Beans and Greens

My grandpa likes to make a version of this down-home dish with a long-simmered ham hock with which the dry beans cook for hours.  It's rich - and fatty, and takes a lot of time.  I prefer the little lighter version they make here in Italia, using just a little bit of pancetta and a jar of beans.  There is just enough pancetta to add flavor.  It's done in about ten minutes, and it can be a main dish or an accompaniment.  Grandpa uses collard greens, but I prefer the fresh, tender spinach.

Cannellini e Spinaci

Extra virgin olive oil

1-2 TBSP pancetta, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

about 1/2 pound spinach, cleaned

1 can cannellini beans, drained

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup white wine

dash red chile flakes

Drizzle some olive oil in a saucepan or deep skillet that is large enough to hold all the spinach.  Add the pancetta and saute until starting to brown, then add the garlic.  When the garlic starts to color, add the spinach and mix well.  Saute and toss to get the spinach to start to wilt.  Add the wine, cover, and simmer about 5 minutes. Uncover; add the seasonings and the beans, and cook about 5 minutes.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

Pasta e Pesto

It's basil season and that means fresh pesto!  I love the smell of the fresh-picked leaves, and adore that sweet-peppery burst of flavor when it's ground into pesto.  This recipe incorporates two pestos - basil, also known as Pesto alla Genovese, and sun-dried tomato.  Both can be made ahead and stored in the fridge. 

Pesto alla Genovese
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup grated parmigiano or pecorino cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper
dash of red chile flakes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Pulse everything in a food processor or blender, adding more oil as needed to get a smooth consistency and to emulsify it together.


Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
1 jar sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup red wine
1 tsp. fresh oregano
salt and pepper
Blend everything together until smooth.

FOR THE PASTA:
Cook any type of pasta you want al dente.  In a saucepan, heat equal amounts of the two pestos, adding a bit of cooking water from the pasta to thin it slightly.  Drain the pasta, stir in the sauce, top with grated parmigiano or pecorino, and sprinkle on some toasted pine nuts.

Poor Man's Parmesan

Much is made lately of the "cucina povera," or peasant cooking.  It's become rather trendy and even rather costly in restaurants for the typical "poor man's" dishes that sustained the tenant farmers and working classes through the centuries.  It's a quest for authenticity and simplicity that has brought it into vogue.

In Italy, most of these dishes never died off.  They were passed down from la nonna for years.  While certain recipes have gone national, it is the regional cooking that offers the most variety and flavor, changing from one region to the next.

In Basilicata, a quintessential element is the mollica di pane, which is often used instead of cheese to top pasta dishes.  It reflects the past poverty of the region; cheese was eaten fresh as the primary protein source, rather than being saved and aged.  They couldn't afford to reserve and "waste" their cheese for sprinkling on pasta, so they came up with this rather ingenious (and tasty!) condiment made from breadcrumbs.  The local wood oven-baked hearty bread made from semola flour is perfect for this.

Mollica di Pane

2/3 cup coarse bread crumbs (preferable homemade)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 handful of parsley, minced
1 leaf sage, minced
2 peperoni crushi, crumbled (or a sprinkle of chile flakes, if you want it a little piccante)
olive oil

In a saute pan, heat a little olive oil.  Add the garlic and saute lightly until softened, then add the other herbs and the breadcrumbs.  Saute, stirring, until lightly golden brown.  Add in the crumbled peperoni if you have some.  Set aside until cool.  Prepare cavatelli, orecchiette or pasta of your choice in whatever method you prefer, then sprinkle the mollica di pane over top and serve.

Aparagi con le Uova

Asparagus with Eggs

I've seen this simple dish in various cookbooks, and the combination of asparagus and eggs just seems very "Spring" to me.  It is also called asparagi alla milanese, as well as asparagi alla bismarck, though I'm not sure that it is truly regional and I have no idea where Bismarck would fit into the Italian equation.  Either way, it's delicious and easy.

Asparagus
Eggs
Wine or broth
Pecorino cheese
Salt and pepper

Clean the asparagus and line them up in a skillet.  Add about 1/2 cup of wine or broth (or water), sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover and boil a couple of minutes.  Uncover, add a tablespoon of butter and shake the pan to distribute it.  Break the eggs carefully over top of the asparagus, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, then cover and cook about five minutes (or until the eggs are the desired consistency for you).  Sprinkle on some freshly grated pecorino and serve.

