Our pals at Rio Vista Olives sent us the incredible oil that we cook with in this post. Like everything that we recommend on our blog, we use and love their products, and hope that you will too!
The Story
We had to do it. We had to make a festive season pasta. This week’s two-tone fusilli combines tomato and spinach doughs into hand-rolled twisty goodness. Served in a light nduja-spiced sauce, with crispy basil and sage leaves and cherry bocconcini, what better way to celebrate the closing out of the year? Pignolata, that’s how! To finish our dish we’ve prepared these usually sweet Christmas treats as savoury gold-coated baubles, and used them to dress our tinsel-like pasta. Because ‘tis the season.
Pignolata are one of my favourite festive treats from when I was a kid. One of the very best things about Christmas was sitting at Nonna’s long table with one hand in the zippoli, and the other in the pignolata.
The Pasta
We’ve taken two old classics, our spinach dough and the tomato dough that you might have seen here and there on our Instagram, and laminated them together (it’s the same process as our lemon and squid-ink two-tone linguine). So to begin, just mix up and knead each of the doughs for 10 minutes, and then let them rest for 30. Remember that you can always refrigerate dough at this stage, for up to a few days, just be sure that it’s returned to room temperature before you start rolling it out.
Once you’ve rolled it out into thin sheets, layer one of each type together, giving the bottom sheet a quick water spritz before carefully laying the top sheet down. Smooth out any air bubbles with your hand as you go. Either give it a quick roll with a rolling pin, or open the machine up a couple of stops and roll it back through, ending on a setting one stop thicker than you initially rolled them to.
Cut into lengths of approximately 15cm, with a width of around 1cm, and then wrap each piece around a thin dowel or thick skewer. If you have enough dowel for it, keep the pasta twisted around them for a while before removing; this will help them hold their shape and make them easier to handle.
Transfer to lightly-floured baking paper lined oven trays, and allow to dry out in the fridge for up to one week.
For those pignolata, it’s time to make a third dough! Mix together the flour, zest, salt, baking powder, and butter to form a loose, crumbly meal. Note that we’re leaving out the sweetness, but if you want to cook these with their original dessert intention in mind, simply add some sugar with a dash of vanilla essence (and a hit of anisette if you’re that way inclined). Next, gradually pour in the egg as you stir, and bring it together into a ball. Seal it up in cling wrap, and give it 30 minutes in the fridge.
Roll the pignolata dough out into long thin sausages, just as you would for pasta like our casarecce or gemelli. Chop these into small chickpea-sized pieces, and then roll them into balls between your hands.
Dredge lightly in flour and then fry them up. Once they’re cool, paint them gold and be jolly. Or, to serve them as sweets, heat some honey and a good pinch of sugar in a pan, then toss in the pignolata.
Before you get into the sauce, you’re going to need tomatoes. Of course, you can always use bottled passata, which is what we usually do, but in the spirit of the old sitting around in the garage with hankies on our heads Looking for Alibrandi days, we decided to go with fresh tomatoes this week. Personally (although not authentic), I didn’t think it was necessary to sieve or mill out the skins this time around, but we did remove the seeds and the juice before blending them up. In honour of Nonna, the head hankies came out.
Now fry up the leaves. It should only take a few seconds on medium-high heat. Remove and drain, then toss in the nduja – the single most delicious ingredient in the world – and stir for a few minutes, using the spoon to break it up. Then add in the tomatoes and a pinch each of salt and sugar. Drop the heat to low-medium and cook for 10-15 minutes, until it thickens and begins to lose its raw flavour.
Cook and drain the fusilli, retaining a bit of water in case you need it to aid emulsification, and then toss the pasta through the sauce in the frypan. Serve with the fried leaves, golden pignolata, and cherry bocconcini.
Whatever you’re doing over the holiday season, stay happy and healthy, spend time with the people you love, and enjoy your food!
– Al & Al.
