Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

by Marcella Hazan

  Do not be tempted by one of those awful devices that masticate eggs and flour at one end and extrude a choice of pasta shapes through another end. What emerges is a mucilaginous and totally contemptible product, and moreover, the contraption is an infuriating nuisance to clean.

  For yellow pasta dough 1 cup unbleached flour and 2 large eggs produce about ¾ pound homemade pasta, which will yield 3 standard portions or 4 of appetizer dimensions. Use the above as an approximate ratio of flour to eggs, which you may need to alter depending on the absorption capacity of the eggs, and sometimes, even on the humidity or lack thereof in the kitchen.

  Note If making dough for stuffed yellow pasta, add ½ tablespoon of milk to the above proportions.

  For green pasta dough 1½ cups unbleached flour, 2 large eggs, and either ½ of a 10-ounce package of frozen leaf spinach, thawed, OR ½ pound fresh spinach. The yield is approximately 1 pound of green pasta, which produces 4 standard portions.

  If using thawed frozen spinach, cook it in a covered pan with ¼ teaspoon salt until it is tender and loses its raw taste. If using fresh spinach, wash it and cook it. Drain either kind of spinach of all liquid, and when cool enough to handle, squeeze it in your hands to force it to shed any remaining liquid. Chop very fine with a knife, but not in a food processor, which draws out too much moisture.

  Note Outside of spinach, no other coloring can be recommended as an alternative to basic yellow pasta. Other substances have no flavor, and therefore have no gastronomic interest. Or, if they do contribute flavor, such as that of the deplorable black pasta whose dough is tinted with squid ink, its taste is not fresh. Pasta does not need to be dressed up, except in the colors and aromas of its sauce.

  Combining the eggs and flour Because no one can tell in advance exactly how much flour one needs, the sensible method of combining eggs and flour is by hand, which permits you to adjust the proportion of flour as you go along.

  Pour the flour onto a work surface, shape it into a mound, and scoop out a deep hollow in its center. Break the eggs into the hollow. If making green dough, also add the chopped spinach at this point.

  Beat the eggs lightly with a fork for about 1 minute as though you were making an omelet. If using spinach, beat for a minute or so longer. Draw some of the flour over the eggs, mixing it in with the fork a little at a time, until the eggs are no longer runny. Draw the sides of the mound together with your hands, but push some of the flour to one side, keeping it out of the way until you find you absolutely need it. Work the eggs and flour together, using your fingers and the palms of your hands, until you have a smoothly integrated mixture. If it is still moist, work in more flour.

  When the mass feels good to you and you think it does not require any more flour, wash your hands, dry them, and run a simple test: Press your thumb deep into center of the mass; if it comes out clean, without any sticky matter on it, no more flour is needed. Put the egg and flour mass to one side, scrape the work surface absolutely clear of any loose or caked bits of flour and of any crumbs, and get ready to knead.

  Kneading The proper kneading of dough may be the most important step in making good pasta by machine, and it is one of the secrets of the superior fresh pasta you can make at home. Dough for pasta can be kneaded in a machine, but it isn’t really that much quicker than doing it by hand, and it is far less satisfactory, particularly when kneaded in a food processor.

  Return to the mass of flour and eggs. Push forward against it using the heel of your palm, keeping your fingers bent. Fold the mass in half, give it a half turn, press hard against it with the heel of your palm again, and repeat the operation. Make sure that you keep turning the ball of dough always in the same direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise, as you prefer. When you have kneaded it thus for 8 full minutes and the dough is as smooth as baby skin, it is ready for the machine.

  Note If you are working with a large mass, you can divide it into 2 or more parts and finish kneading one before taking on the other. Keep any part of the mass you are not working with or of the dough you have finished kneading tightly covered in plastic wrap.

  Thinning Cut each ball of dough made with 2 eggs into 6 equal parts. In other words, the pieces of dough you end up with for thinning should be three times as many as the eggs you used.