Photo credit:  Moon Angel

Cacio e Pepe - Absolute Simplicity!

Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe

Seriously folks, it doesn't get any easier than this!  Three ingredients is all it takes, but those three little elements combine to a big flavor combo.  This is a well-known Roman dish, and the real star is the well-aged Pecorino Romano cheese, so be sure to get the best quality chunk you can find.

You'll Need:
Spaghetti
about 2/3 freshly grated Pecorino cheese
about 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Cook the spaghetti in salted water.  Reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water. 

Put the cheese in a bowl and add 1/4 cup of the cooking water.  Stir it with a fork until it becomes creamy.

Drain the spaghetti and add it to the bowl.  Toss well, adding the pepper and a little more cooking water if necessary to make it moist and creamy.

Serve, topped with an extra grating of cheese and another twist of the pepper grinder.

Photo Credit: Jon Sullivan / Public Domain Image

Pour On The Polenta!

One of the Christmas-time traditions we have came to look forward to is the polentone, or big polenta feast.  Each year on Santo Stefano, the day after Christmas, our friend Giorgio would simmer up some sauce, stir up a pot of polenta, and serve it up on a big board, crowned with plump sausages.  The board pulled double duty as serving tray and dinner plate, as everyone was provided with only a fork and told to go to town on the section in front of them.  He cleverly put the meat and mushrooms in the middle of the polenta, so you had to "fare una strada" (make a road) through the polenta to reach the rich stuff.

It's a fun tradition and a great meal concept that really encourages joviality and interaction.  Giorgio has two enormous wooden boards that he uses for his polentone.  We couldn't find anything suitable for our US version, so we went to a restaurant supply store and purchased two industrial-sized baking sheets for our festa, which worked very well.

This method of serving polenta originates from Abruzzo, where its toppings vary depending on province.  Some places serve it with sausages, other traditions use porcini mushrooms, while some prefer lamb pieces.  It is always generously dusted with roughly-grated aged pecorino cheese.

For the Sauce:

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

2/3 cup dry red wine

1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes or tomato puree

Fresh sausage (spicy or mild) - enough for the number of guests

1/2 cup mushroom broth (soak dried mushrooms in 1/2 cup of hot water for 1/2 hour; or use a mushroom broth boullion cube), or rich vegetable stock

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft but not brown. Add the wine and allow to partially evaporate, then add the tomatoes and a little salt and pepper. Cut the sausages in half if they are long, poke each with a fork, and drop into the sauce*. Add the mushroom broth, cover and let simmer about 1 hour. Uncover and let simmer another 1/2 hour.

*I put the sausage in for about 10 minutes, then remove all but three or four pieces, so the sauce doesn't become too fatty, while leaving a few pieces in to flavor it nicely. Put the removed sausages into a big saucepan, add a bit of the tomato sauce along with some more red wine, cover and simmer about 1/2 hour. With a big crowd I put them into a baking pan, add some sauce and wine, cover them and put them in a 250` oven to cook, so they're off the stove until I'm ready to serve them.

For the Polenta:

You can prepare traditional, long-cooking polenta for an authentic taste, or the quicker-cooking variety.  Since the "real" polenta involves 45 minutes of constant stirring, I follow Giorgio's method of using the faster version; not the "minute polenta" which he says has no texture to it, but the variety that requires about five minutes of cooking.  An Italian polenta meal works best.  It comes in vacuum-packed bricks and is found in import stores.  For ten people I used 1 1/2 packages of polenta, albeit a few of the guests were light eaters.

Follow the cooking directions on the package, bringing salted water to a boil in a very large pot, then lower the heat and sprinkle the polenta grains in slowly, while stirring with a heavy wooden spoon. 

Pour It On!

When it is thickened but still soft and pourable, turn it out onto the sheets, smoothing it out with a wooden paddle or spoon.  You may have to add a little hot water first to get it to a pourable consistency.

Bring the pot of sauce to the table and ladle it out evenly over the polenta.  Sprinkle generously with grated pecorino cheese.  Top with sausages (or cooked mushrooms, if you prefer).  Dig in and enjoy!

Penne all'Arrostito

National Pasta Month continues!  This time around I have a zinger for you...roasted penne.  Okay, the penne isn't roasted, but the vegetables that you toss it with are.  I came up with this one by accident while using up some of the remnants in my sister's fridge, what my grandmother used to call an "icebox clean-up" recipe.

