March 21st, 2009

early spring maccheroni alla chitarra

It is the first day of primavera! Spring is really here :) I am super happy :) I made this when I needed a break from the project and cooking always calm my mind, it is very therapeutic for me and now that spring is coming, there are lots of change from winter vegetables. Gerardo gave me very nice fresh peas and runner beans and I had just got a bag of very nice organic brazilian nuts and a pot of fresh ricotta, and I also have some left over of potato puree I made last night, so I just want to make something fast+green+creamy+fulfilling. I actually was improvising with all ingredients I had in my fridge, and I am happy the result was great that I can share it here :)

I am rather addicted with my hand blender these days :)

And we were so hungry while waiting so we munched some carrots :) Of course, mine was the roughly bitten one and Marco’s was the one with a very precise cut…

And when it comes to pasta, I opened my cupboard and found a pack of maccheroni alla chitarra all’uovo, which is some kind of square spaghetti, and it is typical from Abruzzi, I am rather curious why they made it square, so next time when I meet someone from Abruzzi I will ask about this :)

Then, my designer mind couldn’t help not to observe the packaging of the fresh ricotta, I think it is simple but smart: it contains of cup and ‘colander’, which keeps the ricotta fresh for longer time as it is not watery.

Early spring maccheroni alla chitarra

For 2

My cooking soundtrack: beat+bebop compilation with Charlie Parker, Jack Kerouc, Billy Holliday, Conte Candoli, and many others

150g dried maccheroni alla chitarra all’uovo (if you cant find it, dried linguine or fresh egg pasta will do)

9 brazilian nuts, toasted and thinly sliced

1 handful of runner beans, wash and cut into small pieces

2 handful of fresh peas, shelled

3 tablespoon fresh ricotta

1 medium potato, peeled, boiled and pureed

1 clove of garlic, peeled

sea salt and pepper

extra virgin olive oil

parmesan for grating

Bring to boil one pot of water, add some coarse salt. When it boils, blanch half of the runner beans and peas, drain and transfer to a container, then add the pasta and garlic to the water. Add potato puree, ricotta, most of the brazilian nuts and parsley to blanched runner beans and peas, then add sea salt, pepper and 2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and blend with hand blender until you reach a pesto-ish consistency, adjust the seasoning, set aside. 5 minute before the pasta is cooked, add the rest of the runner beans and peas. Cook the pasta until al dente, check if the vegetables are cooked but still crunchy, then drain and reserve some of the cooking water. Mix the pasta with the creamy green sauce, if it is too thick, thin it with the reserved cooking water. Transfer to the serving plate, drizzle with abit of extra virgin olive oil, freshly grated parmesan and the remaining of thin sliced brazilian nuts.

Buon apetito! and a big big spring hug from me! :)

Filed under: food