20 • March 17, 2022 - March 23, 2022
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
AmNews FOOD Fresh pasta frames a satisfying, veggie-packed meal By KELLY TORRES Special to the Amnews
(Kelly Torres photo)
Pasta Dough
Yields 4
Ingredients: • 2 ½ cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting • 3 eggs • 1 tsp kosher salt Equipment: • Pasta maker with roller and tagliatelle and/or spaghetti cutter Instructions: 1. Place the flour in a bowl. Press your fist into the center of the flour. Twist your fist to create a well in the center of the flour. Crack the 3 eggs into the well. Add the kosher salt directly on the eggs. 2. Using a fork, scramble the eggs, being sure to stay in the center until the whites and yolks are fully homogeneous. 3. Begin to slowly incorporate the flour into the scrambled eggs, turning the bowl slowly as you mix in the flour. 4. Pinch excess flour off of the fork. Using your hands, gradually fold the flour into the eggs until most of it is fully mixed. 5. Turn the bowl over onto a clean surface area. Begin kneading the dough with your hands until it forms into a ball, discarding any excess flour that doesn’t stick to the ball of dough. A visual indication that the pasta
dough is ready is when all of the flour is not visible (no dusty patches on the dough) and the pasta dough is soft and pliable. This can take 5 - 8 minutes. If the dough appears too dry, wet your hands slightly and continue to knead. 6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let the glutens relax for 30 minutes on a countertop. 7. When ready, cut the dough in half using a bench scraper or chef’s knife. Wrap one half of the dough in the same plastic wrap while not in use. Roll out the other half using the pasta roller until desired thickness (setting numbers 4 or 5 on the pasta roller). Cut the flattened pasta sheet into several 10 - 12 inch pasta sheets. Roll each pasta sheet through the tagliatelle or spaghetti cutter to make noodles. Place the freshly cut noodles onto a flour-dusted sheet tray. Repeat the process with the remaining half of wrapped pasta dough. Freeze the noodles until ready to cook. 8. Cook pasta (freshly cut or from frozen) in rapidly boiling, salted water for 3 minutes, or until desired doneness. Enjoy with desired pasta sauce!
Whenever I decide to eat more veggies, I turn to making pasta. I think pasta makes a great blank canvas for featuring beautiful added colors. Zucchini and tomatoes are great matches because of the way they absorb a sauce’s flavor. The texture of the vegetables has a satisfying chew to it, which makes it an immense pleasure to eat. In this recipe, a simple butter sauce is stretched out by the addition of hot pasta water. The starches of the noodles release into the pasta water and act as a thickening agent to the sauce. Fats like butter and olive oil help emulsify the hot pasta water and transform it into a viscous liquid that sticks to the pasta. A trinity of garlic, onions, and parmesan give complexity to this otherwise plain dish. Garnished
with basil, this pasta is complete: aromatic, tasty, vegetable-loaded. Fresh pasta is a breeze to cook. Unlike dried pasta which can easily take up to 12 minutes to become al dente, fresh pasta takes up to 3 minutes to become firm to the bite. Straining the pasta in a colander for this recipe doesn’t help much and is only an added step. Using tongs to transfer the noodles directly into a sauce is a preferred method of straining. The liquid residue that drips from the noodles, as you’re lifting it out of the hot pasta water and into the sauce, gives it further assistance in lengthening the volume of the sauce. It’s important to work with high heat in this step because it is necessary for the sauce to reduce rapidly, and since we’re cooking the pasta noodles in the sauce for an additional two minutes, that time will go by quickly. Bat an eye and you’re done.
Vegetarian pasta recipe
Yields 4 - 6
Ingredients: boiling, add fresh pasta. Stir to avoid • 1 lb frozen fresh pasta (spaghetti or clumping. Cook for 3 minutes. tagliatelle shape) 4. In the skillet where vegetables were • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil sauteed, add grape tomatoes and • ½ small onion, sliced cook on medium high heat. Reserve • 1 green zucchini, half-inch slices a few grape tomatoes for garnish. of half moons 5. Using a ladle, carefully transfer 2 cups • 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved of the boiling hot pasta water into a • 4 garlic cloves, sliced measuring cup. Set aside. • 2 tbsp sundried tomatoes in oil, 6. When the pasta is cooked to al dente, rough chop lift the noodles out of the hot pasta • 2 tbsp unsalted butter water using tongs and add cooked • 2 cups hot pasta water pasta to the skillet with the tomatoes. • 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice Turn heat to high. Add the other veg• Salt & pepper, to taste etables back to the skillet. Add the 2 • Parmesan, shredded, as garnish cups of hot pasta water, the lemon • Basil leaves, torn, as garnish juice, and the butter to the skillet. • Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, as garnish Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring and lifting Instructions: the pasta continuously with tongs. 1. Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil, approximately 12 - 16 cups. Add Assembly: a generous amount of salt so that the Lift a generous amount of the pasta water tastes like the sea. and twirl gently onto the center of a 2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add plate. Pick a few of the cooked tomaonions and zucchini. Saute on toes, zucchini, and onions and place medium high heat for approximatevisibly on top and around the pasta. ly 2 minutes. Add garlic and sundried Garnish with reserved fresh grape tomatoes. Saute for another 3 - 4 mintomatoes, shredded parmesan, torn utes. Remove vegetables and set aside. basil leaves, and a light drizzle of 3. When the large pot of water is rapidly extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy!