The sweet-smokey flavors that come out from roasting vegetables just screams "autumn" to me.  You can roast them all on the grill, or roast the tomatoes and onion in the oven, while doing the peppers over a flame or under the broiler.

2 ripe tomatoes, cored
1 bell pepper
1 or 2 green chiles
1 onion, halved
(You'll also need a clove of garlic later on)

Rub all the vegetables with a little olive oil and put them on the grill to roast.  When the pepper skins are blackened and puckered, remove them, put them in a paper bag or newspapers to steam for a few minutes.  When they are cool enough to handle, peel the skins off.  Roast the tomatoes until soft but not mushy.  The onion will take the longest; when it is browned and softened it is ready.

If you are using the oven, slice the tomatoes in half, salt them and put them cut-side down in a roasting pan to start; ditto for the onions.  Keep an eye on them; the tomatoes won't take very long.

Cool the vegetables, then chop them roughly and put them all together in a bowl.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and and some salt and freshly-ground pepper. 

Meanwhile boil a pot of water and start cooking the penne.

In a skillet, saute a clove of garlic (minced) in olive oil just until soft but not browned.  All the vegetables to the skillet and turn the heat to low.  Heat gently.

Drain the penne, reserving about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water.  Put the penne in a bowl and add the vegetables, along with a little of water if needed to moisten it and bind it all together.

Top with freshly grated parmigiano and sprinkled with a little minced basil, if desired.

Photo credit: Miheco

Ragu Lucano

In honor of National Pasta Month, I'm posting one of my all-time favorite recipes.  It hails from Lucania, or what is now called Basilicata, in southern Italy, where my roots are planted on a rocky mountain top.  In those high altitude peaks, sheep are still an everyday sight, so lamb plays an understandably important role in the region's cuisine.

Ragu Lucano is just the basic "Sunday sauce" that you will find there, but makes use of lamb in a small quantity in keeping with the area's poor past; it is, simply, cucina povera that tastes like a rich man's dish!  In this area they call that type of cooking "la zuppa del Re", or the king's soup, meaning you take a humble dish and make it seem fit for royalty.

I've made this (and seen it served there) with chunks of boneless lamb, but also cooked with the bones just to give the flavor without any actual meat pieces (making it very economical).  I have made it with leftover pieces of roasted lamb, too.

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
red wine - about 1/2 cup
1 carrot, cut into 2 or 3 large pieces
1 celery stalk,cut into 2 or 3 large pieces
a small quantity of lamb - chunks of leg meat, stew bones, or roasted lamb
passato di pomodoro (tomato puree) - about 2 cups
vegetable or beef broth - about 1/2 cup
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, minced
a small branch of fresh rosemary, minced
salt and pepper

In a saucepan, saute the onion and garlic until soft.  Add the wine and cook a few minutes to reduce.  Add the rest, stir and bring just to the boiling point.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer it for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding water or broth as needed.

When it has simmered and reduced, pull out the carrot and celery pieces.  Remove the bones, if any, and pick off any meat.  If using meat chunks, you may want to shred them.

Serve with freshly cooked cavatelli or orecchiette (traditional pastas for that area) or the pasta of your choice.  Top with freshly grated pecorino cheese.

My Favorite Artusi Recipe

Everyone has one.  At least, everyone in Italy, where the name Pellegrino Artusi is synonomous with home cooking.  If you aren't familiar with this icon of Italian food, read about him in my post, Do The Artusi, on my 'other' blog, 2 Baci in a Pinon Tree.

Yes, everyone has a favorite recipe from Artusi's volume, and mine is maccheroni.  There are lots of great dishes that I regularly prepare, but one of my go-to meals when I want something simple and scrumptuous is the Maccheroni alla Napoletana II.  He offers two Neapolitan sauce recipes, the first one closely resembles my nonna's braciole recipe.  The second is a meatless sauce that takes on a distinctive, almost decadent flavor from the addition of...butter! 

Artusi himself said it is "so good that I suggest you try it."   You won't want to go back to plain-jane red sauce again!

Maccheroni alla Napolitana II - according to Pellegrino Artusi

One of the things about Artusi is that he doesn't give recipes so much as instructions.

