference. Look for a rather sturdy mat with the elements tied fairly tightly together. In my case, they are round and have a diameter of 3 mm / 1/8 inch. You only need a small piece of the mat, so its overall size is not important.

You can certainly dress the pasta with your favorite sauce. For the photo-op I have used a combination of my homemade ricotta and slow-roasted heirloom tomatoes. 

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for strascinati rigati

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
  • 50 g / 1.75 ounces warm water
  • A pinch of salt

Ingredients for the dressing:

How to make the dough and shape strascinati rigati
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., wrapped in plastic film), for at least half an hour.

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 strascinati. Roll each piece into a pencil-size snake (3/8 inch / 1 cm thick), then cut into 1 1/4-inch / 3 cm long pieces. (If your hands are quite large, you may need to increase the dimensions of the pieces slightly.) 

Working on the bamboo sushi rolling mat, shape each piece into a strascinato rigato. Place a piece of dough on the mat perpendicular with respect to the slats and just below one of the strings that keep the slats together. Place four fingers (the thumb remains idle) on the piece of pasta to cover it with your fingertips, then drag it towards you while pressing the fingertips into it. This movement thins the pasta and gives it a shell-like shape that will also carry the imprint of your fingers.

Gently move the strascinato rigato off the mat and 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. Be very gentle in handling the pasta to as not to mar its pretty shape.

Cook the strascinati rigati and dress as you like. The following dressing is just a suggestion.  

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

In the meantime, place the tomatoes in a small skillet and warm them up on low heat. When the pasta is almost ready, add the ricotta to the skillet and press it with a fork to cream it.

Taste and stop the cooking when the strascinati rigati are ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain leaving a little bit of the cooking water clinging to them. Drop the pasta into the skillet placed over medium-low heat. Stir well. Plate and serve immediately.

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

IMG_2003 / handmade ridged strascinati (pasta) with tomatoes and ricotta

ready to be savored

I made this pasta also during my recent stay in Italy and there I dressed it with just fresh ricotta. The best part was sharing the kneading board with my five-year-old nephew (nipote) who made his own interpretation.

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

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

strascinati rigati

or launch the strascinati rigati 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.]

[jump to Comments]

handmade pasta, semolina flour, ricotta, tomato sauce, Italian recipe

Newrule

strascinati rigati (pasta fatta a mano)

IMG_2030 / handmade ridged strascinati (pasta)

variazione sul tema

Non ho ancora finito di giocare con il mio stuoino di bambù per sushi e impasto di semola. Ecco la mia creazione più recente: una forma tradizionale, gli strascinati, che ho già presentato in variazioni personali fatte con la semola tostata oppure con la farina di castagne , ma fatta sullo stuoino per sushi in modo tale da acquisire righe sulla superficie, come i garganelli. In questo breve video potete vedere le mie mani al lavoro:

  

Ci sono vari tipi di stuoino di bambù per sushi e non tutti funzionano bene per fare la pasta. Il diametro delle stecchette e il modo in cui sono legate fa differenze. Cercate uno stuoino con le stecchette a sezione circolare del diametro di 3 mm che siano legate piuttosto vicine l'una all'altra. Per fare la pasta utilizzerete solo un pezzetto della superficie per cui le dimensioni dello stuoino non sono importanti.

Condite i fusilli rigati come preferite: nella foto in basso li vedete conditi con della ricotta fatta in casa e pomodori semisecchi al forno.

Ingredienti per la pasta:

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

Ingredienti per il condimento:

Come preparare l'impasto e formare gli strascinati rigati
Lavorare gli ingredienti fino ad avere un bell'impasto liscio. [Questo post (con video) descrive come faccio l'impasto per pasta con la semola] Farlo riposare, ben coperto (per esempio, avvolto in pellicola), per almeno mezz'ora.

Sul piano di lavoro, formare un salsicciotto e tagliarlo in 5-6 pezzi da lavorare uno alla volta, mentre gli altri rimangono al coperto. Rotolare fino ad ottenere un serpentello del diametro di 1 cm e tagliarlo a pezzetti lunghi 3 cm. (Se avete mani piuttosto grandi aumentate lievemente le dimensioni a misura delle vostre dita.)

Dare ad ogni pezzetto di impasto la forma di un strascinato lavorando su uno stuoino di bambù per sushi. Porre un pezzetto di impasto sullo stuoino in posizione perpendicolare rispetto alle stecchette subito sotto uno degli spaghi che le tiene insieme. Posate le quattro dita (il pollice rimane a guardare) sul pezzetto di pasta in modo da coprirlo con le punte, poi trascinarlo verso di voi premendo le punte delle dita in esso. Questo movimento spiana la pasta e le dà una forma cava che porta l'impronta delle vostre dita.