Equipment
- Food processor
- Air tight container for resting
- Pasta roller and cutter (if not using a rolling pin and knife)
- Pastry/pasta cutting wheel
- Frypan
Ingredients
Pasta – Spinach
- 125 g 00 flour +up to 25g depending on moisture left in spinach
- 50 g frozen spinach defrosted, drained
- 25 g semolina
- 1 egg
- 1/2 egg yolk
- 1/2 tsp olive oil extra virgin (we used Rio Vista Olives’ Nothin’ But Classic)
- 1/4 tsp salt
Pasta – Tomato
- 100 g 00 flour tomato dough needs to be downscaled
- 50 g semolina
- 1 egg
- 85 g tomato paste double strength
- 1/2 tsp olive oil extra virgin (we used Rio Vista Olives’ Nothin’ But Classic)
- 1/4 tsp salt
Pignolata
- 45 g plain flour plus extra for dredging
- 1/2 lemon zest
- 1/16 tsp fennel seed ground
- 1/16 tsp baking powder
- 15 g unsalted butter
- 1/2 egg
- sprinkle salt and pepper
- Olive oil extra virgin, to fry with (we used Rio Vista Olives’ Nothin’ But Classic)
- 2 g edible gold lustre dust
- 5 ml rose spirit
Sauce
- 3 tbsps olive oil extra virgin (we used Rio Vista Olives’ Nothin’ But Classic)
- Handful basil leaves
- 6-8 sage leaves
- 700 ml crushed tomatoes or passata (if using fresh tomatoes, remove seeds and juice before blitzing; drain excess water)
- 60 g nduja subsititute with soft, chopped salami
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- Salt to taste
- 60 g bambini bocconcini
Instructions
Pasta
- Combine ingredients for spinach dough, forming a well of the dry ingredients with the wet in the centre. For more even distribution of colour, complete this step using a food processor.
- Knead vigorously for 10 minutes, then transfer to an airtight container away from direct sunlight or heat. Rest for 30 minutes.
- Combine the tomato pasta ingredients in the same way, and then knead for 10 minutes. Transfer this second ball of dough to an airtight container away from direct sunlight or heat, and also rest for 30 minutes.
- To prepare the pasta for lamination, begin by rolling each dough individually through the thickest setting of the pasta machine a few times, folding over itself in between passes. This will aid in gluten development.
- Next, incrementally step both doughs through to a thickness of 6, or medium-thin. Cut into sheets of approximately 15cm as you go.
- Lay sheets of one dough type flat on a lightly floured surface. Spritz lightly with water, then carefully lay sheets of the other on top of these, smoothing out any air bubbles as you go.
- Drop the pasta machine down to a thicker setting of 3 or 4, and gradually pass the combined sheets back through, stepping up again to a medium-thin setting of 5.
- Cut into strips aproximately 1cm wide, and then roll around a thick wooden skewer or narrow dowel, at an angle of around 45 degrees. Slide pasta off, and transfer to baking paper lined trays or a lightly floured surface to dry out. Store uncovered in the refrigerator to assist drying.
Pignolata
- Mix all dry ingredients together, before thoroughly incorporating the butter. It should be a crumbly meal texture. Pour in the egg as you stir, then give a quick knead before wrapping in cling wrap and storing in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough out into a long sausage, and chop it into chickpea-sized pieces. Roll into balls, and dredge lightly in flour.
- Heat 2-3cm of oil in a large frypan, to around 200 degrees Celsius, and fry the pignolata for 2-3 minutes until they puff up and turn a light brown. Remove and drain on paper towels.
- Once cool, dissolve the lustre dust into enough rose spirit to make a paint texture, and apply with a brush. Store in a dry environment until plating.
Sauce
- Heat the olive oil in a medium-hot frypan, and fry the basil and sage leaves for 5-10 seconds until crispy. Remove the leaves from the pan, and drop the heat to low.
- Saute the garlic for 5 minutes, stirring, before adding the blended tomato or passata. Season with salt and sugar, and add the nduja, breaking it up with the spoon as you stir.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until sauce has thickened and tomato has lost its raw flavour.
- Drop pasta into a large pot of boiling lightly salted water, and cook until al dente. Drain, retaining a little of the pasta water, and toss it through the sauce in the pan. Add a little of the pasta water in if sauce is too thick and not emuslifying well with the pasta.
- Plate up with crispy basil and sage leaves, gold painted pignolata, and bambini bocconcini.
