Angela Hartnett’s pasta dough
Makes 600g
‘00’ pasta flour 400g
salt ½ tsp
eggs 4
olive oil 1 tbsp
Mix the flour and salt together and tip on to a work surface or board. Make a well in the centre.
Mix the eggs and oil and pour two-thirds into the well, reserving the rest. Starting from the outside, work the flour into the liquid until a dough forms. Depending on the warmth of your kitchen and hands, you may need to add the remaining egg mixture if the dough doesn’t come together. Knead until it is smooth, firm and elastic (this will take 5-10 minutes). Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 1 hour before using. It will keep for up to 24 hours in the fridge if wrapped tightly first in clingfilm and then in foil.
Cut the dough into 3-4 pieces and use a rolling pin or the palm of your hand to flatten a piece to the width of your pasta machine. Make sure your pasta machine is on its widest setting, and run each piece of dough through it twice. Reduce the setting by one notch and run it through twice again. If the dough feels a bit sticky, add a little flour, but not too much, as this will dry it out.
Run it through the machine twice on each notch until you get to the narrowest or second narrowest notch, depending on the type of pasta you are making. Halfway through this process you will need to fold the dough in half before finishing rolling.
To roll the dough by hand, first cut it in half. Take the pasta to room temperature. Flour the board and roll each piece, one at a time, until it as thin as you would like. Cut to your preferred size.
Key points for cooking pasta
The water must be seasoned well salt at the point when it comes to the boil – allow about 1 tablespoon of salt for a large pan of water.
All the pasta must be covered with water. Stir the pasta when it first goes into the water and then leave alone.
Always cook it to the point where it becomes al dente.
Drain it well.
A pet hate of mine is when people cook the pasta in boiling water, but then drain and rinse it under cold water, washing off the starch. The starch is what allows the pasta and sauce to amalgamate. But the worst sin of all is to serve the pasta straight into a bowl and spoon the sauce on without mixing it in.
From Angela Hartnett’s Cucina by Angela Hartnett (Ebury Press, £25). Click here to order a copy for £20 from Guardian Bookshop
Mary Taylor Simeti’s pasta and sardines
Serves 6
fresh sardines 675g
fresh wild fennel greens 2 large bunches, about 675g
onion 1 large, grated or finely minced
olive oil 125ml
pine nuts 50g
currants 65g, plumped in hot water for 5 minutes
toasted almond slivers 50g (optional)
anchovy fillets 8
olive oil 1 tsp
saffron 2 pinches, soaked in 2 tbsp warm water
bucatini or maccheroni 675g
toasted breadcrumbs 225g (see below)
Clean the sardines in the linguetta style (see below), in this case removing the tails as well. Trim the fennel greens and remove any tough or dried parts. Wash, and then cook them for 10 minutes in abundant salted water. Lift out with a slotted spoon (reserving the water), drain well and chop.
Sauté the onion in 4 tablespoons of olive oil over a very low flame until it begins to colour. Add the pine nuts, currants, almonds, the anchovies steamed in the olive oil (see below), and the saffron and water. Stir and simmer for a few minutes.
Reserve 4 sardines. Fry the remaining sardines in 4 tablespoons of oil over medium heat until they are golden, turning carefully, so as not to break them. Remove from the pan, and in the same oil sauté the chopped fennel and the 4 reserved sardines, mashing the latter with a wooden spoon as you stir.
Bring to a boil the water in which you cooked the fennel, add the bucatini and cook until they are al dente. Drain and toss together with the onion mixture and with half of the fennel mixture. Arrange the pasta in an ovenproof dish, alternating a layer of pasta with a layer of fennel and a layer of the fried sardines, until all the ingredients have been used up. Sprinkle with some of the breadcrumbs and place in a hot oven, or simply let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Serve the rest of the breadcrumbs on the side.
Linguetta style
Cut off the head and the fins, remove the scales, slit the belly and remove the guts. Then, holding the fish, belly upward, between the palms of your hands, run your thumb along the backbone so the fish opens like a book, the two halves remaining joined along the dorsal ridge. Remove the backbone, breaking it off just before the tail.
Anchovies steamed in olive oil
In a separate pan or a double boiler (I always use a small double-handled frying pan that will sit on top of my spaghetti pot), cook the anchovies together with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, stirring them until they dissolve into a cream. This must be done over steam and not over the direct heat.
Toasted breadcrumbs
Coat the bottom of a heavy frying pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the breadcrumbs and toast them over a low heat, stirring constantly, until they are a rich golden brown.
From Sicilian Food by Mary Taylor Simeti (Grub Street, £14.99). Click here to order a copy from Guardian Bookshop for £11.99
Richard Olney’s herb pasta
The herbs mentioned should be considered as among the many possibilities – any wild salad greens may be used and other herbs, depending on personal taste; strongly flavoured herbs such as rosemary, common thyme, sage, savory, etc, should be avoided or used with discretion. If you can gather together but three or four elements, don’t hesitate to try them; the spirit of the thing is just that – you put into it what you can find.
If the quantity of pasta is large, sprinkle cheese over an intermediate layer. Pour over double cream, sprinkle the surface with cheese, and bake at 200C to 230C/gas mark 6 to 8 for about 20 minutes; the exhilarating flavours are thrown into even cleaner relief.
