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This is a pasta dish that uses some favorite seasonal ingredients of mine. I've been really busy lately so this recipe is a few weeks late on the seasonality of the morel mushrooms, yet substitutions can easily be made. This dish emulates more of central to northern Italian cooking. More specifically, shows what Italians would make if they lived in Wisconsin. Everything is from the market. My pancetta is homemade, but the pork is from the market. This is also a slightly more refined recipe than most normal types of pasta dishes you would find. I suppose that is my creative license as a chef though.
For Pasta:
Note: Make both doughs at the same time so you can roll them both out one after the other
-Standard Dough
1 1/2-3/4 cops AP Flour
3 lg. Eggs, room temp
1T EVOO
1t sea salt
Method
Make a well with flour & salt
Add the eggs & olive oil in the center
combine all ingredients for pasta together
knead for a few minutes, then wrap in plastic and set aside for half hour
unwrap dough and cut into 2 pieces
wrap pieces not being used so they don't get dried out
Using a manual pasta roller, start on largest setting - #1
knead pasta through machine ten times
then roll out 3 times on largest setting - #1
then drop down 2 settings to #3, and run through 3 times
then drop down 2 more to second thinnest setting - #5
run through #5 one time, use flour as needed when rolling through the pasta machine, but try not to add too much or dough will get dry
set aside and roll out ramp green dough
-Ramp Green Dough
1 1/2-3/4 cups AP Flour
2 Lg Eggs, room temp
1/2 cup ramp greens, lightly packed, then blanched, shocked & squeezed dry
1T EVOO
1t sea salt
Method:
Make a well with flour & salt
Add the eggs, ramp greens & olive oil to a blender & puree
Pour mixture in the center of the well
combine all ingredients for pasta together
knead for a few minutes, then wrap in plastic and set aside for half hour
unwrap dough and cut into 2 pieces
wrap pieces not being used so they don't get dried out
Using a manual pasta roller, start on largest setting - #1
knead pasta through machine ten times
then roll out 3 times on largest setting - #1
then drop down 2 settings to #3, and run through 3 times
then drop down 2 more to second thinnest setting - #5
run through #5 one time, use flour as needed when rolling through the pasta machine, but try not to add too much or dough will get dry
Place ramp green sheet on top of the standard dough pasta sheet and press them together
Roll out on setting 5 one time
Then one more time on the thinnest setting #6
You should have a sheet of pasta, green on one side & yellow on the other
cut sheets into 8" long
Use a fluted cutter and cut into ribbons 1"x8"
set pappardelle on parchment lined sheet tray dusted with some flour
cover with another sheet of parchment until ready to use
For Condimento:
1# Morel Mushrooms, cleaned & broken down into smaller parts yet are big enough to still hold some character
1/4 cup Cognac
1/2 cup pancetta cut into lardons
TT salt & black pepper
-Ramp Bagna cauda
4 Ramp Bulbs, with Purple stems, brunoise (1/8" dice)
3/4 cup Whole Milk
4T Butter
2T EVOO
1 container of Anchovies, rinsed & soaked in milk for 1 hour, drained then brunoise (1/8" dice)
1/2 Lemon, juiced
Method:
Make Bagna Cauda
heat butter and evoo in pan until butter milk solids brown
remove from heat immediately and pour into cold container and let cool
in a small pot combine the milk and bruinose ramps
cook over medium heat for 10 minutes making sure milk doesn't burn or boil over
remove from heat
add the butter & evoo mixture to the pot
add the anchovies and the lemon juice
taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary
let cool
In large saute pan add the pancetta and cook over low heat to render fat and crisp the pancetta (5-10 minutes) Pancetta should be crispy on outside yet succulent and tender on the inside
remove the pancetta from the pan yet keep the fat in the pan
turn up the heat to high
once just about smoking add the mushrooms
sear mushrooms so they get a nice rich brown color
turn heat down a bit and add the cognac
flame if you like & reduce until the cognac 75% evaporated and starting to get syrupy
season with a little bit of s&p
add the bagna cauda and bring up to temp
fold in the pancetta
taste for seasoning and adjust as desired
Bring 6qts of water to a boil
add 2T of salt
drop the pasta in batches
cook until it floats
let it cook for another 30 seconds then remove from water with a spider and add the pasta to the condimento
toss together
Adjust seasoning or consistency of the sauce if needed
For Garnish:
Ramp Greens, chiffonade
shaved Grana, sub Parmigiano
Serve pasta on individual plates
garnish with some of the shaved cheese & chiffonade ramp greens
serve immediately