Рецепт Gemelli with Broccolini, Sriracha and Sweet Sausage
There
are times when all I crave for dinner is a big bowl of pasta and the infinite
possibilities it presents. First of all
there are the almost unlimited varieties of pasta spanning all shapes and sizes
and textures. From tiny orzo all the way
through to sheets of lasagna, your options are wide open. Equally limitless, there is almost nothing you
cannot make into a sauce, as this recipe proves. It combines the familiar – sweet Italian
Sausage, Broccolini, Garlic and Reggiano Parmigiano—with an adventurous use of
completely un-Italian Sriracha Hot Sauce and Smoked Paprika. The result is an intensely flavorful sauce -- not overly spicy just richer and more interesting. These ingredients may be completely out of context with Italian Pasta, but they add a layer of flavor that lifts the dish from everyday to extraordinary. And pasta with Sriracha and Smoked Paprika make for a great guessing game at the dinner table.
Ah, the joy of pasta! Letizia Mattiaci Italians
consume about 57 lbs of pasta per person per year. That, according to Letizia Mattiacci,
cookbook author and proprietor of the Alla Madonna del Piatto Cooking School in
Umbria, is the equivalent of 325 portions of pasta a year. I had to wonder if Italians spend the remaining
40 days of the year outside the country.
In Italy, where pasta is pure comfort food, Italians maintain robust ideas about
which pasta goes with which sauce. No
red-blooded Italian will concede that any old pasta will go with any old
sauce. The main criteria are tradition
and that the shape of the pasta combines with the texture of the
sauce. Signora Mattiacci led us through
the rules: “Short pasta is great with chunky
sauces”, like today’s recipe. “Morsels of meat or olives trapped inside tubes
of penne or around the twirls of fusilli.
Spaghetti and linguine are ideal with oil-based sauces like pesto or
clams.” Finally the combination of
egg-based pasta and meat or cream sauces “make a great combination due to the
balance of flavors.” One final word from
Signora Mattiaci: “While I am totally in favor of buying locally produced food,
in all my travels I have never encountered pasta of comparable quality to that
made in Italy. So unless you have access to local artisan pasta, I recommend
using Italian import brands.” To me,
when I cannot get to Eataly to buy from their truly astonishing selection, my
supermarket pasta of choice is De Cecco. Barilla, of anti-gay fame, is made in
Bannockburn, Illinois. Broccolini is not Baby BroccoliI
chose Gemelli for my recipe but I would have been happy with Cavatelli, or
Strozzapreti or Orechiette. Fusilli also
falls into this camp but reminds me too much of deli counter pasta salads to
have much appeal. I was delighted to
find another way to serve Broccolini. No, Broccolini is not the tender
offspring of Broccoli. It was developed in 1993 by crossing Broccoli and
Chinese Broccoli. You could also switch
it out for Broccoli Rabe, which, astonishingly, is not related to Broccoli at all
but is a member of the Turnip Family.
Broccoli Rabe will add a certain bitterness to the dish compared to the
sweetness of Broccolini. I chose Sweet Italian Sausage so
that the flavor of the Sriracha and Paprika would not be overwhelmed by Italian
Hot Sausage. Sriracha
has a story as fascinating as any in today’s food world. The now familiar Green topped bottle with its
Rooster logo was the work of a Vietnamese immigrant to the United States who
arrived in 1980. According to a
Huffington Post article from 2013, Tran could not find a spicy additive for the
foods he cooked. He discovered that the
entire Southeast Asian community in Los Angeles had the same hot sauce cravings
he did. He put together his recipe for
Sriracha with hybrid jalapeno peppers, vinegar, sugar, salt and garlic, and
bottled it. In 2010, Bon Appetit named it the ingredient of the year. And in
2012, Cook’s Illustrated called it ‘the best-tasting hot sauce’. It has been adopted by everyone from Japanese
Sushi Chefs to spice up tuna rolls to American chefs looking to spice up good
ole Mac and Cheese. And now, this American is
translating it into Italian. Here is the
recipe:
Recipe for Gemelli with Broccolini, Sriracha and Sweet Italian Sausage
Serves 4. Takes 35 minutes to make 1 1/4 pounds broccolini, ends trimmed 1/4-cup extra-virgin olive oil Salt Freshly ground pepper
1 lb. Sweet Italian Sausage
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 2 teaspoons Sriracha
1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika 1 pound Gemelli
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
cheese, plus more for serving 1. Preheat the oven
to 425°. In a bowl, toss the broccolini with 2 tablespoons of the oil and
season with salt and pepper. Arrange the broccolini on 2 baking sheets and
roast for 15 minutes, until crisp-tender, then chop.
2. As the broccolini cooks in the oven, remove from the sausage from its casing and break it down into bite size pieces. In a large skillet, cook the sausage until all traces of pink disappear. Remove sausage to a plate. 3. In the same skillet,
heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the garlic, chile and Sriracha and
cook over moderate heat, stirring for 2 minutes. Add the broccolini and
smoked paprika and cook until tender, 2 minutes. 4. Add the sausage to the Broccolini and continue cooking over low heat until the pasta is done. 6. Meanwhile, in a large
pot of salted boiling water ( 1tsp of salt for every quart of water) cook the
pasta using the package directions until al dente; drain, reserving 1 cup of
the cooking liquid.
6. Add the pasta, cooking water and 1/4 cup of Parmigiano to
the skillet and cook, stirring, until the pasta is coated in a thick sauce, 2
minutes. Serve with more cheese.