Monday, February 1, 2010

Oh My Goodness~


Early morning ..as the sun rises in our kitchen...In my PJ's.. before life starts to unfold..
The above is a hint..of what made me think all night... Friday night... about a pasta I saw on a lovely blog that I have gratefully now found two of our favorite Italian pasta dishes in the last year~
While in Italy..I bought 2 packages of Croxetti~



Pretty stamped pasta..I could not resist it... and wondered where I could find it again back here..?
Then Friday ..I stumbled upon The Italian Dish post..
Oh My Goodness..



Her post had me Googling the precious stamp..I did find one.. but it's a faraway project..maybe one day..I was sorry to not be able to try my hand at it..But far into the night....
I remembered my cookie stamp..



I took out my ravioli cutter and my little cookie/biscuit/scone cutter and the stamp..and lo and behold it worked..

I didn't have the romance of using one of the Master's tools.. nor the pleasure of ..well you know that feeling when you have the right tool to honor the method? No I didn't have that.. but they turned out cute enough..and her recipe for the pasta is delish w/ the white wine..
and the sauce..

Well my husband..who loves olive oil..pine nuts garlic and basil(a fresh plant brought over by a friend as a surprise Friday evening)..

Said.."this is delicious" "so delicious"....I had to agree:) Melt in you mouth freshness.
I am so happy to have found this recipe..



It's not an olive tree..the mold isn't wood..it didn't travel from Italy .. it was just a small cookie mold that was w/ my cookie cutters..The design became subtle after cooking the pasta..and that's why I truly think the REAL tool is necessary..But still..



La Recette~

Courtesy Of The Italian Dish~

Corzetti with Parmesan, Pine Nuts and Herbs


It is common in Liguria to add a little wine to the pasta dough.

makes about 90 corzetti

Dough:

1 cup all purpose flour or Italian 00 flour
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup white wine

Sauce:

1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
1/8 cup pine nuts, plain or toasted*
handful of chopped herbs (parsley, basil, etc.)
freshly ground black pepper, salt to taste
freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

Make pasta dough: Place flour on workspace and make a well in the center. Place the egg yolks in the well and beat lightly with fork. Add white wine to beaten eggs and mix with the fork. Slowly incorporate the flour with the fork until a dough forms. Knead and add flour until the dough is not sticky any more. A pastry scraper helps a lot. This may take a little more flour - you need to just go by the feel of the dough. Wrap in floured plastic and let rest at room temperature for 15 - 30 minutes. Cut in half and take each piece and run it through pasta rollers on the widest setting. Fold in thirds and run through several more times. Adjust rollers to next thinnest setting and pass pasta through. Pass through until you get to the thickness you like - usually #4 or #5 for corzetti. If you make the pasta thinner, using #5, you will be able to make a few more corzetti. Lay pasta sheets on floured counter and cover with towel.

Cut out discs of pasta with your corzetti base and lay on sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. You can take your scraps and run them through the pasta rollers again to get the maximum number of corzetti. Repeat until all pasta has been used and you have 80 - 100 discs of pasta.


Stamp corzetti: Turn corzetti base so design is right side up. Place one pasta disc on the base. Take the corzetti stamp and press down. Remove pasta disc to parchment. If pasta sticks to stamp, lightly flour. Repeat until all discs are stamped.

Place corzetti in boiling, salted water and cook two minutes. Lift with a strainer and dress with sauce.

(You can place the corzetti in the freezer on the baking sheets and then put them in plastic bags and keep in the freezer, if you like. No need to thaw to cook them.)

Sauce: Heat olive oil in a skillet and saute garlic for one minute. Add pine nuts and herbs. Add pepper and salt to taste. When corzetti are done cooking, lift them out with a strainer and place right into skillet. Toss with sauce. Place pasta in a serving bowl and toss with as much freshly grated parmesan cheese as you like.

* To toast pine nuts (this brings out their flavor a little more) place in a small, dry skillet and toast over medium heat until lightly golden.

My Notes..There is no way to improve on this dish~Apart from having one of the beautiful tools she shows us..and that you can find at that store in SanFrancisco..The customer service was excellent~The Corti Brothers~What an heirloom ~

All links provided here were provided first at The Italian Dish..
Many Thanks .


32 comments:

  1. Wonderful. I have often wondered if you could use a cookie press, now I know..... you are so clever.
    Your photos are truly a work of art, I love them, they always make the food look so delicious. I am sure it is but the pictures add to the ambiance!!!!!
    Thank you for the info on the red cup and the book, I am trying to do a post about it, I will keep you posted as to when I do!
    Hugs,
    Margaret B

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  2. That's the most beautiful pasta I've ever seen. Wouldn't it be wonderful to do a version at Christmas with a holiday cookie stamp?

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  3. Monique...you are really amazing...
    I bow in your presence...really I do...
    Those noodles are too beautiful to eat...

