Marcella Hazans Pasta With Four Herbs Recipes

MARCELLA HAZAN'S PASTA WITH FOUR HERBS

Steps:

• Bring 4 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and when water has returned to a boil, add the penne, stirring with a long- handled wooden fork or spoon to distribute the pasta evenly.
• While the pasta is cooking, proceed with the rest of the recipe. Chop the fresh herbs together briefly and place in a deep bowl in which you will serve the pasta.
• Seed the tomatoes and cut them into small cubes. Add to the herbs in the bowl and mix together gently but thoroughly. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary or desired.
• This step must proceed very quickly, so be sure your timing is right. Heat the olive oil over a medium high flame until it is very hot. When it begins to smoke, pour all at once over the vegetables in the bowl. Drain the cooked pasta and add it immediately to the oil and sizzling vegetables. Mix well. Serve immediately.

PASTA WITH SMOTHERED ONION SAUCE (MARCELLA HAZAN)

Steps:

• Put the butter and olive oil, and the onions with some salt in a large sauté pan. Cover and turn heat to very low. Cook for almost 45 minutes to an hour until the onions become very soft.
• 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.
• 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.
• Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the grated Parmesan. As you toss, separate the onion strands somewhat to distribute them as much as possible throughout the pasta. Serve immediately.

BOLOGNESE MEAT SAUCE

Steps:

• Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion in the pot, and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.
• Add the ground beef, a large pinch of salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with a fork, stir well, and cook until the beef has lost its raw, red color.
• Add the milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating-about 1 teaspoon-of nutmeg, and stir.
• Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, continue the cooking, adding /2 cup of water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.
• Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the tablespoon of butter, and serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.
• Ahead-of-time note: If you cannot watch the sauce for a 3- to 4-hour stretch, you can turn off the heat whenever you need to leave, and resume cooking later on, as long as you complete the sauce within the same day. Once done, you can refrigerate the sauce in a tightly sealed container for 3 days, or you can freeze it. Before tossing with pasta, reheat it, letting it simmer for 15 minutes and stirring it once or twice.
• Variation of Ragù with Pork: Pork is an important part of Bologna's culture, its economy, and the cuisine, and many cooks add some pork to make their ragù tastier. Use 1 part ground pork, preferably from the neck or Boston butt, to 2 parts beef, and make the meat sauce exactly as described in the basic recipe above.

MARCELLA HAZAN'S "PASTA AL LIMONE"

Steps:

• In a large skillet, bring the cream and butter to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Add the lemon juice and the zest and reduce the volume by almost half.
• Remove from heat.
• Have your cooked and drained pasta (I like fettucine for this one -- ) ready to go.
• Add the pasta to your skillet with the sauce and toss to coat over medium heat.
• Add the cheese and toss for a few more seconds.
• Serve with additional cheese.
• Note: Marcella calls for the zest of 4 (!) lemons, but I thought it a bit over the top -- just me.