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Fresh pasta frames a satisfying, veggie-packed meal

(Kelly Torres photo)

By KELLY TORRES

Special to the Amnews

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.

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!

Vegetarian pasta recipe

Yields 4 - 6

Ingredients:

• 1 lb frozen fresh pasta (spaghetti or tagliatelle shape) • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil • ½ small onion, sliced • 1 green zucchini, half-inch slices of half moons • 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved • 4 garlic cloves, sliced •2 tbsp sundried tomatoes in oil, rough chop • 2 tbsp unsalted butter • 2 cups hot pasta water • 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice • Salt & pepper, to taste • Parmesan, shredded, as garnish • Basil leaves, torn, as garnish • Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, as garnish

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil, approximately 12 - 16 cups. Add a generous amount of salt so that the water tastes like the sea. 2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add onions and zucchini. Saute on medium high heat for approximately 2 minutes. Add garlic and sundried tomatoes. Saute for another 3 - 4 minutes. Remove vegetables and set aside. 3. When the large pot of water is rapidly

boiling, add fresh pasta. Stir to avoid clumping. Cook for 3 minutes. 4. In the skillet where vegetables were sauteed, add grape tomatoes and cook on medium high heat. Reserve a few grape tomatoes for garnish. 5. Using a ladle, carefully transfer 2 cups of the boiling hot pasta water into a measuring cup. Set aside. 6. When the pasta is cooked to al dente, lift the noodles out of the hot pasta water using tongs and add cooked pasta to the skillet with the tomatoes.

Turn heat to high. Add the other vegetables back to the skillet. Add the 2 cups of hot pasta water, the lemon juice, and the butter to the skillet.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cook for 2 minutes, stirring and lifting the pasta continuously with tongs.

Assembly:

Lift a generous amount of the pasta and twirl gently onto the center of a plate. Pick a few of the cooked tomatoes, zucchini, and onions and place visibly on top and around the pasta.

Garnish with reserved fresh grape tomatoes, shredded parmesan, torn basil leaves, and a light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy!

influential vocalist and songwriter Thandiswa Mazwai. Somi has been working on this tribute to Makeba for some time; it was for her a joyful commitment. with basil, this pasta is complete: aromatic, tasty, vegetable-loaded. Makeba was one of South Africa’s first female singers to bring her native Fresh pasta is a breeze to music to a Western audience, popularizcook. Unlike dried pasta ing world music and its nuances. Aside which can easily take up to from her recognition as an international 12 minutes to become al singer/songwriter Makeba was a strong dente, fresh pasta takes up to advocate against Apartheid and during 3 minutes to become firm to her stay in New York she became a civil the bite. Straining the pasta rights activist alongside her mentor in a colander for this recipe Harry Belafonte. This tribute is Somi’s doesn’t help much and is only praise and respect for Makeba, whose an added step. Using tongs to -compelling words of conscious activism became just as significant as her songs. ly into a sauce is a preferred method of straining. The For tickets visit the website: https://www.ticketmaster.com/apollo-the-liquid residue that drips from ater-tickets-new-york/venue/6.the noodles, as you’re lifting it out of the hot pasta water and - Harlem Stage is known for its eclectic -programs from avant-garde to straight ahead jazz, hip hop flow, gospel choirs, ing the volume of the sauce. and black documentary premiers. On It’s important to work with March 23 they will continue their jour-high heat in this step because ney exploring the Black diaspora as they it is necessary for the sauce present Repertorio Espanol: In the Time to reduce rapidly, and since -of the Butterflies/En El Tiempo de las -Mariposas. The performances are free, tional two minutes, that time will go by quickly. Bat an eye

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

A R T S & E N T E R T A I N M E N T live in-person with reserved seating. There will be two performances; 1 p.m. matinee and evening at 7:30 p.m.

“Butterflies” is a fictionalized account of the story of the courageous Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic, based on Julia Álvarez’s critically acclaimed novel. The book is written in the first and third person, by and about the sisters inspired resistance cells throughout the country against the dictatorial regime of General Rafael Leónidas Trujillo—the regime brutally murdered the “butterflies,” their secret code name, in 1960. Playwright Caridad Svich and director José Zayas deliver a warm and dramatic production in which the martyred butterflies come to life, all in the intimate setting of the Harlem Stage Gatehouse (150 Convent Avenue). Performed in Spanish with English supertitles.

The book was first published in 1994, the story was adapted into a feature film in 2001. Having read the book and seen the film more than once, I can say it swings hard like Miles Davis’ album “Jack Johnson” making no apologies; with the compassion and commitment of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.”

This is a special collaboration with Harlem Stage and Repertorio Espanol founded in 1968 by Artistic Director René Buch and Producer Gilberto Zaldívar.

For tickets visit website harlemstage.org or call 212-281-9240. Woman Is Smarter,” a Caribbean song that became a sing-a-long as everyone swayed in their seats. The audience was dazzled and mesmerized as one lone dancer, choreographer Bill T. Jones, displaying a chiseled body, did a spellbinding dance to Belafonte singing “September Song.” He was absolutely fantastic! Spike Lee and Laurence Fishburne talked about Belafonte’s acting career roots and him working with Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier. They spoke of how Paul Robeson taught Belafonte that artists are the gatekeepers of truth. They spoke of the awards Belafonte has won through his lifetime. We saw him in cinematic moments in “Bright Road,” and “Carmen Jones” (with Dorothy Dandridge). A story is also shared of a young Belafonte who was staying with friends in Beverly Hills and when he went for a walk, the police pulled him over, just because he was a Black man, walking alone in Beverly Hills. Scenes are shown from “Island in the Sun,” in which he broke a taboo, a Black man with a young white actress—people in the South were especially upset. “The World, The Flesh, The Devil” was another controversial film that Belafonte was in where race was an issue. “Odds Against Tomorrow” was another racial themed film. Belafonte also did racial comedies such as “The Angel Levine,” where he plays a Black angel sent to help a Jewish man. Of course, everyone went wild when they showed scenes from “Buck and the Preacher” and “Uptown Saturday Night.” Bringing things back to his Civil Rights Movement connection and power, we watched Belafonte speaking to young people about racism, in a famous scene from Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman.” You also see entertainment milestones Belafonte facilitated like “Beat Street,” which merged hip hop with mainstream. Street dance performers thrilled the audience with marvelous moves on stage and Doug E. Fresh came out beatboxing and rapping. John Legend sang a new song called, “The Island,” about a world more peaceful and loving. A large group of young people from the Impact Repertory Theatre Company thrilled the audience with an incredibly energized rendition of “We Are the World.”

If you want to contribute to Sankofa.org people go to their website. Belafonte has given our community a rich legacy to cherish and maintain.

NEW YORK CITY CENTER

CITY CENTER DANCE FESTIVAL

PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY MAR 24 – 27 & 29 – 31

BALLET HISPÁNICO

APR 1 – 3

DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM

APR 5, 8 – 10

MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY

APR 6, 7, 9 & 10