Posts Tagged ‘cooking school florence’
BUCATINI ALL’AMATRICIANA
This is perhaps one of the most genuine “pasta asciutte” from Lazio.
This kind of sauce, with which only the “bucatini” can be dressed, takes the name from the town of Amatrice.
The bucatini is a long pasta, like holed spaghetti.
Many people challenge themselves in complicate Amatrici
ana sauces: they start with olive oil or butter, brown the onion or/and garlic, optionally they add hot chilli pepper, then they add the Pancetta or Bacon and wine and tomato and cheese and……
This recipe is one of unbelievable simplicity: no other fats, besides the fats contained in the cured meat. So no olive oil is needed. Guanciale (cured pork cheek, not Pancetta, which is pork belly) and tomato are the ingredients… that’s it.
Ingredients for 4:
350 gr ( 12 Oz) Bucatini Pasta
150 gr ( 5 Oz) “guanciale” (it is the pork cheek, not much salted and well aged. It can be replaced with a good “pancetta” – cured pork belly)
40 gr ( 1 ½ Oz) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
hot chili pepper
2-3 tomatoes
salt (optional) » Read more…
Pasta with vegetable
Often Italians are not regarded professional in the kitchen. The ability to open the refrigerator and “whip up” a good meal seems to belong to the reign of “pure improvisation”. My answer is: it depends on the result. If the “whipped up” meal is good and balanced this is more than random improvisation: it is deep knowledge of the ingredients, their behaviour in cooking and how they can be matched without destroying the pallet and the stomach.There some ingredients which are “easy pairing”, like pasta or rice.The task is more difficult with vegetables, herbs, spices, meats, cheeses.Here you find a couple of examples of pasta with vegetables “whipped up” from leftovers in the refrigerator.
PASTA WITH SPINACH
Ingredients for 4: 350 gr ( 12 Oz) short pasta ; 500 gr ( 1 Lb) spinach ; 1 garic clove ; 50 gr ( 1 ½ Oz) extra virgin olive oil ; 200 gr ( 7 Oz) ricotta; salt; rock salt ; nut meg
Procedure: wash well the spinach.Brown the crushed garlic in a large skillet with the olive oil. Take it off. Add the spinach, a pinch of salt and cover with a lid. Cook one minute, then stir them. Add another pinch of salt and finish to cook until tender (they would not take longer than 3-5 minutes, depending their size).Bring to boil a pot of water.As it bubbles add I tbs rock salt, then the pasta.In a large bowl, mash the ricotta with a fork and adding a few spoons of the boiling water and a pinch of nut meg.Drain the pasta. Mix it in the bowl with the ricotta and the spinach.Serve immediately.





