Bottega - Michael Chiarello [47]
Pasta “Bezza” with Robiola and Braised Asparagus Sauce
SERVES 6
Handkerchief pasta is also called bezza, which means “rag” in the Calabrian dialect. Sicilians might call these mopin, or “moppings.” Grow-ing up, my brothers and I each had a table bezza, a torn sheet that my mother had cut and stitched into a napkin. She washed the napkins once a week on washday. Just as I did, my kids eat with cloth napkins every night. (We do wash our napkins more than once a week, fortunately.)
These are easy, just sheets of pasta cut into squares. The pasta gets its due under the clean flavors of asparagus, olive oil, and robiola cheese. You can substitute other soft ripened cheeses, but if you can find robiola, try it, especially in the spring when you can really taste the grassy notes. If you can’t find robiola, try this with cana de oveja. This is my favorite late-night pasta when asparagus is in season.
Wine Pairing: Vernacchia
1 pound fresh egg pasta sheets or store-bought
2 pounds asparagus
½ cup water
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 tablespoon sliced garlic
Sea salt, preferably gray salt, or kosher salt
¾ pound robiola, cana de oveja, or other soft ripened cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
Cut the pasta sheets into about 3 dozen 4-by-6-inch rectangles. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat (see Note).
Bend each asparagus spear until it breaks naturally at the point where the spear becomes tough. Discard the tough ends. Cut the asparagus on the bias into 2-inch pieces.
In a large sauté pan, combine the water, olive oil, thyme, and garlic. Season with salt. Add just enough asparagus to the pan as can fit in a single layer. Bring the liquid to a boil over medium heat, reducing the heat as necessary to keep it at a simmer. Cook the asparagus until crisp-tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Using tongs, transfer the asparagus to a plate and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining asparagus.
When the pasta water boils, add the pasta and cook for 3 minutes or according to the package directions; drain. Transfer the cooked pasta to a serving dish and drizzle with some of the pan juices from the asparagus, tossing the sheets with tongs to keep them from sticking to each other. Top with the braised asparagus and about half of the soft cheese. Allow 1 or 2 minutes for the cheese to melt over the pasta, then top with a generous amount of black pepper. Serve the remaining cheese at the table for guests who’d like more (and most will).
CHEF’S NOTE: Have everyone at the table ready to eat before you add the cheese to the pasta. You want to have it on the plates in front of them while the cheese is still melting.
Butternut Squash and Fontina Risotto with Squab Ragù
SERVES 6 AS A MAIN COURSE
Although risotto is usually a first course in Italy, a risotto this opulent is a main course at Bottega and deserves all the respect of the meal. This should be followed by nothing—except maybe a simple dessert, an hour after the dinner is through.
I can’t say it enough, you will dramatically change your cooking for the better if you find a real butcher who works in a shop where the meat isn’t all wrapped in plastic. Ask your butcher, with whom you’re now on a first-name basis, to bone the squab and grind the meat for you, setting aside the livers and giving you the bones. (You can use them for stock.) Don’t forget the bottle of wine as a small thank-you. If your butcher can’t grind squab (sometimes their machinery is too big for this kind of work), you can grind it yourself. Get out your food processor and pulse until the meat is the consistency of ground beef.
You may want to read “The ABC’s of Risotto,”, before starting.
Wine Pairing: Nebbiolo
SQUAB RAGÙ
2 squabs, each about 1 pound (livers reserved), boned, skinned, and finely ground
½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1½ cups warm water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup extra-virgin olive