Stracenate con Pomodorini
From Puglia, land of Trulli houses and the finest wheat in Italy, comes the embossed pasta known as stracenate and the tool used to make it, the cavarola board. There was a time that every housewife in Puglia had her own board, and she made good use of it forming stracenate and other pasta variations. But times changed, and until recently many of these regional pasta shapes faced extinction. But as the song says “Everything old is new again”, and the burgeoning revival in handmade pasta ensures that the pasta making traditions of Italy’s Mezzogiorno will continue.
Collector’s items in their own right, cavarola boards are traditionally fashioned from fruit woods or beech. These utilitarian tools are relatively small, about 12 inches long and 8 inches wide with a herringbone pattern carved into one side. A luxurious egg dough enriched with semolina, is rolled into flat sheets, cut into rectangles, placed atop the carved side of the board, and the herringbone pattern is transferred to the pasta by passing a rolling pin over the pasta. The resulting pasta, stracenate, has a beautiful quilted appearance and its irregular surface holds a condimento better than any smooth pasta ever could.
With a simple sauce of small tomatoes and a Fontanavigna Pallagrello Bianco this unique pastasciutta is certain to get the dinner conversation going.
For an authentic dough you will need both all-purpose flour and semolina in a 2 to 1 ratio. Puglia is the home of Grano Duro - semolina. Pugliese farmers produce millions of tons of this high protein wheat (14% to 16%) yearly. Milled once, the grain is used in both dry and fresh pasta. Milled several times, almost to talc, the semolina is used to make some of Italy’s most famous bread. Thanks to growing interest in home pasta making, semolina is now widely available.
Stracenate Pomodorini
If you do not have a cavarola board, you can still enjoy a variation of this pasta. Proceed with the recipe, skipping the use of the board. You will have made plain rectangles known as quadretti, an Abruzzese specialty.
Serves 4.
For the Pasta:
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semolina
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large eggs
Preparation:
Place flour on work surface. Make a fontana in the center by hollowing out a spot about the size of a grapefruit. Place eggs and salt in the fontana, and using a fork, agitate to mix. With each stroke of the fork, bring a bit of flour into the mix, moving your free hand around the outside of the flour mass, shoring up the sides until all the flour is mixed with the eggs.
You may have to add more flour if the dough is too wet or a bit of water if it is too dry. Once all the flour is incorporated and the dough has come together in a large mass, set it aside. Using a bench scraper, clean work surface. Scatter a bit of flour over the work surface and knead dough for about 5 minutes, until it is smooth, elastic and just barely sticky. Wrap in plastic and allow it to rest 30 minutes.
Cover 2 trays with a lint free towels and dust with flour. Roll dough to setting #5 on a pasta machine. Cut into rectangles 3/4 inch wide and 2 1/4 inch long. Place each piece of dough on floured cavarola board and emboss using a rolling pin. Place stracenate on flour lined towels and cover.
Bring 6 quarts water to rapid boil, and salt generously. Drop stracenate in water, and boil 2 to 3 minutes. Drain, toss with condimento and serve.
For the condiment:
Ingredients:
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound cherry or pear tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup olive oil
A handful of basil - about 1 cup of leaves, cut into julienne 1teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon peperoncino
salt and pepper
Parmigiano Reggiano for grating over pasta
Preparation:
Cook the tomatoes gently until softened, but still intact. Heat olive oil in large saute pan. Add red onion and generous pinch of kosher salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring to prevent browning until onion has softened and is translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, oregano and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring frequently but gently, until tomatoes are lightly cooked and softened, about 8 to10 minutes. Transfer cooked pasta to saute pan, tossing to coat, adding pasta water to loosen sauce, if necessary. Add basil, toss and transfer to warm platter. Grate cheese over pasta and serve.
Variation: This condimento is also wonderful with spicy pork sausage. To use: remove 2 or 3 sausages from casings, and add to the saute pan with onions. Break sausage up, and brown completely. Proceed with recipe as written.
Cavarola boards are available for purchase from Artisanal Pasta Tools in Sonoma, California.
www.ArtisanalPastaTools.com
Do you have a question or something you would like to see? Send me an email at adri@TheFrontBurner.us
I invite you to visit my site at www.TheFrontBurner.us
Buon appetito!
