This last weekend I competed in self-induced marathon of pasta making, which was more of an Italian food marathon, since I embarked on Mario Batali's ragù bolognese too. I started with hand mixing dough, then moved on to making dough with the food processor, I tried dough made with "00" flour and then tried a batch with semolina flour. There was pappardelle, ravioli, linguine and orecchietta and a simmering a batch of ragù on the stove behind me.
And to what do I owe this sudden burst of Italian adventure? I'm reading HEAT and am totally inspired by the stories of this regular Joe, Bill who chronicles his experience working in the Babbo kitchen. Which has translated into me making a LOT of Italian food. Thankfully I haven't yet had the urge to bring home an entire pig to butcher in the kitchen (you'll understand where I'm going with this if you've read the book). Jason doesn't know how lucky he is.
I decided to try my hand at making orecchietta, which according to the book is the easiest of the pastas to make. But unlike Bill, I could not phone up my contacts in Italy and arrange a few weeks of instruction in an Italian kitchen. So I turned instead to the power of the Internet and more specifically YouTube. In a matter of minutes I found several gracious Nonna's that were willing to invite me into their kitchens for a lesson - albeit a lesson entirely in Italian. I did a lot of watching - video upon video, for the better part of the day before making the dough and attempting the process myself.
I started with the semolina flour and used my food processor to make the dough. Having just made two successful batches using "00" flour I was feeling pretty confident in my pasta-dough-making abilities. I mixed it, kneaded it and let it rest. But as soon I took it out to roll, I could see my Nonna's shaking their heads and resting their floured hands on hips. My dough was too dry. I made my orecchietta anyway, but the little ears just kept closing up. Back to Nonna's for more watching and learning. Maybe I should take some Italian lessons too.
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