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  4. This is better than any of the dishes I've been eating at those fancy restaurants lately. In one stroke, you made all those 3-star Michelin chefs look like little boys. Monique, this is the most beautiful pasta dish I have ever seen in my life. Oh my goodness! ;)

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  5. Superb! I really need to get one of those pasta machines. I've been saying it for years, yet I still don't have one. Now, it has been bumped up to the top of my wish list. This looks so delicious. Your photos are so exquisite.
    Maureen

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  6. OMG....just divine.....yes much too beautiful to eat...your thoughts far into the night have materialized into something incredibly beautiful the next morning. well done Monique...

    I love the photo of the satiny pasta dough resting on the pasta machine in that lovely morning light..gorgeous!

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  7. thanks for dropping by. this is a BEAUTIFUL blog! i'm inspred!

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  8. I agree with what everyone else has said. I've never seen a pasta this special.

    Monique you truly are a treasure.

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  9. What a stroke of genius!! I will have to try this. Between the beautiful pasta, and the delicious-looking recipe, this sounds like a definite winner!

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  10. Oh how very pretty!! You always have the most beautiful pictures and the most delicious looking food!! xxoo

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  11. Oh, Monique. What a stroke of genius! I NEVER would have thought of that--the German cookie press with the Italian pasta. Silly me!

    Now I'm wondering if you could use this to mold ravioli... Hmmmm....

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  12. Monique, you beat me to it! I had read the same post and dragged out my cookie stamps to try later this week! Brava! Now i know it will work. And I WILL order the correct tool. Thank you!
    xoxo Pattie

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  13. Ton idée est fabuleuse ! Ils sont encore plus beau que ceux que l'on trouve en Italie ! T'es la meilleure !
    Bisous
    Hélène

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  14. That first photo of the pasta could be on a cookbook cover it's so gorgeous. I love how you've used the cutter. Genius.

    Your post makes me wish I still had my pasta machine. I bought it years ago after I took a class and fell in love with fresh pasta. I made such a mess in the kitchen with the flour on the counter that my husband only allowed me to make it the day before the maid came. Somehow through all of our moves, the machine found it's way to someone else's home. Now I want it back.
    Sam

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  15. I'm happy some of you will try..Press the pasta a bit into the mold w/ your hand for deeper design~
    Imagine the feel with a REAL tool..This pasta is not that messy Sam:) I have seen your food ..you would enjoy this..
    My pasta machine was under $25.00 and does the trick very well..A KA attachment like my friend Susan's would be great I think.
    Thanks..I am glad this will be fun for you too.
    Allie and Pattie..you should order the tool as I said that place is great.. It's just that shipping to Canada is almost the $ of the tool..then there are duties etc..It makes a big difference if you live in the USA..Go for it! Little heirlooms!!I wonder why more wood carvers don't try their hand at this beautiful craft~
    Have a great day..Plse keep in touch and show me yours:)

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  16. These are absolutely divine and I LOVE your cookie stamp! And yes, fresh pasta always taste better though not many of us here would go to the trouble to make fresh pasta. Thanks for sharing the lovely shop.

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  17. great idea... using a mold for pasta... the finished dish is really lovely!

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  18. Oh Monique! I've only BOUGHT this kind of pasta, I have never have made it myself. C'est BEAU!!

    Yours are so lovely ~ I adore your precious cookie stamp, too. xo

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  19. Making pasta is as much fun for grown-ups, as silly putty is for kids. I love making my own, but I don't recall ever making any pasta that looked as pretty as this!

    I have a few antique cookie molds, I'll have to test them out next time.

    Monique, beauty seems to follow your every move.

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  20. Monique, what a lovely meal! I can only imagine how good it must have tasted. Very nicely done and beautifully photographed. Rest in the aura of a job well done.

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  21. What a beautiful way to re-invent pasta! Gorgeous idea, plus truly unique to you. Fabulous!

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  22. What a wonderful idea. I think your pasta hand-roller works beautiful but the KA attachment really makes quick work of it.

    I love the idea of stamping the pasta! How beautiful - even if the cooked pasta doesn't retain the shape perfectly! So pretty!

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  23. Stunning......you make me wish I was your grandchild...well grand teenager!

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  24. My heart stopped when I saw this!! You are truly amazing and outdid yourself...and that is a feat!

    And what a pretty stamp....you've got me thinking!

    Diane

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  25. I cannot wait to see what you will show me:)Kitchen Butterfly you made me smile out loud!

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  26. Wow, so elegant and romantic and beatiful. And the dish with that blend of simple, fresh flavors is absolutely the best.

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  27. You are a genius, Monique, a true artist in the kitchen. I echo everyone else's comments about how beautiful your pasta is.

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  28. Omgosh Monique! This is the neatest post ever! Cookie stamps are a brillant idea. I want to try this when I get back to town asap.

    Yay!

    Laura

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  29. I found this a very timely post since I made my first foray into homemade pasta today! I'm reading a book that needs ravioli for the review, and I finally dragged out the pasta attachment for the KA this morning. (My husband bought it for me last year!)After a little practice it was very easy to use. Unfortunately, the first batch of ravioli was a disaster, but we recovered and by batch 3 they were wonderful. I've concentrated so much on Asian cooking in the past that I'm loving all of the food blogs. It's sending me in all sorts of new directions. Thanks so much for posting about the Corzetti. I love this type of learning.

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  30. You are welcome..I love to learn too..:)

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