Ingredients you'll need:

Maccheroni (any dried pasta shape you prefer, though Artusi states that penne absorb this sauce better than long strands).  I use one pound for four people
onion
butter
olive oil
1 1/2 pounds of peeled, seeded, chopped tomatoes
basil
salt and pepper
grated Parmigiano

In his words: 
Saute 2 thick slices of onion in 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  The onion will split into rings as it cooks; when it has browned, press it down with a spoon, then remove it and discard it.  Stir the tomatoes into the pan, add a bunch of basil, minced, and season the sauce with salt and pepper.  Simmer it until done, about 1/2 hour, or until it is no longer watery.

Use the sauce, 1/4 cup butter and grated Parmigiano to flavor the maccheroni, which will be especially liked by those who would swim in tomato sauce if they could.

My words:
I generally use canned tomatoes because when I lean on this dish it is usually when I'm pressed for time, and I don't feel like blanching, peeling, seeding and chopping the tomatoes.  When I drain the pasta, I stir in the butter before adding the sauce and cheese; it seems to let it absorb a little more of that buttery goodness.  And finally, I sprinkle on more Parmigiano before serving.

Viva Artusi!

Photo credit: FastaPasta.com

Polpettine di Ricotta

In Basilicata sheep speckle almost hillside, tended by a shepherd who is accompanied by several wooly dogs. They provide a timeless, pastoral image - as well as lots of delicious pecorino cheese. "Pecorino" literally means little pecora, or sheep, and is used to denote cheese made from sheep's milk. There are many varieties depending on the producer and region.

At the agriturismo we recently occupied for a two weeks' stay, the owners make several types, including "normal" slightly aged cheese, long-aged hard cheese for grating, and a unique variety all their own, pecorino with walnuts (delicious!). They also produce excellent sheep's milk ricotta, which we enjoyed plain, stuffed into ravioli, and tucked inside a sweet breakfast cake.

One evening she made polpettine di ricotta (meatballs, but without meat) as part of their antipasto plate. They were fried in oil then topped with a rich, long-simmered tomato sauce. She said they are also traditionally served in a soup, demonstrating the local flair for maintaining the region's cucina povera (peasant's cooking) dishes. The ricotta balls, once fried, are placed on top of a thick slab of bruschetta, which is made from local, hearty semolina bread. Two or three ladlesful of broth (either chicken or vegetable stock) are poured over top. A sprinkling of freshly grated hard pecorino cheese and the soup is ready to serve.

Polpettine di Ricotta

1 1/2 cups fresh ricotta
1 egg
1/3 cup finely grated parmigiano cheese
1 TBSP flour
1 TBSP fresh, minced parsley
salt and pepper to taste
extra flour
olive oil/oil for frying

Put the ricotta in a bowl and break it up with a fork, fluffing it. All all the other ingredients and, using your hands, dig in and blend it all together well. Roll the dough into balls about the size of golf balls.

Lightly coat the balls in flour then fry in hot oil, placing them on paper towels to drain. Serve hot.

You can serve them as stated above - drizzled with sauce or in the soup. They are also good as is, with just a sprinkling of coarsely-ground pepper on top. They can also be drizzled with pesto, with truffle sauce, or creamy mushroom sauce.

La Matriciana

This is one of my most stand-by recipes of all time! Spaghetti all'Amatriciana hails from the town of Amatrice (oddly enough), which is located in the mountains of Lazio, skirting the Abruzzo border. Romans often try to claim it as their own, though they use bucatini instead of spaghetti, and frequently make it using onion and garlic, the addition of which the good Amatriciani say is akin to blasphemy. They should know; they've been making this plate for generations. The town isn't labeled "la citta` degli spaghetti" (spaghetti city) or nothing!

The original "matriciana" was made in bianco, without tomatoes. Shepherds used cured guanciale (a type of bacon made from the cheek) and the abundant pecorino cheese to flavor their pasta. Eventually, tomatoes got thrown into the pot, and a famous dish was born.

While you can use smoked pancetta if you can't find the guanciale, do not substitute parmigiano for the pecorino!

Spaghetti all'Amatriciana
serves 4

about 1/4 pound guanciale (or pancetta), chopped
1/2 cup white wine
2 1/2 cups tomato puree
salt, pepper, red chile flakes
1/2 cup coarsely grated aged pecorino cheese
1 pound spaghetti

In a large skillet fry the guanciale (or pancetta if you can't find guanciale) in a little olive oil until cooked and crispy. Remove half the meat to a paper towel to drain, set aside. Add the wine into the skillet and let it mostly evaporate, then add the tomatoes along with some salt and pepper and a dash of red chile flakes.
Cover and let simmer about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the spaghetti until they are al dente. Drain and add to the sauce in the skillet, tossing well. Toss in half of the pecorino cheese and combine.  Sprinkle on the remaining crispy pieces of guanciale.

