Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [82]
1 pound pasta
Recommended pasta Fresh pasta’s flavor seems to be particularly congenial to this sauce. Fettuccine would be the preferred shape. Such boxed pasta shapes as fusilli or spaghetti would also work well here.
1. Soak the zucchini for at least 20 minutes in cold water, then wash it free of all grit. Drain it, trim away both ends, and cut the zucchini into sticks about 2½ inches long and no more than ¼ inch thick.
2. Put the zucchini in a freestanding pasta colander set over a large bowl, and sprinkle liberally with salt. Toss the zucchini 2 or 3 times to distribute the salt evenly, and let stand for at least 2 hours. Check the bowl occasionally, and if the liquid that collects in it comes up high enough to reach the zucchini, empty the bowl.
3. When 2 or more hours have elapsed, remove the zucchini and pat thoroughly dry with paper towels. Rinse and dry the colander, which you will need again.
4. Rinse the basil in cold water. Pat dry with paper towels and tear the leaves by hand into smaller pieces. Set aside.
5. When you are ready to fry, set the colander over a platter, and put the zucchini back in it. Dust the zucchini with the flour, shaking the colander to coat them evenly and to shed excess flour.
6. Put enough vegetable oil in a frying pan to come ¼ to ½ inch up its sides. Add the garlic and turn the heat on to high. When the oil is quite hot, put in as many zucchini sticks at one time as will fit loosely in the pan. Check the garlic and as soon as it begins to turn brown, remove it and discard it. Turn the zucchini sticks, cooking them until they become colored a golden brown all over, then transfer them to a cooling rack to drain or to a platter lined with paper towels. Continue adding zucchini to the pan in as many batches as necessary until it is all done to a golden brown.
7. When the pasta is nearly ready to be drained, melt the butter in the upper part of a double boiler and keep it warm. If you are using soft, freshly made pasta, melt the butter before dropping the pasta in the pot.
8. Toss cooked drained pasta with the warm melted butter, add the fried zucchini, the basil, and the grated cheese and toss thoroughly again. Serve at once with additional grated Parmesan on the side.
Ahead-of-time note The sauce may be prepared several hours in advance up to this point, but do not refrigerate the zucchini.
Smothered Onions Sauce
THE SWEET PUNGENCY of onion is the whole story of this sauce. To draw out its character, the onion is first stewed very slowly for almost an hour, until it is meltingly soft and sweet. Then it is browned to bring its flavor to a sharper, livelier edge.
If you have no problems in using lard, it will considerably enrich the sauce. You may, however, use butter as a substitute.
For 4 to 6 servings
Either 2 tablespoons lard OR 2 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1½ pounds onions, sliced very thin, about 6 cups
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
½ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
⅓ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1 to 1½ pounds pasta
Recommended pasta Spaghetti is an excellent choice, but an even better one may be homemade tonnarelli. This is a rather dense sauce and if using homemade pasta, which is more absorbent than spaghetti, you should start with ½ tablespoon more lard or 1 tablespoon more butter when making the sauce.
1. Put the lard or butter and olive oil, and the onions with some salt in a large sauté pan. Cover and turn on the heat to very low. Cook for almost an hour until the onions become very soft.
2. Uncover the pan, raise the heat to medium high, and cook the onions until they become colored a deep, dark gold. Any liquid the onions may have shed must now boil away.
3. Add liberal grindings of pepper. Taste and correct for salt. Bear in mind that onions become very sweet when cooked in this manner and need an adequate amount of seasoning. Add the wine, turn the heat up, and stir frequently while the wine bubbles away. Add the parsley, stir thoroughly, and take off heat.