It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Too long, in fact. While I haven’t been posting here regularly, I have still been cooking and making pasta, exploring new ways to use local ingredients, dreaming up new recipes, digging deep into the past for time tested traditional recipes, and expanding my photograpahy to include video.
The first recipe, I would like to share, is pansoti with walnut sauce (pansoti con salsa di noci). Pansoti are a specialty of the Ligurian region of Italy and are traditionally stuffed with a combination of Prescinsuea cheese and local field greens, such as borage, dandelion and fresh herbs and then tossed in a creamy walnut sauce.
If you do not have access to field greens, feel free to substitute spinach or swiss chard or, better yet, a combination of both. This recipe also calls for Prescinsuea, which is a type of cheese commonly used in and around Genova. Since it is highly perishable, it is not easily found oustside the region, but using a combination of ricotta cheese and greek yogurt works as a substitute.
To begin, prepare the filling. Wash the greens, steam them lightly until they have softened. When cool to the touch, squeeze out excess water, and mince. Alternately, you can use a blender of food processor.
Drizzle olive oil and/or butter to a large sauté pan. Then, add the greens, season with salt and cook until the mixture is fairly dry, about 5 minutes.
Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and set aside.
Next, prepare the pasta dough. Add the flour, egg and water together until the dough is homogeneous and allow to rest for about 30 minutes.
Once the dough has rested, cut off an egg sized chunk and roll it out with a pasta machine until it is thin.
Then, cut the sheet into two inch squares, place a ball of filling in the center of each square.
Fold corner to corner, to form a triangle and then squeeze the tips together to form the pot belly.
To make the salsa di noci, begin by preheating the oven to 320 degrees and toast the walnuts and pine nuts for about 10 minutes, or until they are warm and fragrant.
Place the bread in the milk and let it soak for a couple of minutes.
Squeeze out the excess milk and add the bread to the mortar, along with the walnuts, pine nuts, garlic, salt.
Mix until it forms a paste.
Add milk, Parmiggiano-Reggiano, the Prescinsuea, marjoram and olive oil, and mix until well combined.
Cook the pansoti and dress with the walnut sauce and enjoy!
Pansoti with Walnut Sauce (Pansoti con salsa di noci)
Ingredients
For the Filling
- 6 cups mixed greens, steamed and minced (i.e. dandelion greens, borage, fennel, nettles, or substitute a combination of spinach or chard)
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 2 cups Prescinsuea, drained (or substitute 1 1/2 cup ricotta and 1/2 cup greek yogurt)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- 2 Tbspns Parmigiano Reggiano
- 5-6 sprigs marjoram
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the Dough
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 Egg
- water, qb
For the Walnut Sauce (Salsa di Noci)
- 2 cups shelled walnuts
- 2 Tbspns pine nuts
- 1 slice white bread, soaked in milk and squeezed dry
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
- 3/4 cup Prescinsuea or 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup ricotta)
- 4 Tbspns extra virgin olive oil
- 1 heaping Tbsp fresh marjoram, minced
- 1/2 cup milk
Instructions
- To begin, prepare the filling. Wash the greens, steam them lightly until they have softened. When cool to the touch, squeeze out excess water, and mince. Alternately, you can use a blender of food processor.
- Drizzle olive oil and/or butter to a large sauté pan. Then, add the greens, season with salt and cook until the mixture is fairly dry, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and set aside.
- Next, prepare the pasta dough. Add the flour, egg and water together until the dough is homogeneous and allow to rest for about 30 minutes.
- Once the dough has rested, cut off an egg sized chunk and roll it out with a pasta machine until it is thin.
- Then, cut the sheet into two inch squares, place a ball of filling in the center of each square, fold corner to corner, to form a triangle and then squeeze the tips together to form the pot belly.
- To make the sauce, preheat oven to 320 degrees and toast the walnuts and pine nuts for about 10 minutes, or until they are warm and fragrant.
- Place the bread in the milk and let it soak for a couple of minutes. Squeeze out the excess milk and add the bread to the mortar and pestle or food processor, along with the walnuts, pine nuts, garlic, salt. Blend until it forms a paste. Add milk, Parmiggiano-Reggiano, the ricotta, Greek yogurt, marjoram and olive oil, and mix/pulse until well combined.