Cook Like a Rock Star - Anne Burrell [39]
5 Add 4 of the ravioli to the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Using a spider or slotted spoon, carefully transfer the ravioli from the water to the pan with butter and chicken stock and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. If the sauce reduces too much, add a few drops of the pasta cooking water. The sauce should cling to the ravioli in a buttery hug.
6 Transfer the ravioli to serving plates, spoon a little extra sauce over each one, and finish with a sprinkey-dink of grated Parm. Repeat with the remaining butter, stock, sage, and ravioli.
Molto sexy!
Save the leftover egg whites for another purpose. You can even freeze them if you like.
Spaghetti with Olive-Oil-Poached Tuna in Tomato-Fennel Sauce
SERVES: 4 TO 6 • TIME: ABOUT 1¾ HOURS
I used to go to Lupa, Mario Batali’s Roman trattoria on Thompson Street in Manhattan, and eat preserved tuna belly with beans. It was SOOOOO good! The tuna belly—which is a highly underrated ingredient—becomes succulent and delicious when it’s slow-poached, and that’s exactly how I cook it. I use it in a pasta sauce that’s full of tomatoes, fennel, and lots of garlic to create a wonderful tomato-y, perfume-y, olive oil-y dish that just screams of Sicily.
One of the great things about tuna belly is that because it’s considered the throwaway part of the fish, it’s really cheap. You have to spend some time cleaning it, but usually if you pay a bit more you can get it already prepped from your fishmonger (much easier!). If you can’t find tuna belly or don’t feel like making it, a good substitute is Sicilian tuna packed in olive oil.
MISE EN PLACE
FOR THE TUNA
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 pound cleaned tuna belly
Kosher salt
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 bay leaves
1 thyme bundle, tied with butcher’s twine
FOR THE SAUCE
Extra virgin olive oil
4 onions, cut into ¼-inch slices
1 fennel bulb, cut into ¼-inch slices, fronds reserved for garnish
Kosher salt
Pinch of crushed red pepper
5 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced
1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes, passed through a food mill
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, toasted and ground (reserved while preparing the tuna)
1 pound spaghetti
Big fat finishing oil
FOR THE TUNA
1 Add the fennel seeds to a small sauté pan and bring to medium-high heat. (You need toasted fennel seeds for both the tuna and the sauce, so toss 2 tablespoons in the pan now and save a step later!) Toast the fennel seeds, shaking the pan frequently, until they are very aromatic and start to turn a brighter shade of green, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and grind the seeds in a spice grinder or crush with a mortar and pestle.
2 Season the tuna belly with salt, red pepper, and half the ground fennel seeds (you’re saving the other half for the sauce).
3 Preheat the oven to 200°F.
4 Put the tuna in a medium ovenproof saucepan and cover with olive oil. Toss in the garlic, bay leaves, and thyme bundle. Cover and put in the oven; cook for 1 hour. Remove and let cool to room temperature. Use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container.
FOR THE SAUCE AND PASTA
1 Coat a large wide saucepan with olive oil and add the onions and fennel; season with salt and red pepper and bring to medium heat. Cook the veggies until soft and aromatic, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
2 Add the tomatoes, the reserved tablespoon of toasted fennel seeds, and 1 cup water to the pan and season with salt. Bring to a boil (BTB) and reduce to a simmer (RTS); simmer for 30 minutes.
3 Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 1 minute less than the instructions on the package suggest. Taste it: It should be toothsome with just a little nugget of hard pasta still in the center—this is al dente.
4 Remove the tuna from the olive oil, break it up, and add it to the sauce.
5 Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce; stir vigorously to combine. Add a drizzle of big fat finishing