Serve with a healthy dusting of the pecorino on top.

Spaghetti alla Elia

We met Elia through my dear friend, Maria. She and her husband came for a visit and reconnected with her cousin, whom she had not seen in 40 years. It was touching and heart-warming to see them talking, laughing and gesticulating as if it had just been a few years instead of forty.

Elia (Italian form of Elijiah) is a fashion designer who is opening a boutique hotel in the hills of central Le Marche, with a focus on organic, eco-friendly construction. Each room is decorated differently and his eye for detail and beauty will surely make the place gorgeous.

Following our initial introduction and cameraderie with his cousin, he invited us up for lunch. We chatted as he whipped up this easy vegetarian plate of spaghetti. We watched as he set a metal bowl over the pasta cooking water to make the sauce while the pasta was cooking. Ingenious!

You will need:

• a package of spaghetti
• a bunch of chard or rapini
• about 1/4 cup of basil pesto (homemade or store-bought)
• 1/2 cup grated pecorino (If possible, resist the temptation to substitute Parmigiano. Trust me, it's better with the slight sharpness and distinctiveness this cheese gives the dish)
• a dash of ground red chile (cayenne) or chile flakes
• freshly grated black pepper, to taste
• a drizzle of olive oil

-While the water comes to a boil for the pasta, slice a large bunch of chard or rapini (broccoli rape) and throw them in a sinkful of water to wash them.
-When the spaghetti has started to cook, toss the greens right in with the spaghetti to boil together.
-Cradle a large metal bowl or saucepan over top of the pasta pot.
-Add the pesto, half the pecorino, the cayenne, and a drizzle of olive oil. Stir while the heat from the water below melts the pesto and heats the sauce.
-Use a cup to extract some cooking water (about 1/3 cup) and add it to the sauce.
-When it is all hot and combined, remove the bowl.
-Drain the spaghetti and greens, put into the bowl, and toss it all together, topping with the remaining pecorino.

Serve and enjoy!

Cavatelli ai Pistacchi

One of the cool things about coming "down south" for the winter is the chance to see the regional differences in cooking. You see, Italy is still very region-centric and proud (rightfully) of their own unique history, culture, and traditions...especially as relates to food and wine.

Here in southern Campania there is a heavier emphasis on citrus (closer to the groves) and the bread, we have discovered, gets better the farther south you go. As much as I like central Italian cuisine, their bread is really bland. Wine varietals differ, fresh fish is much more prevalent, and mozzarella di bufala is abundant (and cheaper!). Pasta shapes are different, too. Here you see more cavatelli and orecchiette, like in Puglia and Basilicata, and nuts coming from Sicily and Calabria are in big bins at the mercato.

Seeing some freshly roasted pistachios, I remembered this simple dish to use up some of them (yes, I over-bought, because they just tasted so darn good!)

Cavatelli ai Pistacchi

• 1 pound cavatelli (or other small pasta shape, but fresh pasta is best)
• 1 cup tomato-cream sauce (you can make this sauce, eliminating the gorgonzola and adding a little more cream, or use your normal, everyday marinara and add about 1/3 cup cream to it)
• dash paprika
• 1/2 cup coarsely grated Pecorino cheese (don't substitute Parmigiano, trust me, the cheese really helps make the dish!)
• 1/4 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped

Cook the pasta in abundant boiling, salted water. Meanwhile, prepare or reheat the tomato cream sauce, adding the paprika and half of the Pecorino cheese. Stir until the cheese is dissolved.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and put in a large serving bowl, topping it with the sauce and stirring to thoroughly coat the pasta. Dust the top with the remainder of the Pecorino cheese, then sprinkle on the pistachios. Serves 4.

Zuppa di Farro e Fagioli

Farro and Cannellini Bean Soup

I first enjoyed a version of this dish in Umbria, where it was made with garbanzos instead of cannellini beans. The thick, rosemary scented soup warmed us on a cold night. The waiter brought a bottle of fresh-pressed olive oil to drizzle un filo (literally, a thread) on top. Wonderful! I've since seen various versions in other regions, including our area of Le Marche, and found that I prefer it with the delicate cannellini beans.

