From My Italian Heart: recipes from an Italian kitchen, Guy Grossi, Lantern, 2006.
I always enjoy trying out new pastas. This one from Guy Grossi’s book looked a little different from the usual. Apparently bigoli is an old Venetian pasta.
Making the pasta is almost like starting off to make a pastry. Is there any connection between the two words: pasta and pastry? Apparently yes. After a research hunt I found that they both have as a source the Latin word ‘pasta’ meaning dough. Interesting. I'd never connected them before.
You begin by rubbing butter into the flour until you have what looks like breadcrumbs. Egg and milk are added and a dough is formed and kneaded. It’s then rolled flat and cut into strips like spaghetti. I found it to be quite a lot softer than the usual pasta mix.
The sauce is cooked in the oven. Onions, garlic, potatoes and herbs (rosemary and sage) are placed in a baking dish. Oil and stock are poured over them and some Parmesan added. It's then baked.
When the bigoli has been cooked it is drained. It’s then put back in the saucepan with the contents of the baking dish. They are gently mixed together and served up. Some truffle shavings were supposed to be sprinkled over. That was out of my budget so I dribbled on some truffle oil.
The bigoli being a softer pasta than usual had no al dente dimension to it but it had an extra element of flavour from the butter. The sauce—if you can really call it a sauce—was wonderfully flavoured from the herbs and oven baking rather than on the stove top.
Taste: ✔✔✔✔
Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔
No comments:
Post a Comment