A friend asked me "Where is Italian NG?". I remember as a child asking my mom the same thing. "Why do we always eat rice?" Now I almost never make pasta. Its funny because my husband loves pasta, and I would almost always want to eat rice! So I made this meal to answer my friend. Here is Italian NG's Dinner:
I found some really nice imported orecchiette, which are little pasta ears. I wanted to make a simple sauce,with tons of veg but the orecchiette are small and I didn't want to overpower them.
In a non-stick pan over med heat:
1 tsp oil
1 finely chopped onion
1/2 a finely chopped fennel bulb
9 cloves of roasted garlic
9 mushrooms, sliced so they look like the orecchiette
1 tsp fennel seed
Salt and pepper
After the mushrooms stop giving off liquid and the onions have a nice colour add:
1 can Roma tomatoes
1/2 cup sliced olives rings
Cook for 10-15 min or until pasta is ready. Can add some of the pasta liquid if the sauce is too dry.
Mix with the orecchiette and top with fennel greens.
Orecchiette are from Apulia, the region our family is from. When I was a girl, my nonna taught me how to make them homemade. Very easy and tasty. Too bad no one passed that on to you. I am going to buy the ingredients and try this recipe this weekend. Might even attempt homemade pasta.Monday is a holiday, so we have a long weekend. I feel like doing some cooking. It is definitely fall here now. I have a lot of the garden pulled up and working on turning it over. In the mood to get things snug for winter.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you can make Orecchiette, I know grandpa can. Whats the recipe.
ReplyDeleteTo make orecchiette, take equal amounts flour and semolina. If I remember maybe 2 cups each. Put in middle of table (or large bowl if you like), but with my nonna, we made a mound on the table, and made a volcano in the middle. Sprinkle some salt over all, add about 1 cup water into the volcano, and work it in with a fork. It may not all work in, but you will get a dough. Knead the dough. Divide into several chunks, roll into snakes about as fat as your thumb. Then cut into pieces about 1/2" thick. Put that cut piece in your left palm. Now stick your right thumb tip into it, and form over your thumb tip. Pinch the sides alittle, and put on a clean towel to dry.Use the leftover flour/semolina mixture on your hands and cutting surfaces to keep dough from sticking. I will have to try this myself! I went on line to find measurements, and adjusted it to my memory. Good thing 1973 is clearer to me than 2008.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you can remember that. Ok I will try that. I made fresh pasta with eggs last week. 1 cup of flour to 1 egg. It made me crazy to roll it out. I think this will be faster.
ReplyDeleteMade your recipe last night for dinner. A few changes, could not find any orecciette (imported, fresh, of otherwise) so I subbed an Italian semolina pasta, kind of like fussili, but shorter and fatter (kind of like me). Also, used the entire fennel, bulb and stalk, as what else would I use it for. It turned out fantastic, everyone, inc brothers, came back for 2nds. Office is ordering pizza today for lunch, and I was supposed to go in on it. I decided to bring leftover pasta instead, because why eat pizza hut, when I could eat your lovely recipe!
ReplyDeletethis is fantastic! please update with your Italian recipes, Italian Angee :)
ReplyDelete