zaterdag 17 november 2012

Plain red sauce?

Ragù alla Bolognese

When I grew up, eating pasta wasn’t that common in the Netherlands. We had the occasional spaghetti Bolognese every now and then, and that was it. The Bolognese sauce came from a package: it contained a mysterious red powder that only needed water to become sauce. As a child, I was amazed by this miracle. But, of course, then I was a child and reasoned like a child. Growing up, I made a firm resolution a few years back to get rid of the packages. No more artificial flavors! And both my body and cooking are the better for it.

I’ve made pasta with red sauce since my decision against package. But that was just plain red sauce. It looked like what we got from the package but it tasted loads better. Still, there is one thing… I haven’t had pasta Bolognese since! Last summer, I brought back pasta from Italia, Tuscan pici. And the Tuscans always offer pici with ragù. Exactly: ragù the official name for Bolognese! That was the invitation I needed to work on a time-consuming but basic Italian dish. If a cheap restaurant in Buonconvento can do it, than so can I.


Making ragù (p. 61 of The Silver Spoon) turned out to be fun… chopping up onions, carrot, celery and slowly cooking them. With every new step, new flavors ascend from the pot on the stove. Be sure to pay attention when you add the garlic! And after vegetables, water and wine you basically just wait for an hour and a half. And then of course, the proof of the sauce is in the eating. First I tried the sauce: so much deeper and richer than you’d expect from plain red sauce as people name-call it! The freshness of the celery gives it a twist quite unexpected for someone whose last Bolognese sauce came from a package. The full-bodied flavor of the sauce lingers on the palate. For a second, I wondered if the sauce needs pasta at all. But since I brought the pici all the way from Tuscany to the rectory, here we go! I started out with one bundle of the pasta, since it cooks for 22 minutes and I know it has quite a volume after that time. After tossing the sauce and pasta together, I couldn’t resist the temptation to sprinkle some grated Parmesan on top of it all. The pasta was just about done, with one or two pieces still being a bit chalky. But all in all: it was bliss, especially because the sun shone in my face as I was eating. How could I not be happy and feel as if I was in Italy.

When measuring, don't forget how much larger the pici gets once it's cooked!

Two last notes: if you get your hand on pici, use it. It is a thick pasta that can be challenging to wrap around your fork. But remember that a knife was never meant to cut pasta. You will hurt the feelings of generations of Italian cooks, grandmothers and priests. Now you wouldn’t want to do that, would you? Second: don’t worry about making too much sauce, it holds well in the freezer. Oh, and last but not least: always have grated Parmesan at hand when eating pasta!




donderdag 1 november 2012

Sunday treat

Gnocchi di patate con gli scampi

To me, Sunday afternoon often means work. Baptism, youth ministry, house visit… you name it. But every now and then I get to live a Sunday afternoon as I feel it should be lived: relaxing, enjoying the gifts of our Creator. Gifts you can eat, I mean. Because it’s about relaxing as well, Sunday food should taste magnificent but should not take too long to make. So boeuf bourguignon is out of the question. Gnocchi with langoustines or prawn however, is an excellent dish!


The recipe in The Silver Spoon (p. 306) invites you to make the gnocchi yourself. Why bother if you have excellent De Cecco pasta sitting in your pantry? Omitting that step saves me about an hour and a half. Then it’s just down to the sauce. Here’s what I’d use for four:
*4 tbsp olive oil
*400 g langoustines or prawns (I used prawns, any idea what langoustines cost these days?)
*parsley
*4 tbsp dry white wine
*50 ml double cream
*200 g tomoatoes, peeled and diced
*salt and pepper

My first problem with this recipe was that it calls for the cook to chop those delicious prawns. Now why would I want to do that? If they are too large, you can cut them when they are on your plate but you can leave them intact when cooking the sauce. Heat the olive oil, add the prawns and a handful of chopped parsley and stir-fry it for a minute or two. Add the wine and let it evaporate, than add the tomatoes and cream. Let that bubble for some 7 minutes. At that point I still find the sauce too runny, so you can choose to add a teaspoon of flour to let it thicken a bit.

Assuming you’ve prepared the gnocchi in the meantime (just read what it says on the package, it’s super easy), put the gnocchi on your dish and spoon the sauce over it. You’ve used only four tablespoons of wine, so there should be plenty left to have a glass of wine on the side! Buon appetito!