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ITALIAN RECIPES

Favorite Green Sauces for Pasta

Trenette with Pesto Sauce

Ingredients:

3/4 pound (320 g) dried trenette or other pasta (whole wheat pasta is perfect here)
1/4 pound (100 g) tender string beans
2 medium-sized potatoes
1/3 to 1/2 cup pesto sauce
More grated Parmigiano for dusting

Preparation:

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. While it's heating, peel and dice the potatoes, and wash and cut the string beans in two.
When the water comes to a boil add the vegetables and cook until almost done, about 10 minutes.

Add the pasta (trenette cook in 3-5 minutes -- if you're using spaghetti instead, which take 10-12 minutes, add them to the water that much sooner), and when it is still slightly al dente transfer the mixture to a bowl.
Stir in the pesto, which you will have diluted with a tablespoon or two of pasta water, dust with the grated Parmigiano, and serve, with a light white wine, for example Vermentino or Pigato.
Serves 4.

Tagliatelle and Zucchini

Ingredients:

A pound (500 g) of tagliatelle, or the pasta of your choice. Long-stranded in any case
A pound (450 g) of Zucchine, preferably small ones
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 leaves basil, shredded
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional, this is a Piemontese touch)
Freshly grated Parmigiano
Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Set pasta water to boil.
Wash the zucchine, trim the ends, and cut them into thin rounds. Heat the oil in a broad pot, add the minced herbs and let cook them, being careful to keep the garlic from browning, and add the zucchine. Season to taste and sauté over a brisk flame.

As soon as the pasta water comes to a boil, salt it and cook the pasta. Drain it when it's just shy of being al dente, and transfer it to the zucchini pot before the colander stops dripping completely. Stir the pasta and the butter into the sauce, cook until the pasta is al dente, and serve, with grated cheese.

Timing is important here; if you are using pasta that takes a long time to cook, for example thick spaghetti, don't add the zucchine to the skillet until you've added the pasta, or the zucchine will overcook.
The wine? A rose' would be nice, for example a Bardolino Chiaretto.
Serves 4.

Tagliatelle with Peas

Ingredients:

A scant pound (400 g) tagliatelle
2 pounds (900 g) unshelled peas (this will be about a pound, shelled)
Beef or chicken broth
6 ounces (150 g) onion, minced
Unsalted butter
2 ounces (50 g) pancetta, minced
Olive oil
A medium bunch of very fresh parsley
Freshly grated Parmigiano
Salt and pepper to taste
A clove of garlic

Preparation:

Begin by shelling the peas and washing them. Finely mince the pancetta, onion, garlic, and sauté the mixture in three tablespoons of butter and three of olive oil until the onion is translucent and begins to turn gold.
Add the peas, mix gently, and simmer for 15 minutes adding a few tablespoons of broth every now and again to keep the pot from drying out. When the peas are cooked, check seasoning.

In the meantime, bring pasta water to a boil, salt it, and cook the tagliatelle. Turn them out into a heated serving bowl, season the with the peas, stir in a tablespoon or two of butter and the cheese, and serve at once.
A wine? Red, Cabernet dei Berici.
Serves 4.

Bowtie Pasta Salad with Almonds, String beans, Feta and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

12 ounces (320 g) bowties
1/4 pound (100 g) feta, crumbled
2 ounces (50 g) almonds, toasted and slivered
The juice of half a lemon
A small bunch of parsley, minced
1 heaping teaspoon paprika
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 pound (225 g) string beans
8 firm cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Toast the paprika for a couple of minutes over a low flame in a non-stick pan, until it begins to release its aromas.
Turn it into a blender, together with the almonds, 3/4 of the feta, the juice of the half a lemon, the parsley, the garlic, and 1/4 cup (50 ml) olive oil. Blend until the mixture is uniformly creamy, and transfer it to a bowl large enough to hold the pasta.

Trim the tips of the beans and cut them into thirds on a slant; plunge them into lightly salted abundant boiling water and cook them for 5 minutes.
Remove them with a slotted spoon, run them under cold water to keep them from cooking further, and draw a half-cup of water from the pot. Slice the tomatoes.

Use the same water you boiled the string beans in to cook the pasta, adding more salt to it if necessary (it probably will be). When the pasta reaches the al dente stage, drain it into a colander and run it under cold water to cool it.
Dilute the sauce with some of the water from the string beans, stir in the pasta and the remaining ingredients, and serve.

This will be a refreshing first course, and something off the grill, for example chicken, would be a nice sequel. The wine? A white, perhaps a Verdicchio.
Serves 4.

Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and sardines

Ingredients:

1 pound (400 g) orecchiette, either home made or store-bought (if need be substitute farfalle, butterflies).
5 tablespoons olive oil
7 pounds broccoli rabe
3 Salted Alici (use salted sardines, or 6 anchovy filets if need be)
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:

Wash and clean the broccoli rabe. Trim the florets, and the more tender leaves; discard the rest (the rest will be very bitter). Bring abundant salted water to a boil and add the broccoli rabe. After about 8 minutes add the orecchiette and cook them too.
While the pasta is cooking, wash and bone the fish. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the fish, stirring them vigorously to reduce them to a liquid sauce, then keep it warm.

Drain the pasta and vegetables well and transfer them to a bowl. Season them with the sauce and a healthy dusting of freshly grated black pepper, and serve them hot, with more grated pecorino on the side.
The wine? A full bodied white, for example a Sauvignon-based Salice Salentino Bianco.

Buon appetito!

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