  Spread clean, dry, cloth dish towels over a work counter near where you’ll be using the machine. If you are making a lot of pasta you’ll need a lot of counter space and a lot of towels.

  Set the pair of smooth cylinders, the thinning rollers, at their widest opening. Flatten one of the pieces of dough by pummeling it with your palm, and run it through the machine. Fold the dough twice into a third of its length, and feed it by its narrow end through the machine once again. Repeat the operation 2 or 3 times, then lay the flattened strip of pasta over a towel on the counter. Since you are going to have a lot of strips, start at one end of the counter, leaving room for the others.

  Take another piece of dough, flatten it with your hand, and run it through the machine exactly as described above. Lay the strip next to the previously thinned one on the towel, but do not allow them to touch or overlap, because they are still moist enough to stick to each other. Proceed to flatten all the remaining pieces in the same manner.

  Note This is the procedure to follow if you are going to cut the pasta into noodles. If you plan to use it for raviolini or other stuffed shapes, please see the stuffed pasta note.

  Close down the opening between the machine’s rollers by one notch. Take the first pasta strip you had flattened and run it once through the rollers, feeding it by its narrow end. Do not fold it, but spread it flat on the cloth towel, and move on to the next pasta strip in the sequence.

  When all the pasta strips have gone through the narrower opening once, bring the rollers closer together by another notch, and run the strips of pasta through them once again, following the procedure described above. You will find the strips becoming longer, as they get thinner, and if there is not enough room to spread them out on the counter, you can let them hang over the edge. Continue thinning the strips in sequence, progressively closing down the opening between the rollers one notch at a time, until the pasta is as thin as you want it. This step-by-step thinning procedure, which commercial makers of fresh pasta greatly abbreviate or skip altogether, is responsible, along with proper kneading, for giving good pasta its body and structure.

  Stuffed pasta note Pasta dough to be used as a wrapper for stuffing should be soft and sticky. You must, therefore, make the following change in the sequence described above: Take just one piece of dough at a time through the entire thinning process, cut it, and stuff it as the recipe you’ve chosen describes. Then go on to the next piece. Keep all the pieces of dough waiting to be thinned out tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.

  Drying For all cut pasta, fettuccine, tagliolini, pappardelle, and so on, allow the strips spread on the towels to dry for 10 minutes or more, depending on the temperature and ventilation of your kitchen. From time to time, turn the strips over. The pasta is ready for cutting when it is still pliant enough that it won’t crack when cut, but not so soft and moist that the strands will stick to each other. Pasta requires no additional drying except for the purpose of storing it.

  Cutting flat pasta Use the broader set of cutters on the machine to make fettuccine, and the narrower ones for tonnarelli (see below) or tagliolini. When the pasta strips are sufficiently, but not excessively, dried, feed them through the cutter of choice. As the ribbons of noodles emerge from the cutter, separate them and spread them out on the cloth towels. To cook, gather the pasta in a single towel, as described in "The Essentials of Cooking Pasta", and slide it into boiling, salted water.

  SPECIAL NOODLE CUTS

  • Tonnarelli One of the most interesting shapes is this thin, square noodle from central Italy, which goes superbly well with an exceptional variety of sauces. It is also known as maccheroni alla chitarra because of the guitar-like tool used in central Italy for cutting it. It
is as thick as it is broad. Its firmer body gives it the substance and “bite” of factory pasta, while its surface maintains the texture and affinity for delicate sauces of all homemade pasta.

  The machine does a perfect job of making tonnarelli. The dough for tonnarelli must be left thicker than that for fettuccine and other noodles. To obtain the square cross-section this noodle must have, the thickness of the pasta strip should be equal to the width of the narrower grooves of the machine’s cutter. On most machines, the last thinning setting for tonnarelli is the second before the last. To make sure, run some dough through that setting and make sure that its thickness equals the width of the narrower cutting grooves.

