photo credit: tnarik

Want go gourmet with Pappardelle?  If you are not familiar with pappardelle – pronounced pa-par-DAY-lay – it is one of the broadest of the pasta noodles.  Think along the lines of a wide fettuccine or a narrow lasagna which sometimes comes with curly edges.  It is a cousin of tagliatelle, but a bit wider.  The dried version is often folded into nests, so you can watch for those if you are looking to buy some pappardelle.

What Italians love about the pappardelle noodles is that they are sturdy and won’t fall apart and at the same time are very absorbent so they soak in all the flavors of the sauce.  These noodles are not well suited to Gourmet Italian baked dishes because they are not wide enough for lasagna, yet are too wide for most baked noodle dishes.

In Tuscany, pappardelle was traditionally served when cooking hare or with a chicken liver sauce.  However,  since neither of those is usually on everyone’s “hit parade”, I thought I would give you a recipe that the Carrabba brothers shared some years back.

Put 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil in a pan and heat it over medium.  Remove the skin from 1/2 pound of Italian sausage and tear each link into six pieces and brown slightly in the hot oil.  Add 1/2 cup of finely chopped onion and a medium red bell pepper in 1/4 inch julienne cut.  Cook this until the onions start to take on a golden color.  Add 1/4 cup dry white wine and cook 3 minutes to let the wine evaporate.  Add 2 cloves of chopped garlic and cook for one minute.

Here I add two 14 ounce cans of the diced fire-roasted tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste – along with a few pinches of red pepper flakes if you want a little heat.  Bring sauce to a boil – then reduce to simmer until sauce has thickened.  Stir in 2 tablespoons of torn fresh basil leaves.

Now add your cooked and drained papardelle noodles and toss well with the sauce.  Now we are going to make this truly gourmet with the addition of 1/4 cup of freshly grated pecorino romano cheese and 4 ounces of crumbled goat cheese!  Stir this all into your dish and you have gone gourmet with pappardelle!

Watch Chef Aldo make a fabulous creamy mushroom pappardelle!

Mangia Bene!

photo credit: specialkrb

Cooking gourmet with a simple “spaghetti ajo e ojo” is a simple, but wonderful treat!  AJO is garlic and OJO is oil.  You will sometimes see this dish called “aglio e oilio” – which means the same thing.

This is actually one of the quickest, easiest and tastiest gourmet Italian dishes you could ever prepare!  It is said to have originated in the shanty towns around Rome way back when.  This dish is often enjoyed late at night by the people of Rome when they are craving a little something before bed.

Make the dish truly gourmet with a good quality olive oil.  Maybe use that special bottle you received as a gift and you’ve been saving for “something special”.

Put your spaghetti water on to boil.  While you are waiting, start your dish.  Put 1/2 cup of your good olive oil, 2 teaspoons of very finely chopped garlic, and 2 teaspoons of salt in a very small saucepan.  Now we are going to cook this over very low heat while stirring very frequently to keep the garlic from burning.  This mixture will become a rich, golden color.

Once your spaghetti is cooked al dente, drain it and put it into a warm bowl.  Now add your garlic oil sauce and toss rapidly to coat all the strands of spaghetti.  Give the dish 8 or 9 twists from your black pepper mill and add 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley.  Add another tablespoon of olive oil.  Toss again and serve immediately.

You may see spaghetti ajo-ojo-peperoncino on an Italian menu.  This is the same spaghetti gourmet with red pepper flakes added instead of – or in addition to – the black pepper.  Once you’ve made it, you can surely vary the ingredients as you like.  Maybe you want to add some Parmesan?  Go ahead.  I often throw in some anchovies.  The important thing about this gourmet Italian delight is not to skimp on the olive oil.  It is so good for you and it makes the dish what it is!