Primo piatti means the "first plate" in Italian. After you have eaten a bit of the antipasti and had a bit of wine in the living room, you move to the dining room table and sit down. The first plate is about to arrive. More often than not, the first plate is a pasta dish and is almost always of modest size and minimally sauced. You must eat the pasta when it is hot an immediately after being served. In our catering service we don't call the diners to the table until we are ready to serve the pasta.
Pasta in its thousands of various forms, is institutionalized in the Italian diet. They use either fresh (more likely northern Italians) or dried (generally southern Italians). Regardless of how it is served or what its basic form, the Italian does not over sauce their pasta. The Italians do not drown their pasta in sauce but almost use it as a condiment, to enhance the flavor of the pasta rather than overwhelm it. In my post "What about pasta?" I discuss how pasta is made and served. In this post I will be giving you some interesting sauces to use as well as serving information. The picture was taken by Kathy Simon in 2009. Thanks, Kathy.
Pasta is not a great addition to the bariatric menu but it can be quite satisfying in small doses. These recipes are designed to feed a group, so don’t feel that you have to eat all of the pasta yourself. Remember that Eight Bites can be used up by a few bites of pasta or by a piece of meat. Take the bites of pasta occasionally (sharing a plate of pasta with a friend can be terrific) and enjoy the great flavors.
Basil Pesto Sauce
This is a classic sauce that is often served with gnocchi (potato dumpling pasta). It is very rich and creamy and a little goes a long ways. You can make up a large batch and freeze a portion. If you do freeze it, do not add the cheese before freezing. Line an ice cube tray with plastic wrap, and fill each pocket with the pesto. Freeze and then remove from the ice tray and store the cubes in a freezer bag. When you want to use the pesto, remove a few cubes (as much as you need) and defrost and then add in the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano. Pesto can also be used as a topping for crostini. You might wish to add some of finely chopped walnuts to the pesto when served as crostini.
3 cups fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup good olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese
Place basil leaves, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and salt in a blender. I like to add the olive oil in a stream during the processing, because I think it makes a better emulsion. Process until smooth. Pour out into a bowl. If the sauce is to be used immediately, mix in the grated cheese. Heat gently in a small pan when ready to use. Pesto can also be made in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle, but make it easy on yourself and use the blender. Other herbs can be used instead of basil. You might like to try sorrel, rucola, or fresh young grape leaves (stay away from pesticide-sprayed vineyards).
Sugo do pomodori e verdure
The next recipe is for what could be considered a classic tomato-vegetable sauce that is a sauce common in Sardinia. The aroma (vegetable mix) is often sold in a single package in the grocery so you just have to chop up the vegetables and start cooking.
1/4 cup good olive oil
2 stalks celery, chopped into medium dice
1 yellow onion (often a red onion is added to the pre made aromi package)
4 large carrots, grated and are normally just washed and not peeled
A handful of flat-leafed Italian parsley
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp. peperoncino (hot pepper flakes), optional
2 lbs fresh cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1-2 liters passata di pomodori (or a quart of tomato purée)
1 cup water
1 cup white wine
1 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese (to be added at the end)
Use a 11-12” large heavy stainless steel frying pan with 3-4” high sides.
Pour enough olive oil to coat the bottom and bring it to a medium temperature.
Chop the celery and onion coarsely; mince the parsley and garlic together; grate the carrot, unpeeled, on the largest holes of a grater.
Add these to the heated oil.
Wash the tomatoes and remove the stem, leaving whole.
Place the tomatoes on top of the other vegetables and sprinkle in a tablespoon of salt.
Cover the pan and place over medium heat
When the vegetables have cooked down a bit, add the wine and stir for another 15 minutes.
Add the tomato puree, and rinse out the containers with water and add the water to the mix, and stir.
Continue to cook, covered over medium heat, for another half hour.
Stir regularly to ensure that the sauce is not sticking to the bottom. .
When the sauce is thick and no longer watery, remove from the heat and set aside, covered. Reheat just before you are ready to add to the pasta.
Sugo di Cinghiale (Sauce of Wild Boar, Herbs, Olives, Juniper Berries and Wine)
This sauce is often served in the fall and winter during the hunting season for wild boar. These big creatures are heavily hunted in Umbria and Tuscany and provide a large amount of meat. The population of these boar seems to be increasing each year and they have become significant agricultural pests. The hunts are large scale hunting club affairs with men dressed in camouflage clothing, with dogs. Some of these hunts can sound like a war zone. Some of the boar meat is kept by the hunters, and the rest is often sold to commercial meat packers for sausage or salame. If wild boar meat is not available in your area, try using a good shoulder roast of pork. Try to find a well-marbled piece to get the added flavor of the fat into the sauce.
1 pound wild boar shoulder, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup good olive oil
Flat-leafed Italian parsley (chopped)
1-2 onions (coarsely chopped)
2 carrots (washed and grated)
2 celery stalks washed and coarsely chopped
1 small branch of rosemary, 5-6 inches long
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup black olives, with or without pits (remember to let people know which kind you added)
3 fresh bay leaves
6-7 juniper berries
4-5 capers preserved in vinegar
1 liter passata di pomodori (or one large can of tomato puree)
1 cup dry white wine
Saute the vegetables, stirring until the onions are golden. Add the remainder of the ingredients except for the tomatoes and wine. Cook and stir for another 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the tomatoes and wine and cover and cook over low to medium heat for 1/2 hour, stirring regularly. Add more wine if necessary to keep the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pan. This is classically served with hot polenta (easy to make up at home), but can also be served with penne, pappardelle (wide egg noodles), or rigatoni. Larger pasta holds onto the thick sauce a bit better, but do remember to minimally sauce the pasta. You don’t want the pasta to be swimming in the sauce.
