Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [97]
According to Lodovico Dalla Rosa, the word embogoné comes from the dialect word for snails, bogoni. He surmised that the beans as they turn to sauce in the skillet, in their roundness and slow motion, must have reminded the originator of the dish of snails that had slipped out of their shells.
Note If you are not acquainted with cranberry beans, please see the explanation that accompanies Pasta and Bean Soup.
For 4 servings
3 pounds fresh cranberry beans, unshelled weight, OR 1½ cups dried cranberry OR red kidney beans, soaked and cooked
Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon for the sauce, 2 tablespoons for tossing the pasta
¼ pound pancetta chopped very fine to a pulp
⅔ cup onion chopped fine
1 teaspoon garlic chopped fine
Chopped sage leaves, 1 teaspoon if fresh, ½ teaspoon if dried
Chopped rosemary, 1 teaspoon if fresh, ½ teaspoon if dried
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
The fresh pappardelle suggested below OR 1 pound boxed dry pasta
½ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional cheese at the table
Recommended pasta Pappardelle, broad homemade egg noodles, is what the Trattoria Dalla Rosa serves this sauce on, and I don’t see how one could improve on the taste of this large noodle wrapped around the substantial bean sauce. Make pappardelle, using a dough made from 3 large eggs and approximately 1⅔ cups unbleached flour.
A substantial shape of boxed, dry, factory pasta would also be a good choice. Try rigatoni.
1. If using fresh beans, put them in a pot with 2 inches of water to cover. Cover the pot, turn on the heat to low, and cook until tender, about 1 hour or less.
2. Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the chopped pancetta, and the onion in a sauté pan and turn on the heat to medium high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion becomes translucent. Add the garlic, sage, and rosemary and cook another minute or so, then turn the heat down to minimum.
3. Drain the cooked fresh or dried beans, reserving their cooking liquid. Put the beans in the pan and mash most of them—about three-fourths the total amount—with the back of a wooden spoon. Add about ½ cup of the bean cooking liquid to the pan to make the sauce somewhat runnier. Add salt and several grindings of pepper, and stir thoroughly.
4. Drain the pasta the moment it’s cooked and toss it immediately in a warm serving bowl with the contents of the pan; add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan, toss once more, and serve at once. If you should find the sauce too dense, thin it with a little more of the bean cooking liquid.
Asparagus Sauce with Ham and Cream
For 4 to 6 servings
1½ pounds fresh asparagus
Salt
1 to 1¼ pounds pasta
6 ounces boiled unsmoked ham
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
⅔ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional cheese at the table
Recommended pasta Small, tubular macaroni are the most compatible with this sauce. Use such boxed, dry pasta shapes as penne, maccheroncini, or ziti, or the homemade garganelli.
1. Cut off 1 inch or more from the butt ends of the asparagus to expose the moist part of each stalk. Pare the asparagus and wash it.
2. Choose a pan that can accommodate all the asparagus lying flat. Put in enough water to come 2 inches up the sides of the pan, and 1 tablespoon salt. Turn on the heat to medium high and when the water boils, slip in the asparagus, and cover the pan. Cook for 4 to 8 minutes after the water returns to a boil, depending on the freshness and thickness of the stalks. Drain the asparagus when it is tender, but firm. Wipe the pan dry with paper towels and set aside for later use.
3. When the asparagus is cool enough to handle, cut off the spear tips at their base, and cut the rest of the stalks into lengths of about ¾ inch. Discard any part of the stalk that is still woody and tough.
4. Cut the ham into long strips about ¼ inch wide. Put the ham and the butter into the pan where you cooked