Bologna, Italy - Pasta Making

Chef Morena Merighi came by our class in mid August and gave us a "true" demonstration on homemade pasta!

We were very fortunate Chef Morena came by the school to have dinner a few nights before and decided to come back and share with us her expertise. Chef Morena is from Bologna, Italy and has been making homemade pasta for years. We learned all they use in Bologna is flour and natural eggs...no added salt, oil, etc. The salt she says, comes from the salted water the pasta is boiled in; and the pasta takes on the sauce it is paired with. She made for us a sauteed onions simmered in balsamic vinegar sauce for the tortelloni or tagliatelle we made. Chef Morena also invited us to par-take in the pasta making with her; and filmed the evening. The videos are posted on YouTube; here is one of them...

 

Chef Morena made for us homemade Ragu; not the meat sauce in a jar sold in stores, but the real Bolognese favorite. Here are two recipes of classic Bolognese Ragu; one by Emeril Lagasse - classic ragu bolognese recipe and the other by Mario Batali - ragu bolognese recipe.

Chef Morena obviously had her own recipe but the two above may suffice for you. She showed us the difference between Tortelloni and Tortellini. Tortellini was made to look like a belly button because the chef it is credited too was in love with a woman's navel...weird I know! But the big difference between the two pastas are the fillings and the size. The tortelloni are bigger and are traditionally stuffed with a cheese mixture of; Ricotta cheese, nutmeg, parmesan, salt and pepper. The tortellini are smaller and are stuffed with a mixture of mortadella and prosciutto. Chef Morena made the Tortelloni with a clarified butter/sage sauce. The sauce is extremely simple and consists of melted butter/olive oil and ripped pieces of fresh sage. Always toss the portioned pasta into the desired sauce and serve twirled or stacked in the center of the plate. Below you will find some pictures of our visit and another part of evening's video...Thank to Chef Bill (mgourmet).

Tagliatelle al Ragu

Tortelloni Butter Sage

Central Italy

This week we made dishes from Central Italy; which also includes Rome. The dishes from the region are very simplistic and easy to make. The ingredients are very fresh and homemade pasta is the norm for this area.
The dishes we prepared included: Homemade Tagliatelle Red Pepper pasta with a roasted garlic/olive oil sauce; eggplant rollatini; bruschetta, chicken sauteed with mushrooms and polenta; asparagus with Parmesan cheese and tiramisu.

The fresh pasta was made with 3 cups of flour, 3 eggs, 1 tsp of powdered (crushed) red pepper flakes, 1 tsp of salt, 2 tbsp of olive oil, and 1/2 tbsp tomato paste. I started by by pouring the flour onto a clean surface and making a well in the middle of the flour; then crack the eggs into the well, add the olive oil, salt, paste and pepper flakes. Beat the mixture well with a fork in the well; then start incorporating some of the flour along the edges of the well with the fork. After a while you will begin to work it together with your clean hands and a dough scraper. Knead the dough using the heel of your hand until all of the ingredients are incorporated and smooth. If the dough is too wet slowly add some flour to get the smooth, silky feel. Form the dough into a round and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to sit out while you prepare the rest of your meal. Once the dough has rested for at least an hour uncover and cut into 4 equal pieces. With your pasta roller feed it through; constantly dusting it with flour to keep it dry. Be careful not to roll it out too thin, square off the flattened dough, and slowly roll the two sides into the middle. Slice the dough across both rolled in sides about 3/4 inches wide; slide your knife under the slices and lift. The dough should hang off of your chef knife and you can then separate the strips. Lay the strips of pasta out on a lined cookie sheet and dust with flour to dry. I have actually seen some homes where they line the pasta on a clothing line in order to dry it out. Be careful to not over cook the pasta (only to al dente) and make sure there is enough water to allow room for cooking. If you need to cook in batches, it is ok to do so...I roasted some garlic pressed out the finished product; mashed up the garlic with some salt and added it to 2 tbsp of olive oil and white wine in a pan. Brought this just up to a boil while constantly whisking; then tossed the pasta in the sauce and served with shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Maria made the Eggplant Rollatini; which was dredged on paper towels after lightly dusting with salt; then pan fried to soften the eggplant; and stuffed with ham, asiago cheese. Finally they are rolled up and placed on a baking dish; topped with sauce and more asiago/mozzarella cheese. They are baked for a short period of time to heat and melt all of the ingredients.