  • Pappardelle In Bologna, the city where homemade pasta reigns supreme, this eye-filling broad noodle is one of the favorite cuts. Its larger surface accepts substantial sauces, whether made with meat or vegetables or a combination of both. It has to be cut by hand, because the machine has no cutters for pappardelle. Cut the rolled-out pasta strips into ribbons about 6 inches long and 1 inch wide. A pastry wheel is the most efficient tool to use for the purpose, and the fluted kind yields the most attractive results.

  • Tagliatelle When you use the broader cutters of the pasta machine, what you get is fettuccine. Tagliatelle, the classic Bolognese noodle and the best suited to Bolognese meat sauce, is a little broader and must be cut by hand. When the thinned strips of pasta are dry enough to cut, but still soft enough to bend without cracking, fold them up loosely along their length, making a flat roll about 3 inches wide at its sides. With a cleaver or similar knife, cut the roll into ribbons about ¼ inch wide. Cut parallel to the original length of the pasta strip so that when you unroll the tagliatelle the noodle will be the full length of the strip.

  Drying noodles for long storage It is often assumed that fresh pasta must be soft. Nothing could be more misleading. It is indeed soft the moment it’s made, and it is perfectly all right to cook it while it is still in that state. But if one waits it will dry; it is a natural process and there is no reason to interfere with it. On the contrary, all the artificial methods by which fresh pasta is kept soft—sprinkling it with cornmeal, wrapping in plastic, refrigerating it—are not merely unnecessary, they actually undermine the quality of the pasta and ought to be shunned. When cooked, properly dried fresh pasta delivers all the texture and flavor it had originally. The limp product marketed as “fresh” pasta does not.

  Once dried, fresh homemade noodles can be stored for weeks in a cupboard, just like a box of spaghetti. As the noodles are cut, gather several strands at a time and curl them into circular nest shapes. Allow them to dry totally before storing them because, if any moisture remains when they are put away, mold will develop. To be safe, let the nests dry on towels for 24 hours. When dry, place them in a large box or tin, interleaving each layer of nests with paper towels. Handle carefully because they are brittle. Store in a dry cupboard, not in the refrigerator.

  Note Allow slightly more cooking time for dried fresh pasta.

  SOUP PASTA

  It is in its cuts for soup that homemade pasta, with its light egg flavor and gentler consistency, clearly emerges as more desirable than the boxed factory-made kind.

  • Maltagliati It is the best pasta you can use for thick soups, especially bean soups. Its name means “badly cut,” because its irregular lozenge shape is not that of a long, even-sided ribbon. Fold the pasta strips into flat rolls, as described above for tagliatelle. Instead of cutting the roll straight as you would for regular noodles, cut it on the bias, cutting off first one corner, then the other. This leaves the pasta roll coming to a sharp point in the center of its cut end. Even off that end with a straight cut across, then cut off the corners once more as before. When you have finished cutting one roll, unfold and loosen the maltagliati immediately so they don’t stick to each other.

  Every time you make pasta, it is a good idea to use some of the dough for maltagliati. It can be dried for long storage, as described above, and you will have it available any time you want to add it to a soup.

  • Quadrucci They are little squares, as their Italian name tells us, and they are made by first cutting the pasta into tagliatelle widths then, instead of unfolding the noodles, cutting them crosswise into squares. Quadrucci are particularly lovely in a fine homemade meat broth with peas and sautéed chicken livers.

  • Manfrigul It is pasta chopped into small, barley-like nuggets, a specialty of Romagna, the northeastern coastal area on the Adriatic. Its robust, inimitable chewiness contributes enjoyable textural contrast to soup.

  Prepare kneaded dough. Flatten the dough with the palm of your hand to a thickness of about 2 inches. Cut it into the thinnest possible slices and spread these on a clean, dry, cloth towel. Turn them once or twice and allow them to dry until they lose their stickiness, but not so dry that they become brittle. Depending on the temperature and ventilation in the kitchen, it may take between 20 and 30 minutes. Cut one of the slices to see whether the dough is still sticky. If not, transfer all the sliced dough to a cutting board and dice it very fine with a sharp knife.

