Ciao Andiamo: Pasta

This March, we hosted another series of Italian Cooking Parties in New York, led by the lovely chef Cristiana. She made a special trip all the way from Umbria, bringing with her some mouth-watering family recipes from the Old Country.

We're excited to share with you a few of Cristiana's signature dishes: a primo, secondo and dolce, so you can recreate an entire Italian dinner party and wow family and friends with your skills in la cucina italiana.

First, the primo, a dish called gnocchetti 'collescipolani', a variation of gnocchi, made with just flour, breadcrumbs, water and salt (no eggs or potatoes). This simple and delicious rustic dish gets its name from a small Umbrian village named Collescipoli.

Gnocchetti “Collescipolani”

Ingredients (for 4 ppl)

1½ cups of flour

1 cup of breadcrumbs

EVOO

¼ of an onion

1 clove of garlic

Carrots

1 celery stalk

2 sausages

¼ Lb of pancetta (diced)

7oz of tomato sauce

7oz of borlotti beans

Salt

Directions

1. Mix the flour and breadcrumbs together through a sieve.

2. Form a hole in the center of the mixture. Add warm water and salt, and let it sit for a half hour.

3. Shape the pasta in long strips, cutting to form little cylinders approximately ¼ inch thick and ½ inch in diameter.

4. For the sauce, heat up 1 Tbsp of EVOO and add in the onion, garlic, celery and carrots (all finely chopped). Then add the diced pancetta and sausages (removed from casings and crumbled). After approx.15 minutes add the tomatoes and continue cooking. Approx.10 minutes before cooking is done, add the beans.

5. Boil the gnocchetti in salt water and as each one rises to the surface, throw into the sauce. Serve with grated pecorino cheese

*****

Next, the secondo, eggplant parmigiana, one of last year's crowd favorites that we couldn't resist including in our 2013 menus.

Eggplant Parmigiana

Ingredients (for 8 ppl)

3 medium to large size eggplants

16oz can of diced tomatoes

4 Tbps of parmigiano reggiano

1 large ball of mozzarella (cubed)

5-6 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

Carrots, celery and onions (1 Tbsp of each), diced

Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Cut the eggplant into thin discs, salt them and leave them in a strainer for an hour to remove the water and bitter flavor

2. Preheat the oven to 350ºF, take a roasting pan, cover it with a baking sheet and place on top the eggplant

3. Brush the eggplant with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook in the oven for around 20 minutes

4. In the meantime, in a pan, heat 2 Tbsp of oil and add onions, carrots & celery. Cook for a few minutes, then add the tomato.

5. When eggplant is ready (lightly browned), take a heat-resistant dish, and layer ½ the tomato sauce, then ½ the eggplant, then ½ the parmigiano, then ½ the mozzarella

6. Repeat, ending with the mozzarella, tomato & parmigiano

7. Cook at 400ºF for around 30 minutes

*****

And last, but certainly not least, the tiramisù, which, in Italian, literally means pick-me-up. Between the espresso and dark chocolate, this decadent dessert will snap you right out of that food coma to finish off the meal.

Tiramisù

Ingredients (for 8 ppl)

2 egg yolks

¾ cup of sugar

12oz of mascarpone cheese

5oz of whipping cream/ricotta

3 cups espresso coffee

1 cup of milk or coffee liquor

10oz of lady fingers or pavesini

2 squares of dark chocolate

¼ cup of fine cocoa

1 tablespoon of Marsala liquor

Directions

1. Grate chocolate onto a plate. Set aside.

2. Prepare Zabaglione : beat yolk and ¾ of sugar together over a double boiler. Whisk until stiff. Add Marsala. Set aside.

3. Whip cream with the remaining sugar until stiff and carefully add Mascarpone cheese. Add in the Zabaglione and whisk together.

4. Dip lady fingers into coffee mixture. Place into prepared rectangular serving pan, lying side-by-side, covering entire surface. Spread ½ of mascarpone cream over biscuits.
Sprinkle grated chocolate and cocoa over. Repeat layering.

5. Keep in refrigerator for 4-5 hours. Sprinkle a very fine dust of cocoa on, before serving

*****

And that, my friends, is what's for dinner. Now time to get cooking...buon appetito!

In February, Ciao Andiamo led a week-long series of Private Italian Cooking Parties in New York. The parties were hosted right in people's homes, together with their families and friends, everywhere from Chelsea and Midtown Manhattan to Long Island and Westchester.

Classes were run by some of our wonderful Italy collaborators, who flew in special from Umbria, and brought with them some fantastic small-production wines, cheeses, olive oil and other local ingredients.

It was a whirlwind of a week, with 4 dinners in 7 nights. And we loved every minute of it.

Vera ('la mamma') and Cristiana (her daughter) whipped up a traditional Italian feast, featuring several courses of typical Umbrian dishes, amazing wines and -- the highlight -- handmade pasta.

Some of our guests asked if we would be bringing a pasta-making machine, and Cristiana replied 'la mamma e' la machinetta' ('my mother is the machine!'). And what a treat it was to watch Vera work, making the pasta from scratch, as though we had just stepped back in time into old-world Italy.

To make the pasta, Versa started first with some flour, creating a hole in the center, into which she cracked the eggs, and then added salt and mixed together to form the dough...

And then came some pure pasta-making magic...

Many a brave dinner guest volunteered to lend Vera a hand, and they fared pretty well, I must say.

And when we weren't putting the guests to work, they got to enjoy all the delicious creations and an authentic Italian feast.

Here's a look back at some of the dishes (in pictures):

Aged Balsamic over Pecorino Cheese from Pienza in Tuscany. Served along with assorted Bruschetta.

Radicchio Strudel with Ham and Mozzarella, Cristiana's Signature Dish.

Handmade Tagliatelle alla Spoletina (with Tomatoes, Oil, Garlic & Parsley). We also served a Pasta al Tartufo (with truffle sauce) and a Pasta Cacio e Pepe (pecorino cheese and peppercorns, very typical pasta in Rome).