“You can learn a lot watching things eat.” Frank Costello, The Departed

 

My poor neglected blog. How can I bare to leave you alone so often.

Notes

  • Troccoli is basically thick spaghetti. Use spaghetti or bucatini, or any other tubular noodle you wish.
  • You can find black garlic at stores like Whole Foods or most East Asian markets.
  • If you can’t get porcini mushrooms for the sauce shitake is pretty close, or just any regular mushroom.
  • You do not need a pasta machine for this recipe, you do not need a pasta machine in general. A rolling pin will always do.

 

Black Garlic Troccoli

makes about eight servings

two and a half cups of semolina flour

one and one fourth cups of all purpose flour

one teaspoon of sea salt

three whole eggs, six egg yolks

one fourth cup of water

one fourth cup of olive oil

one entire bulb of black garlic

Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl and form a well.

Blend wet ingredients and black garlic until well combined but not frothy, about ten seconds on low.

Pour wet ingredients into the well slowly, knocking flour over into the well slowly until a dough is formed.

Once the dough is formed, knead the dough on a floured surface for about eight minutes, until the dough is springy.

Roll into a ball and allow dough to rest for thirty minutes in an oil covered bowl.

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Prep sauce now while dough rests.

After dough has rested, return to a well floured surface and divide into fourths.

Roll out dough into a rectangular shape. Fold onto itself in two halves. Flip and roll out into a rectangle again. Flour if necessary to keep from sticking. Keep rolling out and flipping until about a sixteenth of an inch thick. Repeat with the other three parts.

Flour and fold long sheets of pasta over on themselves, until they are about six-by-eight inch stacks. Sliced through the stacks into ten to twelve slices to create noodles.

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Bring a pot of well salted water to a boil.

Batch boil the noodles for about three minutes each batch.

Toss in sauce pan.

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Porcini and Shallot Sauce

six medium sized shallots, sliced thin

two ounces of dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated

three cloves of garlic, minced

two tablespoons of olive oil

two tablespoons of mushroom stock

two tablespoons of pasta water

half a lemon, juiced

two teaspoons of crushed red pepper

fresh grated parmesan, for topping

Rehydrate mushrooms in hot water, save two to three tablespoons of mushroom water. If using fresh mushrooms cook them at the same time you start cooking the shallots, don’t worry about the stock, cooking the mushrooms will release enough water. Once rehydrated, chop finely.

In a pan, cook shallots and garlic on medium heat until caramelized, about fifteen minutes.

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Add rehydrated mushrooms and lemon juice. Allow to cook for another five minutes.

Add pasta water and stir, cut heat.

Batch cooking, add one serving of noodles to the pan, toss to evenly coat, and plate.

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Top with parmesan. Eat. Eat. Eat.