Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [95]
Recommended pasta Although it is excellent over such factory-made pasta shapes as rigatoni and penne, gorgonzola sauce is at its best with homemade pasta—fettuccine, or garganelli, and with Potato Gnocchi.
1. Choose flameproof serving ware that can subsequently accommodate all the pasta. Put in the gorgonzola, milk, butter, and one or two pinches of salt, and turn on the heat to low. Stir with a wooden spoon, mashing the cheese with the back of the spoon and, as it begins to dissolve, incorporating it with the milk and butter. Cook for a minute or two until the sauce has a dense, creamy consistency. Take off the heat until the moment you are nearly ready to drain the pasta. Bear in mind that if you are using freshly made pasta, it will cook in just a few seconds and the sauce needs to be reheated for about 1 minute.
2. Shortly before the pasta is cooked, add the heavy cream to the sauce and stir over medium-low heat until it is partly reduced. Add the cooked drained pasta (if you are doing gnocchi, add sauce to the gnocchi as each batch is retrieved from the pot and transferred to a warm platter), and toss with the sauce. Add the ⅓ cup grated Parmesan and toss thoroughly to melt it. Serve immediately, directly from the pan, with additional grated cheese on the side.
Mushroom, Ham, and Cream Sauce
For 6 to 8 servings
¾ pound fresh mushrooms, either white button OR cremini
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shallot OR onion chopped fine
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
6 ounces boiled unsmoked ham, cut into very narrow julienne strips
6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
The homemade fettuccine suggested below
FOR TOSSING THE PASTA
2 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
½ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional cheese at the table
Recommended pasta The loveliest match here would be with paglia e fieno, “straw and hay,” yellow and green fettuccine. For the amount of sauce above, follow the basic proportions given for yellow pasta dough and green pasta dough, to make approximately 10 ounces of the former and 1 pound of the latter. Of course, the sauce would taste equally good with either yellow or green pasta alone. In this case, double the quantity of either yellow or green fettuccine.
1. Slice off and discard the ends of the mushroom stems. Wash the mushrooms very rapidly under running cold water, then pat them thoroughly dry with a soft towel. Dice into ¼-inch cubes and set aside.
2. Choose a sauté pan or skillet that can subsequently accommodate the mushrooms without crowding. Put in the butter and chopped shallot or onion, turn on the heat to medium, and cook the shallot or onion until it has become colored a pale gold.
3. Turn up the heat to high and add the diced mushrooms. Stir thoroughly to coat well, and when the mushrooms have soaked up all the butter, turn the heat down to low, add salt and a few grindings of pepper, and turn the mushrooms over 2 or 3 times.
4. As soon as the mushrooms release their liquid, which should happen quickly, turn the heat up to high and boil the liquid away, stirring frequently.
5. Turn the heat down to medium, add the ham, and stir while it cooks for about a minute or less. Add the cream, and cook just long enough for the cream to become reduced and slightly thickened. Taste and correct for salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and set the sauce aside.
6. Choose an enameled cast-iron pan or other flameproof serving ware that can later contain all the pasta without piling it high. Put in the 2 tablespoons butter and 6 tablespoons cream for tossing the pasta, and turn on the heat to low. When the butter melts, stir to amalgamate it with the cream, then turn off the heat.
7. If using both green and yellow fettuccine: Spinach pasta cooks faster than yellow pasta, so the two must be boiled in separate pots of salted water. Drop the yellow fettuccine into their pot first, stir them with a wooden spoon, count to 3, then drop the spinach pasta into the other pot.
If using only