a quintessential Italian treat

7-07-2014 Mon. hot, sunny.


BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- rice and cauliflowers
AFTERNOON-TEATIME --- cherries 
DINNER --- ( at Oreste's ) Focaccia with artichokes , Wine: Frascati | Tagliatelle agli spinaci, Wine: a delicate and flowery northwestern Italian wine Cortese  from Piedmont | Orecchiette al ragu' del Gargano, Wine: 5-year old Salice Salentino Riserva | radicchio salad || sherry

 

•  Oreste's recipe for green pasta
• - fresh spinach
  - 2 cloves of garlic per person
  - white ground pepper
  - 1 green chili
  - olive oil
  - salt
  - cream
  - good parmesan or aged asiago cheese
  - spinach tagliatelle (italian name for fettuccine).. if not available, use egg-tagliatelle
  
  
  
  Saute the spinach (let them wet, don't dry them) with little olive oil, garlic, the chili, and white pepper, for few minutes. Put everything in a food processor, and obtain a smooth, liquid, green
  sauce.
  While the pasta cooks in the boiling water, put the green sauce back on the pan
  with little olive oil, and cook at low-medium heat stirring gently, and adding gradually the
  grated cheese and, towards the end, when the sauce gets quite thick, a spoon of
  table cream.
  Toss the pasta in (has to be very `al dente' almost `too firm'.. tagliatelle keep cooking very
  quickly even while mixing with the sauce), mix well with the sauce, still with low heat, and serve immediately.
  Pair with a northwestern (Piedmont) Italian white, with floreal scents, not too acidic (pinot grigio is -not- the choice).  Good choice: Cortese, Gavi,  Erbaluce
  As an alternative, it would go well with a French-style Chardonnay.