For 3 or 4
flour 200g
salt
egg 1
green things 125g, in approximately equal quantities, pounded to a paste in a mortar: sorrel, wild chicory, dandelion, rocket, basil leaves and flowers, etc – plus smaller quantities of lovage, purslane, leaf thyme, hyssop, fresh marjoram, young fuzzy borage leaves (before they become prickly)
warm water about 2 tbsp
flour for rolling out
olive oil 1 tbsp (for the cooking water)
Add all the ingredients (except the water and the last two listed) to the flour, work together with a fork, adding a bit more flour if necessary, until fairly consistent – a slightly lumpy but single mass. Throw a bit of water in to bring it all together, work well with the fork, and turn it out onto a heavily floured board or marble. Roll in the flour to coat it and knead with the palm of your hand, turning it around and over and folding often. Work for some time as the herbs continue to bleed moisture into the mixture, which finally, during the kneading, will absorb easily another handful of flour from the board. As the paste becomes elastic, difficult to work and stops sticking, flour it well, cover with a towel, and leave to rest for about an hour. It should remain quite supple – less firm than normal noodle paste.
Roll it out to about ¼cm, cut the sheet into 4cm ribbons, cut each ribbon into squares, and drop them loosely into a large quantity of salted boiling water to which has been added the spoonful of olive oil (to discourage their sticking together). Move them with a wooden fork to make certain that none are sticking together and boil for about 6 minutes from the time the water returns to a boil. Drain and serve on hot plates, sprinkled generously with grated parmesan and bubbling brown butter.
From Simple French Food by Richard Olney (Grub Street, £14.99)
Russell Norman’s mac and cheese
Serves six
macaroni pasta 250g
fine salt
whole milk 250ml
double cream 450ml
parmesan 175g, grated
mozzarella (the hard, cheap kind) 250g grated
Dijon mustard 1½ tbsp
leeks 2
butter 25g
garlic 2 cloves, finely chopped
flaky sea salt and black pepper
panko breadcrumbs 75g
fontina 85g, grated
Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil, add the pasta and salt, and stir. When the water boils again, turn down to a medium heat and follow the instructions on the packet, usually simmering for around 11 minutes. Drain when al dente.
Once cooled, transfer the drained pasta to a large mixing bowl and add the milk, double cream, 125g of the parmesan, half of the mozzarella and the Dijon mustard. Mix thoroughly and leave to soak for 2 hours.
Meanwhile, trim the leeks, and finely chop. Wash the chopped leeks thoroughly to get rid of any grit. Place a medium pan over a low heat, melt the butter and very gently sweat the leeks with the garlic, 4 large pinches of flaky sea salt and a good pinch of black pepper. After about 10 minutes the leeks will have a translucent, glossy appearance. Take off the heat and leave to cool. Once the leeks have cooled, drain off any lingering fluid and add them to the soaking pasta.
Mix the breadcrumbs with the remaining parmesan and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Add the grated fontina and the remaining mozzarella to the pasta mixture and combine well. Transfer the mix to a large baking dish or six individual dishes and cover with the breadcrumb and parmesan mix. Bake in the preheated oven till golden brown and bubbling, for 25-30 minutes if using one large dish, or 15-20 minutes if using individual dishes.
Spuntino: Comfort Food (New York Style) by Russell Norman (Bloomsbury, £25). Click here to order a copy for £20
Giorgio Locatelli’s reginette with aubergine, tomato and salted ricotta
Serves 4
aubergines 3 (preferably the round, pale violet ones)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
garlic 3 cloves
rosemary a sprig
plum tomatoes 5
vegetable oil 500ml
olive oil 2 tbsp
tomato purée 2 tbsp
reginette or mafaldine 400g
fresh basil a bunch
salted ricotta 3 tbsp, chopped
extra virgin olive oil to serve
Preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7. Cut 2 of the aubergines into dice of about 3cm, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain in a colander for at least 2 hours. Cut the remaining aubergine in half lengthways, then put the halves, skin side down, on a clean work surface and score the flesh diagonally one way, quite deeply, and then the other way, to give a diamond pattern.
Slice one of the garlic cloves finely, and push the slices into the aubergine halves at the points where the scoring crosses. Push some small sprigs of rosemary into the remaining slots.
Put the halves of the aubergine back together, wrap in foil and put into the oven for about 20-25 minutes, until soft. Take out the garlic and rosemary and discard them, then scoop out the aubergine flesh and put it into a colander. Leave to drain and cool, then chop it finely.
Put the tomatoes into a pan of boiling water for 10 seconds, then drain under cold water and you should be able to peel them easily. Cut them in half, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon, and then cut each half in half again.
Heat the vegetable oil in a deep pan, making sure it comes no higher than a third of the way up the pan. It should be 180C. If you don’t have a thermometer, put in a few breadcrumbs, and if they sizzle straight away the oil is ready. Gently squeeze the diced aubergines to get rid of the excess liquid, put them into the oil and fry them until golden, a handful at a time. Drain on kitchen paper, and pat dry.
Finely chop the remaining 2 cloves of garlic. Heat the olive oil in a pan large enough to take the cooked pasta later, then add the chopped garlic and cook gently without colouring it. Add the chopped aubergine flesh, cook gently for a couple of minutes, then add the tomato purée, stir, cook for another minute or so, and season.
Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to the boil, add salt, and put in the pasta. Cook for about a minute less than the time on the packet, so it is al dente. Drain, reserving some water, and add to the aubergine sauce, along with the fresh tomatoes. Toss all together for a minute or so, then add the fried aubergine and the basil. Toss again with a small amount of the ricotta, adding a little of the reserved cooking water if necessary to loosen the sauce. Serve scattered with the rest of the ricotta, and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil.
From Made in Sicily by Giorgio Locatelli (Fourth Estate, £30). Click here to order a copy for £24
