That yummy breadcrumb pasta

I’m taken back to Umbria today with a food craving for a dish cooked for my husband and I at a Bed and Breakfast last September. On two of the three nights we stayed there, they welcomed us into their home to enjoy their cooking - have some ‘real’ food as I think of it. This type of experience for me is something quite special, as having home-made food can really change your perceptions of the food culture of a country. For me, the food was so much about family and history, recipes carefully handed down through the generations. Recipes taught to grand-daughters to pass onto their children. And you get the sense that everything they eat is designed to be able to be made in masses to feed a crowded table.

This particular craving that seizes my attention today is for a dish I like to describe as one of those little gems; something that completely shocks and delights your senses, something you did not expect, and something new to your repertoire. The food in craving is called Passatelli, a delicious ‘breadcrumb’ pasta, spaghetti-like in shape, but made from breadcrumbs, parmesan and egg, rather than the common flour and egg mix. I had never even known this to exist and it really has to be eaten to be understood. It is everything about comfort food, dense tender pasta bites with a gorgeous parmesan salty flavour. Teamed with the freshness and vitality of sautéed zucchini, bursting cherry tomatoes, sage, garlic and the essential fruity extra virgin olive oil, it is transformed to a robust and satisfying pasta course.

So after a little web research I came across this formula for Passatelli. The Passatelli strands are traditionally made in a passatelli maker, but a potato ricer will the do the job fine, using the largest holes. There is something very satisfying about using one of these little gadgets. And it is so quick and easy to plop them straight into the boiling water, far less time consuming than egg and flour pasta. I did find I had to add a little water to the dough to form a softer dough, more easily able to be squeezed through the ricer.

The recipe for the sauce I have made from memory of the dish was back in Umbria, and in fact is a sauce I have made before today to go with spaghetti or home-made pappardelle. It is the ultimate fast food, as the sauce can be whipped up in the time it takes to cook the pasta.



For each person:
1 egg
50g breadcrumbs
50g parmesan
1 teaspoon flour

The sauce for 2:
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
1 medium zhuccini cut into quarters lengthways and then sliced into about 1cm pieces
1-2 cloves garlic, smashed but left whole
10-15 sage leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
Shaved parmesan to serve

For the dough
Knead all the ingredients together and let it rest for about an hour. Put the dough through a potato ricer, and press it into long strings, cutting them into lengths about 10-15cm as you go along. Drop the strands into some boiling ater and let it cook for 4-5 minutes. Serve immediately, tossed through the sauce.

The sauce
In a pan, drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil and throw in the garlic. Place over a hot stovetop and when heated, add the zucchini and sauté until golden. Add the sage and cherry tomatoes and continue to sauté adding a generous cracking of black pepper, salt and a tiny sprinkle of sugar to taste. Douse with more extra virgin olive oil. Toss through cooked passatelli and serve at once, scattered with parmesan.



THE VERDICT? Well, I think passatelli making will just have to be a work in progress. The first attempt, just as it was for my pasta and gnocchi making experiences, was less than satisfactory. It was encouraging though, with all the right flavour and strands that held together just fine. I think that mastering the art of pasta-making has to be a labour of love and persistence. So, although my first batch barely stood up against those tender tendrils I first experienced, I shall persist in the pursuit for passatelli perfection.