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Italy's Artisanal Pasta: In Search of Fresh Pasta |
| Section: LIFE / FOOD |
| Author: Lia Huber |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 1/1/2002 |
| Size: 3,012 Words, 17,571 Characters |
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The pillows of pasta melted on my tongue, leaving a mound of fluffy ricotta flecked with spinach, wrapped in the tender sweetness of aged aceto balsamico. I closed my eyes and tilted back my head, all sounds around me blurring into a fog as I savored the heavenly morsel in my mouth. My husband, Christopher, and I were in Italy in pursuit of pasta like this. We had come to learn the trade secrets of creating one of the simplest pleasures in life, fresh pasta made by loving hands.
So it was that we found ourselves with Alberto Bettini, the third-generation owner of Da Amerigo, an enchanting restaurant in the tiny hamlet of Savigno in the hills surrounding Bologna. Just hours earlier, we had witnessed the birth of those divine dumplings, watching the strong arms of the sfogliatrice (the term for women who make sheets of pasta) roll out a thin sheet of pasta dough using long, stretching motions with a matarello (rolling pin) longer than a baseball bat. The woman quickly cut the sheets, and she and Alberto's mother dolloped the ricotta and spinach mixture onto each square, folding it in half like a miniature custard-colored handkerchief. So simple, yet so profound.
Saying good-bye to the gustatory pleasures of the Emilia section of the Emilia-Romagna region, we turned our sights south and were engulfed in an equally warm welcome at Locanda al Gambero Rosso in the southern realm of Romagna. A joyful Michela, the youngest of this three-generation affair, ushered our famished bodies to a table and, with many smiles, told us plate by plate about the foods that her mother, Giuliana, was turning out in the kitchen.
"These are foods of the memory," she said, elaborating on a flavorful pasta dish called basotti, saying that...
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In the meantime, bring a large pot of generously salted water to boil and cook the farfalle, stirring gently, until they are just resistant to the bite, about three to four minutes. Drain pasta in a colander, letting some pasta water remain on the bows. Stir Parmigiano-Reggiano, parsley, and prosciutto into sauce and add pasta, tossing well to coat each piece. Serve in warmed pasta bowls.
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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