Noodles are amazing, beautiful things. Fresh noodles are another class of spectacular. For people living in areas where they have access to this in normal times: you are so very lucky. If you are the type to make your own noodles, I bow deeply to you. You have patience, time, and strong core muscles. These days, I imagine we all have some form of noodle in the pantry, most likely Italian pasta.
Spaghetti alla carbonara
I had never had this before going to Italy in 1999. What’s crazy is that I haven’t really had it anywhere but Italy. If you haven’t been to Italy, I doubt you’ve had it. You’ve had this white sauce-y thing with bacon that someone has told you is carbonara. Ideally, to make this you’d have pancetta or guanciale, but of course bacon (especially thick-cut) will do. You’ll also need eggs and grated hard cheese (pecorino if you can), plus salt and pepper. That’s it, for a classic Italian carbonara. Some recipes will have you add a splash of cream. That’s fine, too. Somewhere along the way, however, outside of Italy, this became a cream-based pasta. Boil up some spaghetti in salted water. Primo chef recommends putting the rind of the pancetta/guanciale in the boiling water instead of tossing it out. In a bowl, mix the grated cheese, a half teaspoon of salt, some freshly-ground pepper, and one whole egg, plus a yolk for every serving of pasta you will be making. Heat up a deep frying pan and cook the pork, ideally trying to get it crisp on the outside, but not dried out on the inside. Shut off the heat.
Pasta hint: reserve some of the water that you cooked the pasta in and add it to the sauce. It will help the sauce bind to the pasta.
Drain the pasta when it’s mostly done, according to your tastes. Put the drained pasta in the frying pan and toss it with the pork. Add the bowlful of cheese and egg mixture. Stir rapidly. The hot pasta and only slightly cooled frying pan will cook the egg and it will be very creamy. If you plan on adding cream, now is the time to add a little (not more than two tablespoons). Once everything has been blended nicely, plate your carbonara. Be sure to be a snob about how it’s the real thing. Oh, and get an extra-long, restaurant-style, pretentious pepper grinder and season according to your tastes.
Baked tagliolini with prosciutto
Simon Hopkinson has a wonderfully comforting baked pasta recipe that I shall have to put here (substitute whatever pasta you feel like):
50g butter
75g prosciutto, sliced slightly thicker than normal and then cut into thin strips
350g dried egg tagliolini –Cipriani brand, for preference; for this recipe I chose to use half green (spinach) and half white tagliolini
75g freshly grated Parmesan (plus extra to hand at table)
150ml (or you may weigh it as 150g) hot bechamel sauce (see recipe overleaf)
Preheat an overhead grill. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Melt about a third of the butter in a large frying pan over a moderately high heat. Add the prosciutto and cook it for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Cook the pasta in the boiling water for 2 minutes or until al dente. Drain well in a colander and tip it into the frying pan. Briskly toss together with the prosciutto, add a further third of the butter, sprinkle with half of the given amount of Parmesan and thoroughly mix everything together.
Now spread the pasta evenly into a shallow, preferably oval, white baking dish. Spoon the bechamel sauce over the surface and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. Cut the remaining butter into slivers and scatter over the top. Place under the grill until the entire dish is molten, bubbling and evenly blistered by golden pustules. Serve without delay on to hot plates and pass around the extra Parmesan at table.
Note: this can be salty! Try to limit this by using unsalted butter and going easy on the parmesan at first. Go ahead and make a besciamella like you normally would, instead of looking for a mythical overleaf. Leave it a little more liquid-y, though.
Baked spaghetti
This is for days when you don’t really want to put too much effort in, but you still want it to be a little more special than simply reheating things. Do you have a jar of spaghetti sauce? Excellent. Some sort of cheese than can be grated and will melt? Excellent. Do you have an oven-proof dish? Fab. Boil the spaghetti (or whatever pasta) in salted water until mostly done. Use a teaspoon or so of butter and grease the oven-proof dish. Dump in the pasta. Cover with the spaghetti sauce. Cover that with the grated cheese. Bake until heated through and the cheese is molten and gorgeous.
Spaghetti and meatballs
The New York Times has an exceptional recipe for meatballs. I’d suggest that you use a mixture of beef and pork. Here is the recipe for the sauce that goes with it. I’m not even sure this needs the spaghetti — I’d just go after a bowl of this with a big spoon.
Covid Cooking: Quarantine food 