April 2019
Tartufonara
I have a cold. Or a sinus infection. Or maybe it’s allergies. I have symptoms pointing to all three possibilities and I’m bamboozled by my body’s ability to feel so ambiguously yucky. The weather is warming up, the skies are mostly clear, and I’m in bed with a box of tissues and a queue or Real Housewives reruns.
While the weather works out its springtime kinks, I’ll be working out the kinks in my sinuses. After all the vitamins, supplements, tea, and vegetables, I find myself aching for something more comforting and warm (read: pasta). On this eve of our upcoming Cheese Caves Week, a bowl of hot pasta sounds like the perfect thing to soothe my soul while I spend hours on WedMD self diagnosing.
This sick gal wants carbonara but is missing ingredients and has no energy to get to a grocery store. Said sick gal has loads of cheese in the fridge (after all, who do you think I am?) and a head full of either stubborn American ingenuity or enough muck to cloud my classic culinary judgments. A lovely chunk of Grotte Tartufo sat atop my pile of cheeses, begging to be grated atop my ‘kinda sorta’ carbonara. Grotte Tartufo doesn’t melt the way alpine style cheeses do and will rather wilt atop hot pasta rather than coat it. I began imagining a pure white iteration of carbonara and didn’t look back from there. This is how Grotte Tartufo met a partial Pasta Carbonara and how the working title was born. Friends, meet Tartufonara. Partially carbonara, but mostly carbonara technique applied to loads of cheese and pasta.
Use this recipe as a blank canvas and add other cheeses, spring vegetables, or not much else for your own (insert ingredient here)-onara. I felt better after a bowl of this, and I hope you do too.
Pasta Tartufonara
Serves 6-8
- kosher salt
- 1 lb bronze dye cut pasta (This isn’t a classic recipe, so there are no rules! We loved it on calamarata, but a long noodle like spaghetti would make this feel more traditional)
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
- 3 ounces Grotte Tartufo, roughly grated or chopped.
Bring a large part of water to a rolling boil and season with kosher salt. Add pasta and cook just past al dente. (The pasta will finish cooking as you toss with the sauce, but since this won’t happen over heat, we want the pasta to be just moments from being finished rather than minutes)
While pasta cooks, whisk eggs and Parmigiano in a large bowl until a pale yellow paste forms. When pasta in nearly ready to be pulled from the water, take a cup of pasta water from the pot and, while whisking the egg and Parm paste, slowly drizzle the pasta water into the paste. This will temper the egg so as not to become curds and help create a silky sauce. Remove pasta directly to the bowl with egg and cheese and toss to coat and finish cooking, adding more pasta water as needed. Just before serving, toss in Grotte Tartufo and any other ingredients you’d like to include (think blanched peas, chopped greens, or crispy prosciutto). Serve immediately.
All Roads Lead to Cookies
Sometimes life has a way of leading you right back to where you started. I was born and raised in Salt Lake City by a Greek mother and a Louisianan father from Cajun country. Growing up, I helped my mom cook for various holidays – sometimes Cajun, sometimes Greek, and sometimes a mixture of both. I left for college in Atlanta, Georgia and then went on to England to pursue a degree in Ethnobotany, which culminated in my research of how small farms on the island of Sicily are adapting to globalization by turning old family recipes for things grown on their land into delicious products for the larger global market. When I moved back home to SLC after school, I felt lost and thought I’d move again. But instead, I ventured into Caputo’s and saw all the possibility here. Four years later, here I am.
Living in Salt Lake again has given me some quality time with my parents and taught me some valuable lessons in baking and cooking. As the youngest of 5 girls, my mom was never short of help in the kitchen. Now, baking with my mom has become less sweatshop and more of a lesson in productive bickering (I mean that in the best way possible, Mom!). For instance, when I suggest a change to the recipe that she doesn’t like, she responds with “hmmm, I’ll take that into consideration.” However, when I suggest something she might like, the response is, “let’s try it and see how it goes.”
This koulourakia recipe was no different – koulourakia are likely some of the best recognized Greek cookies as they are buttery, not too sweet, and perfect for dipping in tea and coffee. Typically made and eaten around Easter, but lovely year round, they’re generally made in a large batch and formed into twists or wreaths that look elegant and complicated but are quick to form and bake. This recipe should make about 60 cookies, which may sound like a lot, but I assure you it’s the perfect amount. I like to have them for breakfast dipped in some earl grey tea or coffee.
Our family recipe calls for a few warm spices like cinnamon, anise and orange peel as well as some Metaxa, a Greek brandy (whiskey is fine to substitute.) If you want a more classic version, leave these spices out. Whether you need a grab and go breakfast or a snack to share with friends, koulourakia are a perfect treat for any occasion.
KOULOURAKIA
Makes approximately 60 cookies
Total time: 1 h 15 mins
- 1 c butter softened
- 1 c sugar
- 3 eggs (save 1 egg white for egg wash)
- 1/4 c whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 5 c flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground anise
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon orange peel (dried or fresh)
- 2 tablespoons Metaxa or whiskey
In a mixing bowl, whip butter until light and fluffy. Add in sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk, and whiskey and allow to incorporate. Make sure all ingredients are room temperature!
In a separate bowl sift in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, orange peel. Mix up so ingredients are evenly distributed and then slowly add into wet ingredients until incorporated. Allow the dough to rest for about 15-20 minutes. Once rested, preheat oven to 350 and flour a surface to begin rolling cookies.
To create the twist roll about a tablespoon of dough into a long thin pice and fold in half (see diagram). Then twist one leg over the other twice. For a wreath you can twist a few more times and connect the ends of the twist. You will need about 4-5 trays lined with aluminum foil for baking. Leave about 2 inches between each cookie as they will rise. Once all rolled out, mix remaining egg white with a dash of water until it’s a bit frothy. Apply to the top of the cookies with a pastry brush. If you want a glossier finish, add an egg yolk to this mixture as well.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until slightly browned and cookies no longer stick to tray when picked up. We rotate them every 8 minutes or so between racks so each cookie sheet gets even browning. Koulourakia will freeze well and keep well in a jar on the counter top. My bet is they won’t have to last too long though!