I have been quite excited today, I managed to prepare this colorful pasta dish and my parents really liked it. I was not expecting such a reaction from two traditional Italians eating a pasta dish that has nothing to do with Italian flavors. I went shopping to La Vie Saine which is a healthy and organic supermarket with lots of unusual products, and I just wanted to see what those green tagliatelle tasted like. Their color comes from the Spirulina which, in the US is mainly a seaweed used as a dietary tablet supplement. Spirulina is very high in protein much more than any type of legume.

In addition to the spirulina tagliatelle, I used a specific seaweed, mainly found in Brittany coast (Roscoff area) called Himanthalia Elongata and has a very high vitamin C content. Unlike most other seaweed, it’s not produced in Japan. It’s basically a brown seaweed that has the form of  big button where long stems start their ramification.

I really loved this pasta, it’s colorful and absolutely delicious. Now I am curious to see if it’s available in the US. Upon my return, I will start my spirulina pasta hunting! I am always excited to see the new trends in France, even though you still have a traditional cuisine, new trends are arising and I noticed that la cuisine aux algues (seaweed cooking) is getting quite popular. Of course, not among the traditional eaters, but among adventurous eaters, interested in a new and healthy cuisine.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 tsp ginger, grated
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 350 g spirulina tagliatelle
• 2 carrots, sliced lengthwise in a ribbon
• 1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise in ribbons
• 1 cup shiitake mushrooms, diced
• Sea spaghetti seaweed
• 1/3 cup vegetable broth
• 1 cup shrimps
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a pan, heat olive oil. Add garlic and ginger. Stir and add shiitake, cook for about minutes, then add the rest of vegetables. Let the zucchini soften but do not overcook or they’ll break.

Soak sea spaghetti in cold water for about 15 minutes, then boil them in water for another 15 minutes or until they get soft. Drain and set aside.

Add sea spaghetti to the vegetables and stir. Add shrimps and broth, salt and pepper.

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and add to the pan of vegetables. Stir well and serve.

You can really tell someone is Italian by the quantity of pasta they eat…my family eats pasta almost every day…unlike me…I eat it once in a while, which can be a good reason to question my Italian nationality, let’s hope they don’t come and take away my Italian passport!! Oh well, I guess I am not much of a habit type of a person and that habits somehow disturb me and can give me anxiety. Some people find comfort in habits, in my case it’s the opposite.

Everyone knows pesto which a famous paste made out with raw ingredients, that traveled beyond many borders. Of course there are many recipes for pesto using different ingredients and herbs. This particular pesto is called alla Trapanese, meaning Trapano style, after Trapano, a city in Sicily. This pesto is made with almonds and raw tomatoes ; you get a very fresh and light sauce which makes it so delicious.

To transform the pasta and make it into a fun and original mixture, I love to flavor the dough with vegetables or herbs. You can add anything you want, saffron, mushrooms, tomato paste, broccoli, etc…and  color your plate and pleasure your eyes and palate!

If you want to keep this dish vegan don’t add the yolk in the pasta, it will turn out fine, and don’t add pecorino, and you’ll get an absolutely delicious vegan pasta dish.

Ingredients for 2

For the pasta

• 100 g semolina flour
• 100 g farro flour
• 100 g spinach, cooked (about one bunch spinach raw)
• 1 egg yolk

For the pesto

• 3 well ripe tomatoes, peeled and seedless
• about 20 basil leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 tbs almonds
• 6 tbs olive oil
• 4 tbs pecorino
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the pesto

Pat dry peeled and seedless tomatoes to remove excess water. Using a mortar, blend all together together (except for pecorino) into a fine paste. Set aside. You can use a mixer but make sure not to blend the mixture into extra fine paste, you want some texture.

For the pasta

Combine all flours together in a mixing container. Add purée spinach and yolk, and start kneading the dough thoroughly for about 20-30 minutes. At this point, the dough will be elastic and smooth.

On a large wooden board (spianatoia), with a pasta rolling pin, make a thin sheet. You can use a pasta machine if you have one and not used to rolling pasta sheets.

Cook pasta in boiling water for a few minutes, drain and toss with pesto. Add pecorino and serve hot.

I bought a new mandoline before I would slice a few of my fingers, one day I cut the tip of my index while shaving fennel and had to go to the emergency room, so my new mandoline is much better and safer, and in the kitchen safety is somehow an important part of the whole game.

With my new De Buyer (being faithful to European made utensils because I know them better, I had to buy a French one, actually I have Japanese knives that are incredible) and one of the great feature of this mandoline is that you can adjust the thickness of the cut by twisting the handle from left to right or right to left. The blade is lightly dented so you can get a very thin and sharp cut, or a thick (and still sharp) cut, even on soft fruits and vegetables like very ripe kiwis or oranges.

