2021 Giro d’Italia - Stage 13: Ravenna to Verona
Stage #13...on a FRIDAY?! What could possibly go wrong? Probably not much. It’s a very flat stage today, so the riders will be cruising along and watching out for the surprise tight turn, but that’s about it - a very normal, mundane day as they travel to “fair Verona”. Ah yes, the setting of the historical work of Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet. Much like the story starts, so does today’s dish. “Two households, both alike in dignity,” - who doesn't love pasta and cake? - “in fair Verona where we lay our scene.”
So, yeah, today’s dish is anything but normal or mundane. It’s pasta...and cake...covered in melted chocolate. Does it work? I mean...sure. Was it tasty? Yes! Is it something I’m happy I tried to pull off? Absolutely. Will I make it again? No.
It’s just an odd duck. Lovely lemon flavor with a kick from Disaronno (amaretto), mixed with almond meal, butter and fresh pasta. The pasta almost goes candy-esque with its crispiness and lemon sugar flavor it absorbs in the bake. I will have you know, this was the first time I made fresh spaghetti. So, I can’t wait to make it again in the future for a normal pasta dish. Best of all, it was a nice, early birthday surprise for my daughter who turned 11 a few days ago. So, I should clarify. If my children ask me to make this again, of course, I will make it. Anything for love in fair Verona!
Veronese Pasta Cake
adapted from The Italian Regional Cookbook, Valentina Harris
Pasta
3 cups AP flour
3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
¼ cup melted butter, cooled
Cake
1.75 cups of slivered almonds
1 cup sugar
Grated zest from 1 lemon
~6tbsp Disaronno (or Ameretto of choice)
2 tbsp lemons juice
Icing
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
2 tbsp butter
On a work surface, mound the flour into bowl form and pour in the eggs and butter, with a pinch of salt. Mix the eggs and butter together, with a fork, and slowly incorporate the flour until the mixture comes together. (You may not use all of the flour). Once the mix becomes blobby, start working the dough together with your hands until smooth. If at any time the dough gets dry, add some olive oil to your hands and work into the dough. If it gets too tough to work, wrap it in plastic and set aside for 10 minutes. Re-work the dough until smooth. Re-wrap in cling wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.
While the pasta dough rests, grease a 9-inch cake pan and dust with some flour, tipping out the excess flour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Pulse the almonds in a food processor until ground into fine meal. Combine the ground almonds, sugar, and lemon zest in a medium bowl.
Roll out the pasta and cut into spaghetti-sized strips.
Add a third of the pasta to the pan, cover generously with about half of the almond meal mixture. Sprinkle on about 3 tbsp of amaretto. Repeat with another layer of pasta, nearly most of the remaining sugar mix, and the remaining amaretto. Top with the remaining third of pasta.
Coat a round piece of parchment with butter and place buttered-side down on top of the pasta. Place in the oven and bake for about an hour. Remove the cake from the oven and sprinkle on the lemon juice. Let cool for a few minutes.
Run a knife around the cake and remove from the pan and completely cool on a baking rack, lined with parchment paper.
In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter. Using the parchment paper, transfer the cooled cake to a platter. Slide out the parchment paper from underneath the cake and pour the melted chocolate over the cake. Slice and serve. ______________________________ Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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