1 small onion, chopped
a clove or two of garlic, minced
one stalk celery, chopped
a carrot, minced
olive oil
a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary
a bay leaf
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup farro grain (or spelt)
3 cups water
2 cans cannellini beans
salt and pepper
peperoncino (chile powder or crushed chile) to taste

Saute the onion, garlic, celery and carrot in olive oil until soft. Toss in the herbs and add the broth. Bring to a boil and add the farro and water, then reduce heat to maintain a simmer, cover and cook until the grain is tender, about 40 minutes. Add more water if necessary to maintain a good consistency but you don't want it too thin.

Drain and rinse the beans. Put one can of beans in the blender, adding a few ladlefuls of the soup stock to blender it to a smooth paste. Add the paste along with the other can of whole beans to the pot. Add the seasonings, partially cover and simmer about 10 minutes longer. Turn off the heat and let the soup rest about five minutes before serving. Remove the rosemary and bay leaf. At the table drizzle a thin stream of olive oil over the soup and enjoy.

Penne al Zucchine

We just returned from another foray in the motherland of Basilicata. As always, the simplicity and freshness of the food is just fantastic. We stayed at an agriturismo where la signora prepared a fabulous meal for us, on the one evening we were able to escape la famiglia. She made this dish with freshly-made cavatelli, but as I don't make my own pasta, I am substituting packaged penne. Feel free to use any shape of fresh or dried pasta you want, though. Variety is one of the beautiful things about Italian cuisine! Signora also laid gorgeous, sweet zucchini blossoms on top but I know those are really hard to come by if you don't have your own orto (garden).

This dish is very light but delicious.

Penne (or other shape of pasta)
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large or 2 small zucchini, grated (use the larger grate)
white wine
1/2 cup cooking water from the pasta
3 to 4 leaves of basil, chopped
1-2 TBSP cream

Set the water to boil and cook the pasta. Once the pasta is nearly cooked, take out about 1/2 cup of the cooking water for the sauce. Meanwhile...

In a large skillet saute the onion and garlic in extra virgin olive oil until soft. Add the zucchini shreds and saute about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Toss in the wine (about 1/2 cup) and simmer a few minutes. Add the reserved cooking water a little at a time, you don't want the sauce to be too thin, but the starch in the water helps "bind" the sauce. Simmer a couple of minutes, add the basil and stir in the cream. Heat through, then toss with the pasta.
YuM!

Spaghetti con gli Asparagi

It's asparagus season! Woohoo. I adore them, especially the thin and twiggy wild version that I found in the mercato this week. I frequently just parboil them, drizzle on a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt...basta. But I also like this go-to dish when I can find the truly thin babies. Too thick and this recipe just doesn't turn out right. (But if you can't find the thin ones, you can slice the thicker asparagus in half.) The best part (aside from the wonderful taste, of course) is that it is done in the time it takes to boil the spaghetti.

You'll Need
garlic
a bouquet of very thin asparagus
2 or 3 tomatoes
salt and pepper
basil
spaghetti

While the water is heating for the pasta, mince up 2 cloves of garlic. Rinse the asparagus in a colander. Chop the tomatoes.

In a large skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil and saute the garlic over low heat until fragrant and soft. Up the heat a bit and throw in the asparagus, with the water still clinging to them. Stir, cover and saute 2 to 3 minutes. Toss in the tomatoes, stir well, cover and let cook another 3 minutes. Just before serving, stir in some minced up basil.

Quickly drain the spaghetti to leave some of the water clinging to them, toss them into the skillet, toss, drizzle on a little olive oil, and serve.

Cavatelli con Polpettine

Or, pasta with a meatball sauce. While the American version of spaghetti and meatballs doesn't really exist here in Italy, I did happen to see this down-home dish in a country restaurant in remote Basilicata, which is where my family came from. Cavatelli is one of the preferred regional pastas, along with orecchiette, widely used in that area. They are short little things, sort of like curled- up flower petals, and pick up delicate sauces pretty well. The meatballs are not the giant variety we're so familiar with, but instead little nubs...more like marbles than balls and it really is more like a meat sauce than pasta with meatballs. This is a nice, feel-good dish for the winter doldrums.