So to try out my new mandoline, I wanted to make a whole dish with sliced vegetables because I just felt like playing with it. I’m sure I am not the only one who loves to play with a brand new toy. When I buy new clothes, I have to wear them right away, even if I have to run to the store buy salt, I can wear a brand new silk shirt just for the simple pleasure to wear something new. When it comes to kitchen utensils, it’s the same. What to do with 12 zucchini and a mandoline? well you just go crazy and slice them to make tagliatelle. So here they are…

My mom makes an traditional Italian dish made with pasta and chick peas so I used her tomato sauce twisting it around a little and used it on the zucchini tagliatelle. I really loved this dish, it’s savory, fragrant due to the oregano, light and nutritious, so how can you say no to that? This is a fairly simple dish, with a few ingredients which most of the time, if you have great quality ingredients, turns out delicious. You can taste all the ingredients in one bite and it all blends in a beautiful symphony of flavors.

For the tomato purée, I used the imported Italian tomato sauce from Parmalat, it’s just crushed tomatoes with nothing else added, they have quite a un-acidic flavor unlike some other tomatoes. Parmalat is a very famous brand in Italy and I knew them for their dairy products and mainly milk that was sold in card board like here they would sell orange juice, which healthier to use than canned tomatoes. I was excited to be able to find the Parmalat tomatoes. Grazie Parmalat! You can use fresh tomatoes too, but they need to be of good quality or the sauce will not be as good.

Ingredients for 2-3 as a side dish

• 6 zucchini sliced lengthwise
• 7 oz (or 200 g) cooked chick peas
• 10 oz (or 300 g) good quality crushed tomato or fresh tomatoes
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 1 garlic clove
• cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• fresh shaved parmesan for garnish

Preparation

Start preparing the sauce. In a small pot, heat olive oil, add garlic, stir for about 30 seconds, then oregano. After about 1 minutes (watch out not to burn the garlic) add 1 cup tomatoes, salt, pepper and cayenne.  Add wine. Let the sauce cook until the water has evaporated, add chick peas and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Using the mandoline, slice zucchini lenghtwise in about 2mm ribbons. Bring salted water to a boil, add zucchini and cook for about 30 seconds. Drain, and carefull pat dry with a towel, making sure not to break the zucchini. Add to the tomato sauce, stir carefully. Add extra oregano, and serve with sahved parmesan on top.

Here is my favorite pasta, that I had been thinking to make for months. I had two tiny squid ink bags in my refrigerator and was obsessing about them. Today, I finally decided to go ahead with my project. I can no longer use my pasta machine, since the kitchen counters have no extra border to hold it so I just have to use my mattarello (rolling pin) that is huge. Anytime I look at it, it looks like a huge monster rolling pin, my hands are a little small to manipulate it, but it works, I’ll just develop Rambo’s forearms soon. Anyway, let’s go back to the way traditional pasta was still made with a rolling pin, my grandma never used a machine, and my mom’s once in a while, when she was in a hurry.

Squid Ink is used frequently in the Veneto region’s cooking (Venice). They use it to make squid ink risotto and other local specialties. Of course it can be used in pasta as well, and gives a the dough a very subtle flavor without overpowering the dish, which goes to perfection with seafood sauces.

When you roll the pasta with a rolling pin, you need a large wooden board (spianatoia in Italian) to flatten out your sheet. I have a large board but will have one made at Ikea with larger dimensions for larger sheets. You also need a pasta rolling pin, it’s a little different from the regular ones, it is not tapered and that has the same size all the way, from one extremity to the other, so that your sheet will have the same thinness all around.

I like pasta rolled by hand much better than when done with the machine, the texture is more grainy therefore absorbs the sauce much better and I like the irregularity of the tagliatelle when cut by hand.

Ingredients for 4

For the dough

• 2 eggs
• 1 yolk
• 1 small bag squid ink
• 1 1/3 cup white flour or semolina flour

For the calamaretti sauce

• 1 lb calamari, cleaned and cut in 2 crosswise (except the tentacles)
• 2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seedless and diced
• 2 shallots, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbs basil, chopped
• 1 tbs parsley, chopped
• chili flakes
• 2 tbs olive oil

Preparation

For the pasta

On your spianatoia, or wooden board, place flour and make a fountain, break eggs. Dissolve squid ink in a small glass with 2 tbs water. Add squid ink to the flour/egg mixture and mix gradually all ingredients with a fork. Then when all ingredients have been incorporated, use your hands to knead the dough. If the dough is too hard, add a little water. Knead the dough for about 15-20 minutes, to get a smooth round ball. The dough should not be sticky and after kneading it for 20 min should be very smooth. You can let the ball rest in a plastic wrap for about 30 minutes, but I didn’t, if the dough is hard enough, it’s not necessary.

Then start rolling the dough, trying to spread it out evenly making a regular round sheet. The sheet should not be thicker than 1 mm. Add flour if the dough sticks to the table, but it should not stick. If it does, it means you added way too much water to the flour.

Let the sheet rest for about 10 minutes. Fold one side up th its half, then proceed the same with the opposite side.

Using a well sharped knife, cut regular strips and set the tagliatelle aside.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water for about 2 minutes, or until they come out at the surface. Pour calamari sauce on top, sprinkle with additional basil and parsley and serve.

For the calamaretti sauce

In a pan, heat olive oil. Brown shallots and add garlic, then add parsley and basil, stir to get the flavors out. Add tomatoes and chili flakes, let the tomatoes cook for about 10 minutes until some water has evaporated. Adjust with salt and pepper.

Add calamari and let them cook for about 10 minutes, do not overcook or they’ll get rubbery. Let sauce redue and water evaporate.