Soon, hopefully very soon, we will be traveling the world again, exploring the sights, sounds and flavors that are so important to our lives. In the meantime, I look through my photo albums, reliving past trips. I also cook meals that remind me of those destinations.
Memories of Milan
The dog is barking, time for his walk. The kids are fighting and the TV is on too loud. It’s almost time for dinner and, in that quiet part of your mind, you remember a trip to Italy.
You walk happily on a narrow Italian street in Milan’s Brera neighborhood. It starts to rain. On the corner of Via Brera and Via Madonnina, you duck into Ristorante il Cestino. You enter tentatively. The cozy restaurant is mostly empty. At a long table at the back of the restaurant, in front of the long refrigerated counter with fresh seafood laid out on trays of ice, servers are having the staff meal.
Agostino Ragno, owner and maître d, sees you in the doorway and invites you to take a seat. Lunch service begins in 15 minutes. While you wait, he offers you a complimentary glass of Prosecco. You read the menu as the staff finishes their meal and lays out silverware and plates on the tables with white tablecloths.
Outside, the rain turns from drizzle to downpour. You watch people with umbrellas, and those without, walk more quickly as they search for sanctuary. Sipping the Prosecco, you relax. You smile to yourself as you read the menu; you have found a quiet place.
All the dishes look wonderful. Appetizers, salads, fresh seafood and freshly made pasta. You see the perfect meal for you. Agostino returns, announcing the restaurant is now open. You order a green salad and a plate of pasta with clams.
You remember that the wait was only few minutes. As you sip your Prosecco, people stream into the restaurant. By the time your meal arrives, every table is taken.
The pasta is simplicity itself. Clams and a few flakes of parsley, the sauce seasoned with black pepper and a bit of salt. Each strand coated with butter and clam nectar. No grated cheese, because Italians do not eat cheese on seafood pasta, and it isn’t needed.
The room is filled with voices and the sounds of plates and silverware, of orders being taken and dishes laid upon tables. But you don’t notice. You are focused on that plate of pasta with clams. You are in heaven.
Now that you are home, you want to recapture that moment in Milan. It’s time to make pasta.
Easy-to-Make Pasta
In these safe-at-home times, it’s fun to cook. Making pasta brings Italy into the kitchen. If you have kids and they enjoy working with Play Dough, they will love making egg pasta.
If you always thought making pasta was too difficult. Don’t worry. This recipe requires no Kitchen Aid stand mixer, no baking sheet, no food processor, no dough hook, no drying rack, no exotic ingredients, no special skills.
All you need is a pasta roller -- a rolling pin will do -- a sharp knife, tongs, a colander, white All-Purpose flour (AP) and a fresh egg.
For sauce, you can go light with olive oil, black pepper and sea salt or more substantial with a shrimp with pesto or tomato sauce with meatballs or sausage. Whatever you choose, prepare the sauce before the pasta so you are ready to serve as soon as the pasta comes out of the boiling salted water.
About the flour. Italians use a finely milled version of white pasta flour called “00.” If you can’t find it, no worries, AP works. Also, because the pasta is fresh, it needs less cooking. Five minutes is plenty. When it enters the salted cooking water, it expands, so if you want spaghetti, cut the strands very thin. If you want tagliatelle, pappardelle, fettuccine or linguine, cut the strands wide. You can even make ravioli or lasagna by cutting the pasta sheet into squares, but that will be for next time.
Some cooks, myself included, like to use semolina flour on the cutting board to prevent sticking. The coarser flour adds texture.
The recipe serves two. To make more, multiply the ingredient proportions, but to roll out the pasta dough, work in batches with the 2-serving sized amount of 1 egg and ½ cup of flour.
Cook the fresh pasta dough the same day you make it. If you don’t need all the cooked pasta, store it in a refrigerated, air-tight container to use the next day.
To salt the pasta water use kosher salt or any salt without iodine.
Prep time: 15 minutes Waiting time: 45 minutes Cooking time: 5 minutes Total time: 65 minutes Yield: two entrée servings or four side dish servings
Ingredients
1 farm fresh large or extra large egg 1/2 cup AP or "00" flour + 3 tablespoons AP flour or semolina flour to dust the cutting board and dough 1 tablespoon kosher salt or non-iodine salt for pasta water
Directions