Posare lo spiedino sulla parte terminale del pezzetto di pasta in posizione perpendicolare alle stecchette (come se fosse un micro-matterello), poi farlo rotolare allontanandolo da voi fino a quando la pasta sia arrotolata tutto intorno ad esso. Quando arrivate sullo spago sollevate lo spiedino, posatelo di nuovo sullo stuoino dove non c'è lo spaghetto e continuate. 

Con delicatezza rimuovere lo strascinato dallo stuoino e metterlo ad asciugare sul piano di lavoro leggermente infarinato o su una placca da forno coperta con un canovaccio di cotone. Continuare fino all'esaurimento dell'impasto. Manipolate gli strascinati rigati con delicatezza per evitare di rovinarne la forma.

Cuocere gli strascinati rigati e condirli come preferite. Quanto segue e solo un suggerimento.

Come cuocere e condire gli strascinati rigati
Cuocere gli strascinati rigati in abbondante acqua salata. Il tempo necessario varia a seconda delle dimensioni e quanto sono asciutti, ma non è lunghissimo.

Nel frattempo, riscaldare i pomodori al forno in una padellina su fuoco dolce. Quando la pasta è quasi cotta, aggiungere ai pomodori la ricotta e schiacciarla con i rebbi di una forchetta per farne una crema.

Quando gli strascinati rigati sono cotti, versare un bicchiere d'acqua fredda nella pentola, mescolare e scolarli lasciando un pochino di acqua di cottura. Versare la pasta nella padellina su fuoco medio-basso. Mescolare bene. Impiattarli e servirli immediatamente.

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

IMG_2003 / handmade ridged strascinati (pasta) with tomatoes and ricotta

pronti all'assaggio

Ho fatto questa pasta anche durante il mio recente soggiorno in Italia e l'ho condita con solo ricotta fresca. La parte migliore è stata condividere la spianatoia col mio nipotino di cinque anni che ha prodotto la sua personale interpretazione.

biancore / whiteness

| Simona

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One of the joys of making cheese at home is making ricotta with the leftover whey. The batch in the photo was a particularly good one. The whey came from making Leerdammer. The surface texture of snow-white ricotta is due to the draining basket and it’s what I have tried to highlight in the photo.

I recently enjoyed a very nice post by Nancy Harmon Jenkins titled Ricotta, a true story. I recommend you follow the link and read Nancy’s report of a visit to a cheese maker in the Mugello valley of Tuscany. (Nancy’s words about ricotta echo words I have written in the past, for example, in this post.)

New bww logoThis is my contribution to edition #68 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 this week by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once.

The photo was shot using the Hi preset of my Nikon D5000 and then converted to black and white (using Lightroom preset B&W Look 1).

This post contains the gallery of images submitted to the event.

On this page, you can find out who is hosting the current and future editions of the event.

recipe: savory tart with ricotta and baby leafy greens (torta salata con ricotta e verdure novelle)

| Simona

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pasta sfoglia “alternativa” / “alternative” puff pasty

| Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

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I agonized a bit over the title for this post. Marta of Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare (eating is a bit like traveling) whose post inspired me, calls it pasta sfoglia light, using the English adjective in a way that is very common in Italy to describe food items that are less caloric (usually due to a lower fat content) than their traditional counterpart (disclaimer: this is simply a linguistic explanation; I don't know how the all-butter puff pastry I make compares to the one described below in terms of calories, so I make no claims in this regard). One of the posts Marta references calls it finta sfoglia, fake puff pastry, which I don't like as it may also discourage people for giving the recipe a try. The other post referenced calls it sfoglia dei poveretti, poor people's puff pastry, a nice alliteration that has an interesting social connotation: however, it doesn't quite apply to the US, where true ricotta is very hard to find. So, I decided to use "alternative" puff pastry, meaning, it is not the traditional all-butter puff pastry, but an alternative you may choose to make.