  Note Manfrigul can be chopped in the food processor, using the steel blade. Pulse the motor on and off to ensure fairly even chopping. Stop when you reach the consistency of very tiny pellets. When done, part of the dough will have become pulverized. Discard it by emptying the processor’s bowl into a fine strainer and shaking the powdered dough away.

  Keeping manfrigul: It keeps so well that it is a good idea to have a supply always on hand. Spread on a dry, clean, cloth towel and let it dry out thoroughly. It takes about 12 hours, so you may want to leave it out overnight. Store it in a cupboard in a closed glass jar.

  Use manfrigul in vegetable soups, or in any soup where you might use rice or barley. It is also excellent on its own, in Basic Homemade Meat Broth, served with grated Parmesan.

  STUFFED AND SHAPED PASTA

  For all the shapes given below, work only with soft, moist, just-made dough. Before beginning, read the instructions given in the Stuffed Pasta note. The softness of dough that has just been rolled out makes it easier to shape, and its stickiness is necessary to produce a tight seal that will keep the stuffing from leaking during the cooking.

  • Tortellini The dumplings that in Bologna are called tortellini, in Romagna—the provinces of Ravenna, Forlì, and Rimini—are called cappelletti. The fillings may vary, but the method for making the wrappers is the same. Trim the strips of pasta dough into rectangular bands 1½ inches wide. Do not discard the trimmings, but press them into one of the balls of dough to be thinned out later.

  Cut the bands into 1½-inch squares. Put about ¼ teaspoon of whatever filling the recipe calls for in the center of each square. Fold the square diagonally in half, forming two triangles, one above the other. The edges of the top half of the triangle should stop short of meeting those of the bottom half by about ⅛ inch. Press the edges firmly together with your fingertip, sealing them tightly.

  Pick up the triangle by one of the corners of its long side, the folded over side. Pick up the other end with the other hand, holding it between thumb and forefinger. The triangle should now be facing you, its long side parallel to the kitchen counter, its tip pointing straight up. Without letting go of the end, slip the index finger of one hand around the back of the triangle, and as you turn the fingertip toward you let it come up against the base of the triangle pushing it upward in the direction of the tip. As you do this, the triangle’s peak should tip toward you and fold over the base. With the same motion, bring together the two corners you are holding, forming a ring around the tip of your forefinger which should still be facing you. Lap one corner over the other, pressing them firmly togeter to close the ring securely. Slip the tortellino off your finger, and place it on a clean, dry, cloth towel.

  As you continue to make them, lay all the tortellini in rows on the towel, making sure they do not touch or they will stick to each other and tear when separated. Although they are ready for cooking imm
ediately, it’s likely that you will be making them a few hours or even a day ahead of time. When making them in advance, turn them from time to time, so that they dry evenly on all sides. Do not let them touch until the dough has become leather hard, or you will end up with torn tortellini.

  Suggestion: Before making tortellini for the first time, cut facial tissue into a number of squares 1½ by 1½ inches, and practice on them until you feel you’re doing it right.

  • Tortelloni, Tortelli, Ravioli They are called by different names, and they may vary in size and in their stuffing, but they are all one shape: square. To make them, trim soft, freshly made pasta dough into a long rectangle that is exactly twice the width of the dumpling the recipe calls for.

  Assume, as an example, that the recipe requires tortelloni with 2-inch wide sides. Cut the dough into a long rectangle 4 inches broad. Put dots of stuffing down 2 inches apart. The distance between the dots must always be the same as the width of the dumpling, in this case 2 inches. The dotted row of stuffing runs parallel to the edges of the rectangle and is set back 1 inch—half the width of the dumpling—from one edge. (This is much easier to do than it is to try to visualize. Try it first with paper cut to size, and you’ll see.)

  Once the rectangle is dotted with stuffing, bring the edge farther from the row of dots over it and join it to the other edge, thus creating a long tube that encloses the stuffing. Use a fluted pastry wheel to trim the joined edges and both ends of the tube, to seal it all around. With the same wheel, cut across the tube between every mound of stuffing, separating it into squares.