The bruchetta was wonderful and made by Mike; he diced and concassed some yellow and red tomatoes into a bowl with minced garlic, shallots and chopped basil. The mixture is then tossed with olive oil, red wine and balsamic vinegars. Seasoned the mix with salt and pepper; then add thin slices of red onion which have sat in ice water to make crisp. The mix is served in a small bowl or plate accompanied with slices of country bread which is topped with a garlic aioli. The garlic aioli (garlic mayonnaise) gives taste and keeps the wet ingredients of the bruschetta from making the bread soggy.

The asparagus is made by snapping off the ends gently where it naturally breaks; then sliced at the bottoms to even them out. Then you place them in a pan and cover with slightly salted water; place it on the heat and bring to a boil. At the boil shut off the heat and remove from the pan from the coils/fire. Pull the asparagus out of the water immediately and place on paper towels to dry. Top them dry asparagus with grated Parmesan cheese and melt in the broiler.

Pollo alla Toscana; chicken with mushrooms is a dish which I think resembles chicken cacciatore. The dish consists of lightly flour chicken which is pan fried then removed from the pan to be put back in later. You then add sage leaves and wine, reduce to almost dry; add mushrooms and chicken stock and reduce by half. You add tomatoes, simmer for about 10 minutes and then correct the seasoning with salt and pepper. Place the chicken back into the sauce and let stew until chicken is done. The chicken is then served with slices of polenta; which Peggy made with mushrooms so it complimented the chicken well.

The tiramisu was a tricky dessert because it needs time to set up in the fridge and we did not have a lot of time that evening. The custard is a mixture of whipped egg yolks which have hot sugar (candy state) poured in while still being mixed. Marscapone cheese is then incorporated into the mixture and spread over layed out lady fingers. More lady fingers and then more cheese/cream; espresso, amaretto, or brandy is added to the cream as well. The idea is to allow the dessert to set up in the fridge overnight...overall the week was awesome and we made some pretty tasty dishes.

Sunday Gravy

Ok so with this one I know my father and grandfather (also Al's) will probably want to comment :)

I will say I got this from them to begin with; every Italian family has a recipe for their sauce and our's is no different.

I have two sauces which I like to add or subtract from...

The first sauce; my fresh sauce was posted in my blog earlier and I have perfected it since then...this one is a good ol' stick your bones pot of gravy.

Start with a frying pan and a large sauce pot; you will also need 1/3 pound of veal chunks for stew, enough oxtails to equal 3/4 pound. In the sauce I made I purchased one large size ox tail piece from Doris' Italian Market. You will also need a medium size yellow onion; half of a green pepper; 4 cloves of garlic; 2 large bay leaves (or equivalent); 2 large cans of crushed tomato; water as needed; 1/4 of red wine (ehhhh maybe a little bit more); 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil; sea salt and cracked pepper to taste.

First dice your onion, green pepper and mince your garlic; then open your packages of meat. Season your meat lightly with sea salt and black pepper on both sides. Heat half of the oil in the sauce pot and the other half in the frying pan. When you get a light smoke on the oil add the onion and green pepper to the sauce pot; careful not to burn. In the frying pan place the veal and oxtail; brown lightly to get color do not burn either. Now add the garlic to the onion pepper translucent mixture; remember to turn the meat in the pan. Open the two cans of crushed tomato and pour into the onion, garlic, pepper mix; stir to not burn. Use tongs to take out the meat and place into the sauce pot. Take the pan off of the heat and add the wine to deglaze the pan; heat until it boils while scrapping the pan with the sauce spoon. Pour the wine into the pot with the meat, tomato, onion, garlic and peppers. Add just enough water to one of the tomato cans and make sure the meat is just covered with sauce. Next add the bay leaves to the pot and stir to combine. This is where I add about on 1 tsp of concentrated stock to the pot as well...bring the sauce to a slow simmer and reduce the heat for just a few bubbles. Cover the sauce and fahgedaboudit for about 6 or so hours.

When you return to your sauce make sure you stir it well and the meat should fall off the ox tail. Remove the bone from the ox tail and the bay leaves; now is a good time to "smoosh" the veal chunks with the sauce spoon so that it incorporates into the whole sauce. Stir the sauce well and remove lid to allow it to breathe...then add your salt and pepper to taste. Make sure you have you favorite crusty Italian bread handy to dip in and taste test...!

Serve with your favorite pasta (I used Dreamfield Spaghetti) and top with a dollop of Ricotta Cheese. Of course make sure there is a good parm on the table with slices of that yummy bread you have been sopping up the sauce with...remember save some for everyone else.