Sugo all'amatriciana
This is a fairly simple tomato based recipe from the area of Amatrice (in the region of Abruzzi, near Rome). In its original form it was made with guanciale and pecorino cheese, no tomatoes. As tomatoes were introduced into Italy the dish was altered to include the new vegetables.
As the recipe spread, variants were introduced depending on local availability of certain ingredients, and are still commonly used. While some have become accepted, other variations are considered corruptive and are frowned upon by locals and especially opposed by people from Amatrice, who are understandably protective of the traditional standard recipe. For example, the addition of garlic sautéed in olive oil ("soffritto") before adding guanciale is widely accepted, whereas the use of onion in its place is strongly discouraged. The substitution of local pecorino cheese with the more easily available pecorino Romano is widely accepted, while replacing guanciale with the more common (and less expensive) pancetta is not considered acceptable. However in many parts of the world, guanciale (smoked pork cheeks) are not commonly available and a perfectly suitable replacement would be well-smoked, thickly sliced bacon. The addition of black pepper or peperoncino is considered a matter of personal taste.
Peel, seed, and slice 2 pounds of tomatoes
Cut 1/2 pound of guanciale (or bacon) into thick cubes and fry them with a bit of oil and pinch of dried chili flakes.
Cook on a high flame for a few minutes till the meat becomes lightly browned.
Add a ½ cup of little wine and cook down until no liquid is left.
Remove guanciale cubes, set them aside and keep them warm.
Cook the slices of tomato in the hot pan with a bit of salt, for a few minutes
Then add the browned guanciale back into the pan
Continue cooking for 5-10 minutes to thicken the sauce
Grate 1 cup of pecorino cheese
To serve: boil the pasta " al dente" and put it in a heated bowl; put on it half of the grated pecorino, add all the tomato sauce, stir it again, then top with the remaining pecorino cheese and serve immediately.
Sugo alla Puttanesca
The etiology of the name for this sauce is a bit murky but it does have a colorful past. According to one story, sugo alla Puttanesca was invented in the 1950s by the owner of a famous Ischian restaurant. When near closing one evening the owner found a group of hungry friends sitting at one of the tables. He was low on ingredients and told them he didn't have enough to make them a meal. They complained that it was late and they were hungry. "Facci una puttanata qualsiasi" or “make any kind of garbage,” they insisted. (In this usage, puttanata is a noun meaning garbage or something worthless even though it derives from the Italian word for whore, puttana.) The owner only had tomatoes, olives and capers; basic ingredients for the sugo. And those are still the primary ingredients for the sauce.
Made of ingredients found in most Italian larders, this dish is also known as sugo alla buona donna - or 'good woman's sauce’. It was also said that it was a quick, cheap meal that prostitutes could prepare between customers. So the story goes. But the sauce is terrific.
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 anchovy fillets, chopped
1 small fresh red chili, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons salted capers, rinsed and drained
8 pitted black olives, quartered
14 oz (420g) canned tomatoes, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the onion for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the garlic and anchovies and cook for another minute, stirring to break up the anchovies. Add the chili, capers, olives, and tomatoes, salt and pepper, and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook your pasta of choice then drain the pasta and stir into the heated sauce.
Top with chopped parsley and the reserved tablespoon of olive oil, and toss together gently to combine.
Bechamel sauce and variations
The last sauce is for a white sauce or bechamel sauce that can be flavored with a variety of ingredients to enhance the particular pasta dish being served. It is particularly good with lighter ravioli, tortellini, or other filled pastas. We serve pumpkin ravioli with a version of this sauce that incorporated walnuts and a bit of Marsala wine.
The basic bechamel sauce is very simple but needs to be watched to ensure that it doesn’t scorch or thicken too much.
Put three tablespoons of butter in a frying pan over medium heat to melt.
When butter is melted but NOT brown, add three tablespoons of flour
With a whisk, stir the flour into the butter until it has combined and no raw flour is visible.
Cook for about two to three minutes over low heat to cook out the flour taste
Heat 1-2 cups of milk in a sauce pan and add one cup to the butter mixture and whisk in.
It will thicken quickly, add salt and ground white pepper to taste.
If the sauce is too thick add a bit more warm milk.
Don’t worry about it being too thin, It will get thicker.
To make a cheese sauce, add ½ to ¾ cup of grated cheese (combine Parmigiano-Reggiano and a meltable cheese) and stir until melted.
To make a walnut sauce, add 2 tablespoons of Marsala (optional) and ½ cup finely chopped walnuts. Add a 1/8 tsp of ground nutmeg. Stir and combine to thicken.
Another version of a cheese sauce is a simple mixture of melted butter (4 Tablespoons), 4 ounces of Gorgonzola cheese, cream, grated nutmeg and a good grind of black pepper. Add 1 cup of cream to the melted butter, add the cheese and the pepper and nutmeg. Stir until thickened and cheese has melted and serve over meat filled or cheese filled tortelloni or tortellini for one of the best “Mac and cheese” dishes of all time.
So there are some sauce recipes. Great flavors, seasonings and textures. Enjoy a bit of pasta occasionally with a group of friends. Your life will be better for it. Mangia.
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