Pasta Series #8: Garganelli fatti in casa
First pasta recipe of 2020!
Let's dive right in, shall we? After a jaunt on semola/water pasta avenue with a detour down gnocchi lane and a right turn on to spatzle street, we're back in the land of fresh egg pasta (which we learned to make back in April and May, with these ravioli and lasagne). I'ts been a while, so allow me to give you a brief egg pasta refresher, just in case you need it:
1. The most important factor of all when making your own pasta!: use good quality flour and the freshest eggs you can get your hands on -- I use Molino Spadoni 00 flour, which I highly recommend if you can find it;
2. Ignore any sort of recipe you've seen in the past that tells you to use cups to measure your flour, or that tells you to use a certain amount of eggs, keeping in mind that cups are not as precise as a kitchen scale and all eggs vary in size. To make your own pasta, you absolutely need a kitchen scale (sorry fellow Americans). Use your scale to measure the weight of the eggs -- that weight, multiplied by two, will determine the weight of your flour;
3. If you find that your pasta dough is too dry even despite using the above-mentioned formula (most likely due to the weather/temperature of your kitchen) feel free to add some water, keeping in mind the fact that a little water goes a long way. Start with a small amount (start by dampening your hands with water) and add a bit more at a time;
4. When determining how much pasta to make, an egg per person is a good rule of thumb; in other words, 3 eggs and the corresponding amount of flour should do for 3 people;
4. A good pasta machine isn't prohibitively expensive (costing between 30-50 euros) and in any case lasts a life time. Good brands are Atlas and Imperial. Otherwise, you can invest in a long rolling pin and learn to roll out pasta by hand, per Bolognese tradition; I have tried both methods and while the pasta machine one is of course faster and easier, there is something truly special about learning the rolling pin technique. I highly recommend either method.
So! You didn't think there would be a Pasta Series post without me waxing poetic about pasta, did you?
I'll try and limit my usual glowiness here and say: homemade pasta has many glorious qualities, one of them being versatility. I might have mentioned this before, but just to refresh your memory: pasta dough -- once you learn how to make it, and whether it be egg pasta or semola and water -- can then be used to make a countless number of pasta shapes, and in the case of egg pasta, this means everything from simple fettuccine to ruffled farfalle to slap-dash strapponi; paunchy cappellacci to tiny stuffed tortellini to candy-like casoncelli; super fine tagliolini to rotund paccheri to twisty tonnarelli.
I could go on, but I promised you minimal fawning, right?
My preferred egg pasta at the moment is garganelli, a shape I encountered when I was living in Bologna back in 2009 (I first ate them with a sausage ragu', for the record). Garganelli are indeed typical of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, and interestingly (and unappetizing-ly?) enough the name for this pasta comes from the regional word garganel -- esophagus -- referring more specifically to the shape of the esophagus found in the neck end of a chicken.
See also: orecchiette, or little ears; vermicelli, or little worms; and strozzapreti, or priest-stranglers -- a little food for thought (or not)?
But I digress! I didn't see much of garganelli after my year in Bologna -- after all, they don't have much of a place in Roman cuisine -- until I took a Northern Pastas class Grano & Farina. Having already mastered the dough-making/rolling out processes -- as will have you, if you've experimented with simple lasagne sheets and ravioli like I have -- my friend and teacher, the lovely and talented Julia, reminded me of this long-forgotten shape. With the help of a gnocchi board (the same one I'd used to make gnocchetti sardi back in June) and the accompanying wooden dowel (which came with the board, but whose purpose I hadn't yet figured out) she patiently instructed us how to make this pasta, advising on the proper angle of the board and the right amount of pressure to use (you can see her in action here) among other things. After promptly deciding that garganelli were most certainly the fancier, slightly more interesting older sister of penne pasta, I got to work mastering this shape, so as to be able to share it with you, my loyal readers (who hopefully love pasta as much as I do).
Where to begin! Garganelli are ridge-y and quill-like, meaning they are toothsome and sauce-catching and perfect for serving with things like ragu', or prosciutto and peas, or sausage and mushrooms (in short: smooth sauces need not apply). However in keeping with my slightly-lighter recipe promise for January I'm showing them to you here tossed with a sauce I learned from my friend Carla -- a cozy and vegetarian-friendly "ragu'" made with creamy borlotti beans, slowly cooked tomatoes, lots of earthy parsley, and Parmigiano (optional but basically mandatory).
This made for a perfect and beautiful and sublime dish of pasta, and I was truly sorry when the last garganello disappeared off my fork.
Final verdict: to remake very soon, asap, absolutely, no doubt about it.