Polpettine
about 1/3 pound of ground beef or veal
1 Italian sausage link (spicy is preferred in Basilicata, but whichever variety you like)
about 1 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
a handful of breadcrumbs
1 small egg

You'll also need...
Extra virgin olive oil
about 1/4 cup chopped onion
a clove of garlic, minced
red wine
meat or vegetable broth
pecorino cheese

Mix everything together, combining well. Use a small amount to form into little marble-sized balls, setting aside until all the meatballs are formed.

In a large heavy-bottomed skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Add the meatballs and brown them. This may have to be done in two batches. When all the meatballs are lightly browned, add a little more oil to the skillet if necessary and saute the onion and garlic, stirring well until softened but not too browned. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, then add the broth, returning all the meatballs to the pan. Partially cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil the cavatelli until cooked al dente (about 8 minutes). Drain and put in a serving bowl. Pour the meatballs and sauce over top, then gently combine.

Top with freshly grated pecorino cheese.

Here is another version (in Italian), this one from Puglia.

Zuppa dei Fagiolini

Green Bean Soup

I have childhood memories of my nana making a soup of fresh green beans. Some tomato, basil and lots of sweet beans, that much I knew, but I couldn't find the recipe. My mom had never written it down and couldn't remember exactly how to make it. Never mind; I figured it out and I think it tastes pretty darn close to what I remember; at least, the aroma seemed very reminiscent. I found some beautiful long flat beans in the store so I used those, cut into smaller pieces, but any fresh green beans will work nicely.

1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Saute in olive oil in a large pot. Add clean, snapped beans and saute a couple of minutes.
Toss in:
2 tomatoes, chopped - with juices
salt and pepper
pinch of oregano
pinch of thyme
Stir, then add broth to cover. I use a mixture of vegetable and beef broth to taste like veal broth but you can use chicken, beef or vegetable broth, as you desire or have on hand.
Mince five or six basil leaves and add to the pot. Simmer until the beans are cooked. I also sometimes add a couple of handfuls of arborio rice or ditalini (little pasta tubes).

Perfect now that the weather is turning colder and rainy!

Spaghetti all'Ascolana

A local specialty pasta, this dish makes an appearance on just about every menu in town, especially this time of year when the weather heats up. I'm not sure what tuna has to do with Ascoli Piceno, but they are wild about the stuff around here. The aisles at the supermarket have more varieties of canned tuna than I knew could possibly exist!

Simple ingredients make for a tasty combination, and in the time it takes the spaghetti to cook, dinner is ready...doesn't get much better than that, especially in the summer when you don't want to be spending time in a hot kitchen.

1 pound spaghetti
olive oil
1/2 onion, minced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced (to your taste)
dash red chile flakes
1 C. white wine
1 1/2 C. chopped fresh tomatoes (about 3 tomatoes)
2 cans tuna, packed in olive oil*
a couple of handfuls of green olives (here they use the local Ascoli Tenera variety, which is a very large, mild and meat olive that is not heavily vinegary. But whatever type of green olive you prefer.
Chopped parsley
Pecorino cheese, grated

Put the pot of water to boil for cooking the spaghetti and proceed with the sauce.

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until tender. Add the red chile flakes, a light sprinkling of salt and pepper, the wine and tomatoes and stir well. Add the tuna and simmer about 10 minutes. Toss in the olives, sprinkle with chopped parsley and add to the cooked spaghetti. Top with a grating of pecorino cheese.

Raviolini with Gorgonzola-Tomato Sauce

Raviolini al Gorgonzola-Pomodoro

I love ravioli when they are freshly made. The pasta all’uova shop in town has two varieties…the plump, crescent-shaped ricotta-filled “normal” ravioli, and the little square ones filled with a ground meat and pecorino mixture, known as raviolini. If you can find such a thing, snatch them up! They are delicious. But if not, don’t fret. This recipe works well with any fresh pasta as well as your run-of-the-mill rigatoni (albeit with a different resulting flavor).

It’s simple, too, but impressive enough for guests. Now that fresh tomatoes are in season, it’s perfect.

1 shallot, minced
3 ripe fresh tomatoes, cored and chopped
splash of white wine
salt and pepper
5 or 6 basil leaves
about 3 tbsp. crumbled gorgonzola
about ¼ fresh cream

Saute the shallot in about 1 tbsp. of olive oil until soft. Add the fresh tomatoes and sauté a few minutes until they are soft. Add the wine, basil and salt and pepper, stirring well. Cover and cook about 5 minutes. Add the gorgonzola, stirring until melted. Swirl in the cream and stir well. Pour over the freshly cooked ravioli or pasta.