Archive for the ‘fresh pasta’ Category
Lasagna Recipe – How to make lasagna
Posted on Jun 10, 2009 06:46:02 AM
I should have maybe started with my family’s lasagna recipe (which, by the way, we call pasticcio), made with bolognese sauce and béchamel, but I went for a lighter version with tomato sauce instead.
The first thing you need for lasagna is fresh pasta. If you want to try the experience of making it yourself, follow the homemade pasta recipe. Otherwise check your supermarket, they probably sell ready pasta sheets. One of the good things about making pasta yourself though, is that you can decide how thick the sheets will be. For these lasagnas we made them very thin, and as a result the lasagna literally melted in our mouths, even though the lasagna fell apart when it was transferred to the dish, but it was worth it.
This is how to make lasagna. You will need:
- 1 or 2 tins of sieved tomatoes (passata di pomodoro), or chopped tomatoes, salted
- 1 or two balls of mozzarella cheese, torn in pieces
- a handful of grated Parmesan cheese
- Brie, diced
The quantities of ingredients can vary here, the important thing is the right balance on each layer. The reason why I’ve included brie (definitely not part of the traditional recipe) is that tomato sauce has a less strong taste than bolognese sauce, and this should be balanced with a cheese with a stronger taste. Mozzarella is there because it melts, and also because an all-Brie lasagna would be unbearably heavy.
To cook the pasta you’ll need:
- the usual boiling salted water in the usual pan. This time and this time only you are allowed to add some olive oil to the water
- a bowl filled with cold water
- a clean and dry cloth, unfolded
Put the pasta sheets in the boiling water, 2-3 at the time, for 2-3 minutes (or whatever the packet says if you’re using ready-made pasta), then put them in the cold water until they’re cooled, then lay them on the cloth to drain the excess of water.
When there’s no room left on the cloth, preheat the oven at 180°C /350°F and start building the layers, picking up first the pasta that you cooked first. Each layer will have:
1 sheet of pasta (or the necessary to cover the surface of the container you’re using + tomato sauce + 2-3 pieces of mozzarella + 1-2 pieces of Brie + one sprinkle of parmesan
When you’ve reached the top, thie recipe for lasagna is almost over: finish with a generous sprinkle of Parmesan and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, until the edges are crusty and the surface is brownish. Ecco fatto, the lasagna is ready.
There will be more lasagna recipes in the future, but the pasya machine had an accident, and I’ll have to get a new one. I don’t want to sound too Italian, but I somehow can’t accept the idea of using pre-made lasagna noodles.
Mushroom Recipes: Tagliatelle with mushrooms and zucchini
Posted on May 9, 2009 05:40:54 PM
Tagliatelle with Mushrooms and Zucchini
After the fresh homemade pasta recipe, what to do with all that yellow stuff? Here’s a little suggestion: tagliatelle with mushrooms and zucchini. Mushroom recipes in Italian cuisine are just too many to count, but we have to start somewhere, so here we go.
As the fresh pasta cooks very quickly, it’s better to prepare it after the pasta sauce.
For the sauce for 2 people you’ll need:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 200g (7 oz) mushrooms, chopped
- 1 courgette, chopped
- single cream
- ½ glass white wine
Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes at medium heat and add the courgette and the mushrooms.
Turn up the heat, stir and pour the wine.
When the wine has evaporated, turn down the heat again and let the pasta sauce simmer for about 10-15 minutes until cooked. Add some hot water if it’s too dry (but mushrooms usually let go plenty of liquid).
When the sauce is ready, add the cream. Don’t be shy with it, add as much as you need to make the sauce creamy enough.
Bring a pan of water to boil, add salt and the tagliatelle. Cook the pasta for 3-5 minutes until it’s al dente, drain and transfer immediately to the sauce pan. Mushroom recipe done.
Eating fresh homemade pasta (made by you) is a different story, isn’t it? Also, check out these pasta recipes.
Fresh Homemade Pasta (pasta fatta in casa)
Posted on May 7, 2009 05:41:48 AM
Making fresh homemade pasta is not difficult, sure it’s time consuming, but it pays off in the end.
First of all, you’ll need a pasta machine. This from Amazon.co.uk is the pasta machine I have, and it does a decent job. This one from Amazon.com is basically the same.
For the pasta dough. The basic ingredients are: flour, salt, eggs. The proportions are typically: 100g (4/5 cup) flour x 1 egg. This is not a strict rule, actually I wanted to make it more eggy and yellow, so I added a yolk or two.
In the end I used 500g flour ( 1/5 cups), 5 eggs, 3 yolks and a pinch of salt.
Which flour? Some cookbooks get around this problem in a smart way: “pasta flour” they say, or 00 flour (finely grounded wheat flour), which is what you would use in Italy. As 00 flour is not sold in the supermarket, if you don’t want to be ripped off by one of those Italian food delis, I would stick to either strong flour or all-purpose flour.
Now, for experiment’s sake, I made two doughs, one for each kind of flour, and even though the strong flour was a bit harder to work, the results were very good in both cases.
The homemade pasta dough. Sift the flour in a bowl, add the salt and make a well in the middle. Break the eggs straight into it and beat them with a fork. Start circling around (using fingers or fork) and bring in the flour. When you have a kneadable pasta dough, transfer it to the working surface and work it for 10-15 minutes, add some more flour if it’s too wet, or sprinkle it with water if too dry. When it’s elastic and smooth dust it with flour and cover it with clingfilm. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
The preparation. In the meantime, take all the paraphernalia for the staging area. Use a large surface (read table), cover it with a tablecloth and dust it all over with flour. Fix the pasta machine, and leave the flour packet and a knife at hand.
Roll it. Take third of the pasta dough and flatten it as much as you can with your hands. Stick it between the rolls of the pasta machine and start rolling it from less thin to thinner. Pass the dough 4-5 times before changing the settings. This is where you need an extra pair of hands to hold the dough. If you’re planning to make lasagne, make it as thin as possible, a little less if you’re making tagliatelle.
Let it dry. When the strips of pasta have the desired thickness (like the ones in the picture), if you’re making lasagne your job is over, you can let it dry. If you’re making tagliatelle though, don’t go back to the pasta machine yet, let it dry a little bit, let’s say 15 minutes, otherwise it will be all sticky long before hitting the boiling water. When you have your tagliatelle, stretch them out carefully and let them dry completely. If you’re not using all the pasta you can freeze it.