A couple of notes on egg pasta/pasta making in general, from Carla Tomasi, who first got me hooked on fresh pasta:
Once you have rolled out your pasta, please keep pasta away from sunlight, too much breeze or heat. It will dry out too fast with the risk of crumbling once it is being cut. It can be fully dried and kept in tight sealed boxes up to three months. However, if a cool spot for storing is not available it may be kept in the freezer for a long time. Concerning your pasta machine: do not wash with water and soap or a strong detergent. Use a brush to remove excess flour and just wipe with a damp cloth. Buff it up with a dry tea towel. Leave out on the worktop for a day and then turn the rollers few times and shake upside down to dislodge any piece of dough.
A couple of my notes: These garganelli also pair wonderfully with ragu' (this one here works particuarly well) or any other chunkier sauce that needs catching. As I mentioned above, I served these with a borlotti sauce made by Carla Tomasi, which worked splendidly; up to you!
Want to know what the other recipes in my blog’s Pasta Series? Click here!
GARGANELLI FATTI IN CASA
Serves 3-4.
Ingredients for the pasta:
3 medium eggs, the freshest you can find
00 Flour (you will calculate the weight of the flour based on the weight of the eggs; see above)
Ingredients for borlotti sauce:
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 can (28 ounce) good-quality crushed tomatoes or passata
2 cans of borlotti beans
2-3 cloves of garlic, smashed
A generous handful of parsley, very finely chopped
You will also need:
A gnocchi board that comes with a wooden dowel, pictured below -- these can be found in most kitchen stores or on Amazon and do not cost much!
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Directions to make the borlotti sauce:
Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a large pan and saute the onion, celery, carrot, garlic cloves, and parsley until all the vegetables are soft and the garlic is fragrant. Season with salt and pepper. Add the crushed tomatoes and let the sauce bubble vigorously for a bit, then lower the eat and let it simmer until reduced and the flavors have blended nicely. Add the borlotti beans, stir, simmer a bit more to let everything meld and taste for salt and pepper. Set aside.
Directions to make fresh egg pasta, and how to shape it to make garganelli:
1. Start with your dough! Place a bowl on a scale and use the TARE option to eliminate it's weight; break the eggs into the bowl and measure the weight. In my case, the eggs weighed 165 grams. Beat your eggs together and set aside. Next, Measure out double the amount of flour (in my case, 165 x 2=330 grams of flour) and place it in a large bowl. Make a well in the flour and pour in the eggs.
Gradually, with the aid of a fork, work the eggs into the flour until you get a shaggy mass. If the dough is a little dry add a little cold water.
2. Upturn the contents of the bowl onto a worktop (wooden preferably or maybe a large chopping board) and start to knead it. The pasta machine will do most of the work later so you only should knead the dough until it comes together. Unless your hands are very cold, body heat should work its magic on the eggs and turn the dough silky smooth. For a short explanation on how to knead the dough via my friend Carla, click right here!
3. Next, leave the dough under an upturned mixing bowl (or wrap in plastic wrap) to rest for at least 20 minutes. Note that at this stage, the dough may be refrigerated until the next day and slowly brought back at room temperature prior to use.
Once the dough has rested, you can start to roll it out in to sheets (hurray!) Set up your pasta machine, attaching the roller handle and securing it to a work table.Set the rollers to the widest setting (0 in my case). Divide up the dough in to four or so equal pieces. You will work with one piece at a time; take a piece of dough and keep the others covered.
4. Flatten the piece of dough out so that it will go easily through the pasta machine. Roll the dough through, fold the strip of dough like and envelope and roll it again. If the dough feels too sticky, dust it with a little flour. NOTE: never ever put any flour directly onto the rollers! Repeat this folding and rolling process about 5 times. Now that you have kneaded your dough, start to roll it out; set the machine one notch down (from 0 to 1, in my case) and pass the dough ONCE through the rollers (no need to fold it anymore). Continue, rolling the dough once through each successive setting, until you reach 6. If you start getting holes in the pasta or the edges are not smooth maybe some bits of unwanted pasta are causing the problems. Roll of the dough off and run your hand underneath the rollers. You most probably will find little bits of dough that are causing the pasta to tear when it is rolled out. Just wipe them off with your fingers. Do the same the three remaining pieces of pasta dough, cutting them in half once they are completely rolled out (to make them easier to handle, as the strip of pasta will be quite long!)
5. Next, cut your dough into small, even squares using a pasta cutter (the rolling kind) or simply a bench scraper, trying to make them more or less the same size.. Keep all squares covered with a clean tea towel so they don't try out. Take one square and, using your wooden dowel and gnocchi board, wrap the square around the dowel as you roll it down the board diagonally. You can see a demonstration of this here.
6. Continue rolling out your dough, forming squares, and rolling garganelli until all the dough has been used up, keeping the garganelli lined up and separate from each other so they don't stick or get squashed (you can flour them a little if you'd like).
7. Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it generously, and cook the garganelli until tender but still al dente, about 4 or so minutes (taste periodically though -- this cooking time can vary). Toss the cooked garganelli with your sauce, top with some extra Parmesan, and eat immediately.