As a child, I thought that puff pastry was magical: I mean, what makes all those layers that give the pastry the texture everybody loves? In my case, the magic was demistified a few years ago:

In July 2008, I interviewed Trace Leighton, Chef de Patisserie of Nibblers Eatery & Wine Bar, in Pleasant Hill1 for an article that was later published on Edible East Bay (you can download the pdf of "The Physicist and the Baker" from this page). The main topic of our conversation was puff pastry, and I owe to Trace the fearlessness of my first attempt at it, which was a success. Therefore, puff pastry is now part of my repertoire. A great characteristic of puff pastry is that it can be frozen and, in fact, for this recipe I used part of a batch that I had made and frozen a few weeks ago. The recipe for vol-au-vents on the Daring Bakers' site has also instructions on how to make puff pastry. [from my post on vol-au-vents]

The recipe in Marta's post caught my attention because it uses ricotta as an ingredient, together with flour and butter (farina e burro). As most of you know, I make ricotta at home fairly regularly, using the whey (siero di latte) from various cheeses I make, so ricotta is an ingredient that is readibly available to me. A portion of the first batch of ricotta that I made after reading Marta's post went into the preparation of this alternative puff pastry. The rest went into the filling of the tart I made with some of that pastry. The recipe for the tart, the first rendition of which is portrayed in the photo at the top, will be in the next post.

In the traditional puff pastry recipe, the dough contains a certain amount of water. The alternative puff pastry does not have water among its ingredients: the whey in ricotta contributes the liquid component. Thanks to Lory of La Mercante di Spezie for sharing her recipe (which uses ricotta), to Adriano of Profumo di Lievito for offering his take (which uses cream cheese instead of ricotta and lowers the amount of butter) and photos, and to Marta for her version, which combines the previous two in using ricotta as the first one and the amount of butter of the second one.

Here, I am providing the English version of Marta's recipe, plus a couple of personal notes based on my experience making it.

puff pastry made with ricotta

Ingredients (see the notes below):

  • 125 g (4.4 oz.) all-purpose flour (about a cup minus a teaspoon)
  • 125 g (4.4 oz.) ricotta, mashed
  • 80 g (2.8 oz.) cold unsalted butter (a little less than 6 tablespoons) cut into small pieces
  • a generous pinch of salt

Note #1: invest in a digital kitchen scale that has both metric and US units. I use cups and spoons, but more often than not, I weigh ingredients. And having a scale allows you to follow recipes not written for a US audience.

Note #2: the amount of whey in my homemade ricotta depends on the length of the draining period. Differently from gnocchi di ricotta, this pastry does not require a very dry ricotta, but you don't want something dripping whey. After the regular draining period, I let the unmolded ricotta sit overnight in a bowl (in the fridge) and the morning after I take my 125 g from the top layer. I also usually have a small quantity of whey at the bottom of the bowl and I remove it.

Note #3: I am not good at cutting butter into flour with anything other than my hands, so that is what I do. Some people like to grate the very cold butter using a coarse grater. I prefer cutting it into small pieces, but it is good to have options, isn't it?

Cut the butter into the flour and then add the ricotta. Make a dough, shape it into a rectangle about 1/2-inch thick (see photo above), wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one day. The dough won't be nice and homogeneous at this point and that is fine.

The following day, fold the dough. To make one fold, roll the dough in both directions into a thinner rectangle. Fold along the longer side: fold the right third towards the center, then fold the left third over it to make a letter-shaped package (see photos in this post). Wrap the folded dough again and refrigerate for half an hour or so. (If it is more, it is fine: I honestly never time part of the process.)

puff pastry made with ricotta: fold

Repeat the fold twice more in the same way. In the process, you will see that the dough becomes more homogeneous and smoother. After the last fold, refrigerate again and use as you wish. (I ended up making a fourth fold, just to see what would happen.) As mentioned above, puff pasty can be frozen, which makes it a great resource to have on hand. If you roll it and then freeze it, it will take less time to thaw when you need it.

Marta halved the quantity of the ingredients used in the recipes she quotes and I followed her lead. Whenever possible, I recommend making a smaller batch of a new recipe until you become comfortable with the process, then go for the full amount. The recipe as given makes a nice amount of puff pastry to play with.

Once you have the savory puff pastry, you can make vol-au-vents, savory tarts, pizzette (my childhood's dream party food brought to life in the post referenced by Cara and Stefano of Due Spaghetti), etc.

1 The restaurant is now called The Fig Tree.

Bookmarked recipes new logo

I am submitting this recipe, bookmarked on the blog Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare to the January edition of Bookmarked Recipes, an event originally started by Ruth of Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments and now hosted by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

pasta sfoglia "alternativa"

or launch the pasta sfoglia "alternativa" 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.]

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puff pastry, ricotta

Newrule

pasta sfoglia "alternativa"

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La ricetta che presento è praticamente la traduzione in inglese della ricetta per pasta sfoglia light di Marta (a.k.a. Martissima) del blog Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare. Nel suo post, Marta spiega la genealogia della ricetta e fa riferimento ai post che l'hanno ispirata. Le uniche due differenze tra la ricetta di Marta e quella che ho seguito io sono l'uso di un pizzico abbondante di sale invece di un cucchiaino e quello della mia ricotta fatta in casa. Grazie, Marta!

