Рецепт Fresh Fettucine with Sausage, Asparagus and Mushrooms
A
great bowl of pasta is one of my favorite comfort dishes. I must admit that this particular variation hits
the mark. The fresh asparagus and mushrooms seem made for each other and for
the Italian hot sausage I combined them with. There’s cheese too—two kinds that
bring the zip of Parmesan together with the sweetness of Fontina. Both cheeses melt into the pan sauce. And the couple of tablespoons of butter
stirred into the sauce added smoothness to the sauce. But there is one other ingredient that sets
this dish apart: Fresh Pasta.
To
me, the best pasta is fresh pasta. I
wish I could say I made my own but I have not.
Instead I can find really good fresh pasta in the supermarket. But is fresh pasta really better than dried?
Intuitively, fresh should better.
After all, it’s likely to be locally made like mine. Dried pasta could have been shipped thousands
of miles or sat on store shelves for months.
But the real truth is, fresh pasta really isn’t better than dried:
they’re just different.
Fresh
pasta is made from simple dough: Eggs and flour. In Italy that flour is
labelled “OO” as it is very fine and high in gluten. The dough is kneaded like
bread and then passed through a set of rollers to whatever thickness—or
thinness—is desired. After that is it is
cut into long noodles or formed and stuffed into pastas like Tortellini and
Ravioli. Experts say that fresh pasta is
best served with delicate sauces so that the texture of the pasta takes a front
seat. Fettucine Alfredo is living proof of how that particular preparation is
so far superior when fresh pasta is put into use.
What
about Dry Pasta? It is made with finely
ground semolina flour andMachine-made Pasta drying.
water. Eggs aren’t usually used at all. The flour and water are mixed into a paste
and the paste is put through molds and cut into every pasta shape you can
imagine. Then the pasta is dried at a
very low temperature for several days until all the moisture has evaporated. It can then be stored almost
indefinitely. Did you ever check the
expiration date on a package of pasta?
My most recent purchase, De Cecco Gemelli, has a “Best By” date in July
2018. Oricchiette from Trader Joe’s has
no date at all. Dry pasta is best suited
for hearty dishes like ragu sauces, soups and casseroles since it will hold up
better with their most robust ingredients.
flavor-packed Spring dinner you can get on the table in under 30 minutes. Even allowing for the longer time it takes to cook dried pasta. Here is the recipe:
Recipe
for Linguine with Sausage, Asparagus and Mushrooms
Serves 4. Takes under
30 minutes start to finish.
- Kosher salt
- 1 lb. Fettucine pasta
- 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 Italian Hot Sausages
- 1 lb. baby bella mushrooms, sliced into
- 1/2" pieces
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 c. vegetable stock
- 1 lb. asparagus, chopped into 1"
- pieces
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 1 c. freshly grated Parmesan, plus more
- for garnish
- 1 c. freshly grated fontina cheese
- 1/2 c. parsley leaves
- 1. Bring an 8-quart
- stock pot of water to a boil and generously season with salt. This will take a
- while. So proceed with making the sauce
- while the water is coming to a boil.
- 2. Break the sausage
- into bite sized pieces and put it along with a couple of tablespoons of Olive
- Oil into a nonstick skillet. Cook over medium high heat until the sausage is
- cooked through and beginning to brown.
- Remove the sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve.
- 3. In the same skillet,
- leaving the remains of the sausage liquid, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over
- medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and spread in an even layer; cook for 3 minutes
- before stirring to let the mushrooms brown. Add garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and
1/2 teaspoon pepper; cook 2 minutes more.
4. Add stock and asparagus; using a
wooden spoon, scrape bottom of pan to incorporate the browned garlic and
mushrooms. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Cook the pasta according
to the package directions until al dente. .
Cook Reserve 1 cup pasta water and drain pasta.
5. Add butter, pasta, and
both cheeses; gently mix with tongs. (If the pasta seems dry, slowly add
reserved pasta water until desired consistency.)
Serve in skillet or
transfer pasta to a platter and top with more grated Parmesan, drizzle of olive oil, and
parsley. Serve immediately.