Pasta Sfoglia

In Italian, "sfoglia" means a thin layer, as in a thin layer of pasta dough.
Pasta Sfoglia is the first book written by restauranteurs Ron and Colleen Suhanosky. Sfolia is the name of their two restaurants in New York and Nantucket and they have just reveiled all their pasta secrets!

The Menu



The first was a simple spaghetti dish with almond pesto and lemon. A great starter. Not to heavy with a refreshing hit of lemon. This pasta took all but 10 minutes to prepare. All we had to do was buzz up some almonds, garlic and enough olive oil to moisten it. We warmed up some lemon juice and olive oil in a pan, added the almond mixture, and then the cooked spaghetti, salt and pepper, and your done. How easy was that? The ricotta salata on top just gave it a bit of salty creaminess. Ricotta salata is not available everywhere. Go to a proper cheese shop and you should be able to find it there. If not, use some mozzarella.
Earlier in the day I made some fresh spaghetti. It took a couple minutes in the salted boiling water and directly from the boiling water into the sauce. THis is an important tip to you all. No need to rinse the pasta before putting it into the sauce. Leave the starch on the noodles and the sauce will stick to them.
This first course tasted very simple, with the creamyness of the almonds and the zest of the lemon, it's a great starter for a bigger meal or just a simple, light, quick weeknight meal. We're off to a great start.

Second course was something I have never done. It s reminisent of middle eastern style lamb that is cooking in yoghurt. In this case, the lamb shoulder is simmered in a mixture of white wine, stock, heavy cream, capers, onion, and garlic. It took about 3 hours in the oven to produce an amazingly tender, juicy meat that was fall off the bone. We shredded the meat directly into the liquid it was simmering in which after 3 hours of cooking in the oven, had reduced about half. The shredded lamb thickened up the sauce even more.
While the lamb was cooking, we roasted the eggplant. It was simply tossed with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, cinnamon and pepper flakes. After they were roasted in the oven for 25 minutes, they were tossed into the sauce, which was then tossed with some cooked penne.
Creamy, salty, and full of tender juicy lamb. The capers gave it real brininess that I wasn't expecting.

When I saw a picture of the third course in the book, I knew it had to be made. I've never attempted a "rotolo" before, but it seemed simple enough. I had made some fresh pasta sheets earlier in the day. The shape and thickness exactly as if you were to lake lasagna. Two sheets were over lapped by a few inches. We mad a filling of a LOT of fresh goats cheese, wilted spinach, and fresh prawns. THe filling was layed on the inside of the pasta and it was rolled into a large log, sort of like a really big cannaloni. They were cut into 2 inch sections, stood cut side up in a roasting pan, and cream poured all over it. After roasting in the oven for about 45 minutes, the pasta was cooked, the edges brown and crispy, and the stuffing creamy and light.
This was probably my favorite of the night. I really liked the crispness of the edges. And the shrimp mixed with the goats cheese was tasty. When all that cheese gets hot, it sort of puffs and feels light on the tongue, but at the same time rich. There was really nothing I didn't like about this dish. It would surely be a show stopper at any dinner party.

Lastly, I decided to do a risotto. A lot of people think risotto takes a long time and you have to sit there the whole time to stir, stir stir. Wrong! Risotto is a very quick meal and is not as time consuming as one thinks. With the proper "mise en place", risotto is done in 20 minutes.
In this case, we made a simple white risotto with sauteed zucchini, peppers and lobster. We started by sauteing some onion gently. We didn't want to colour them, just sweat them off. The rice was added and then the first liquid, wine. Once the wine is cooked into the rice, the stock is added. It is important that the stock is simmering before you add it in. This ensures the rice cooks right away and does not cool down. The stock is added gradualy as to develop the starch which gives the risotto it's nice creaminess. After about 20 minutes of gradually adding in liquid and stirring the rice, it should be done. Lastly we stir in some butter and parmesan cheese.
While the risotto was cooking, we simply sauteed some zuccini, peppers and lobster meat together in a seperate pan. It was place on top of the risotto and done. The risotto was cheesy, creamy and rich. The vegetables were fresh, crisp and full of lobster. A great combo.

I love pasta books, especially this one. There are so many new, fresh ideas coupled with some classic standards. The recipes range from dead simple to mildly complicated, but follow the basic rules for Italian cooking, freshness.

Next class: Michael Symon's Live to Cook