La foto qui sopra ritrae la torta salata che ho preparato utilizzando la pasta sfoglia di cui sopra: la ricetta della torta sarà argomento del mio prossimo post, che farà parte della raccolta per Weekend Herb Blogging di questa settimana.

gnocchi di ricotta / ricotta gnocchi

| Simona

ricotta gnocchi / gnocchi di ricotta
Over two years ago, Daring Cooks started and the first recipe chosen by founders Ivonne and Lisa was ricotta gnocchi from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers. I loved the recipe and said so in the post I wrote about it, which ends with these words:

I will definitely make gnocchi di ricotta again soon.

Not only did I make then soon afterwards, but I have made them over and over again, much to my husband’s delight. The routine goes like this: I make cheese1 using two gallons of milk, then I make ricotta with the leftover whey (siero di latte) and finally I make gnocchi with the ricotta. I decided to write another post on gnocchi di ricotta because I have a couple of better photos and additional notes.

As explained in previous posts, like this one, ricotta is a topic dear to me, so instead of repeating myself, I’ll add a link to a comment I wrote recently to an article on ricotta by David Tanis.

I used to add a bit of milk to the whey to increase the yield, but I have not done so for quite a while. The yield is slightly different depending on the cheese (formaggio) made and the milk used to make the cheese. I drain ricotta in the traditional basket (sorry, lumps of curds are not my idea of ricotta) for a couple of hours, then unmold it in a bowl. At this point, I weigh it. Regardless of the yield, I devote about 10 oz. of ricotta to the making of gnocchi (+/- half an ounce).

The original recipe for ricotta gnocchi is available on this page, which includes Rodgers’ introduction. I halve the quantities and increase that of ricotta (as explained above). If I know I will make gnocchi, I line the bowl where I store the ricotta with a cotton napkin doubled up, place the ricotta on it, and then cover with the napkin. I let the napkin absorb moisture overnight and I usually flip it half-way through.

The first thing you need to be patient about is the draining step, which prevents you from making this recipe on the spur of the moment. The other thing is the mashing of ricotta into a smooth, fluffy cream (see original recipe) as the first step of preparation.

In summary, here is the list of ingredients I use:

  • 10 oz of my homemade ricotta
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and a pinch of dried lemon zest
  • 1/4 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about 2 tablespoons very lightly packed)
  • about 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
  • all-purpose flour, for forming the gnocchi

The original recipe is rich in details pertaining all the steps. I must admit that I have never tested the gnocchi. However, I have never had any cooking failure. On this video, which I recommend watching, because it gives details on the preparation, you can see the gnocchi formed with a spoon. I use an oblong half-tablespoon measuring spoon to pick up and somewhat shape the ricotta. I place a heaping measure on my left palm and with a few light touches of my fingers I give the small lump a nice elongated shape, then deposit it in a baking pan with the bottom covered with some flour. I lightly shimmy the pan to flour four gnocchi at a time and then place them on a baking sheet or plate lined with wax paper dusted with flour, then refrigerate until ready to cook them. I get 18-20 gnocchi.

ricotta gnocchi / gnocchi di ricotta
When it’s time to think about how to dress your gnocchi di ricotta, remember two things: as Rodgers says, they are delicate in flavor, so choose something that leaves room to the ricotta flavor, and they are also delicate in texture, so toss them lightly. During the summer, I usually dress my gnocchi di ricotta with roasted cherry tomatoes from my CSA box or the farmers’ market (photo above).

ricotta gnocchi / gnocchi di ricotta
During the winter, I may use a bit of sage-infused butter (burro e salvia). My most recent batch (photo above) was dressed with a bit of roasted (sugarless) applesauce, another dish inspired by Judy Rodgers (of which I suspect you will read more on this blog soon).

Parting note: As usual, I suggest that you first try making this recipe in the reduced format I outlined to become familiar with it. Then, you can make a bigger batch, maybe as big as what you need for your Holiday guests.

1 Not all whey can be used to make ricotta. It depends on what kind of cheese was made to obtain it. Cheese-making recipes often tell you whether the whey can be used that way. For example, Jim Wallace’s recipe for robiola states: “This whey will be too acid to use for ricotta but can be used for baking or cooking.”

241sThis is my contribution to edition #241 of Presto Pasta Nights. The event was created by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and is hosted this week by Simona of briciole (that would be me).

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Bookmarked recipes new logoI believe this recipe, bookmarked on the Epicurious website, also satisfies the requirements of Bookmarked Recipes, an event originally started by Ruth of Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments and now hosted by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

gnocchi di ricotta

or launch the gnocchi di ricotta 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.]

gnocchi, ricotta