Sasha's Kitchen: Mario Batali's Mint Love Letters (Ravioli)

Mario Batali's Babbo is one of my favorite Italian restaurants in New York.  Once when I was there about five years ago, we were seated a table away from U2 Frontman Bono and his entourage, which was pretty cool.  The food there is amazing.  One of my favorite dishes on the menu is a dish called mint love letters, which is a triangular shaped ravioli filled with a cheese, mint and sweet pea filling, served with a lamb ragu pasta sauce.  I've been wanting to make a regular ravioli version of this dish for awhile, since I make my own ravioli at home (such a rewarding process!).  I made the mint love letters square shaped, rather than triangular because it was easier to use my ravioli press.  This turned out to be one of my husband's favorite dinners and it's been requested again for next week since we already ate the two dozen raviolis I made in the original batch (yay for leftovers).  Making your own ravioli at home is fun and rewarding, although it does require a little bit of work.  This was one of my best ones yet.  Sorry the only pictures I have are of the final product and none of the lovely filling.

These were made last weekend, not last night, as yesterday my husband and I went out to a fondue restaurant in the East Village (The Bourgeois Pig) for my birthday!

Mario Batali's Mint Love Letter Ravioli (adapted from this recipe)

Filling
kosher salt

1 cup shelled sweet peas (I used frozen ones)

2 cups mint leaves
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup heavy cream
fresh pepper

Ravioli dough (my perfected formula)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
5 eggs
1/2 tsp salt

Sauce
1 spanish onion, diced
2 28 oz cans peeled whole tomatoes, or tomato puree
1/2 of a peeled carrot
thyme
pepper
oregano
1 lb spicy lamb sausage

First, prepare the ravioli dough.  Beat the eggs, and then add the flour and salt all at once and beat into a dough.  You may have to bring the dough together with your hands to form four balls.  Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and allow to rest for half an hour either in your refrigerator or at room temperature.

Prepare the filling by first bringing three quarts of water to boil and adding a teaspoon salt.  Submerge the peas and cook for 1-2 minutes until tender yet still bright green.  Remove using a slotted spoon or hand strainer, saving the boiling water.  Set the peas aside and blanch the mint in the hot water for 30 seconds, before removing. Once removed transfer the peas and mint to an ice bath.  Drain well.  Then puree the peas and mint in your blender (we just got a new one after ours broke, sadly).  Add the parmesan cheese and heavy cream and pulse to form a paste.

Roll out the pasta dough to the desired thickness using your pasta machine.  You can make squqare shapes using a ravioli press like I did, or you can cut out squares in a knife and fold into triangular dumplings, like the mint love letters recipe suggests. Allow to dry on a drying rack, and then freeze.

Prepare a basic pasta sauce, like mine above, or like Mario Baltali's basic pasta sauce, and bring to a simmer.  Cook the lamb sausage in small pieces using canola oil, and add to the sauce.  Serve the mint love letters with the lamb sausage pasta sauce.

Sasha's Kitchen: Mario Batali's Mint Love Letters (Ravioli)

Sasha's Kitchen: Bucatini All'Amatriciana

Lupa is one of my favorite restaurants in New York. Babbo's twin sister, it has a more relaxed atmosphere and more reasonable prices, but its still classic Mario Batali.  My favorite thing to get when I go to Lupa (though they have the same dish at Babbo) is Mario's classic pasta dish bucatini all'amatriciana. I was able to score some bucatini, or hollow tubular pasta at Eataly a couple weeks ago, in preparation to make this dish using Mario's original recipe.  You really do need to use actual bucatini pasta to make this dish properly. Yes, you can use spaghetti, but it really takes away from the dish having the proper texture and feel, and maybe even taste. This time I did everything to the letter and I was thrilled with the results of this textbook bucatini all'amatriciana. Yes, I usually do not eat pig-derived products as a rule, but this is the one dish I make an exception for!

Mario Batali's Bucatini All'Amatriciana (adapted from this recipe)
3/4 pound guanciale
3 garlic cloves
1 red onion, halved and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes (I used closer to only 1 tsp)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cups basic tomato sauce (see below; note I used more than Mario because I like a saucy pasta)
1 lb bucatini
1 bunch fresh leaf parsley
pecorino romano or parmesan for grating

Mario's basic tomato sauce
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 spanish onion, chopped in a quarter inch dice
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
3 T chopped fresh thyme
1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded
2 cans peeled whole tomatoes, crushed by hand, juices reserved
salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and onion and cook until golden brown. Add the thyme and carrot and cook five minutes more until the carrot has softened, before adding the tomato and juices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and serve. This makes 4 cups and technically you are only supposed to use two cups, but I used all of it and the dish was saucy and amazing.

Next, bring a large pot of about six quarts of water to boil with two teaspoons salt.  In a saute pan, cook the guanciale slices over medium heat until most of the fat has been rendered from the meat, rotating occasionally.  Remove the meat, and use the remaining fat to cook the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes. According to Mario you are supposed to discard some of the fat if you have too much but I didn't so I kept it all. Return the guanciale to the pan and cook for another five minutes until the onions look golden brown in color. Season with salt and pepper and add in the tomato sauce.

Cook the bucatini in the boiling water until al dente. Drain the pasta and add to the simmering sauce, while adding the parsley at the end. Then, turn to high heat, and toss to coat. Serve immediately with grated cheese.

Sasha's Kitchen: Bucatini All'Amatriciana

Sasha's Kitchen: Spice-Infused Heirloom Tomato Salad and NYC's Eataly (a review)

Heirloom tomatoes are one of my favorite summer treats. So delicious and the colors and shapes are unique and beautiful. I love the way they look when you slice them, and all the colors and textures. Their imperfections and details is what makes them so perfect and gorgeous. The taste is luscious and fresh - nothing like a regular tomato.

The heirloom tomato season is not very long, but they're still around in New York, so I picked some up at the new Eataly Market, to prepare this dish. Eataly, by the way, is an incredible Italian foodie paradise of grandiose proportions.  I've been quite a few times now, since it is so close to where I work in Manhattan.   I decided to create some Indian spice infused heirloom tomatoes using my produce from the marketplace. It's quite easy. Mix the various spices and herbs below with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and add the tomatoes and a sliced kirby cucumber. Allow to soak for a minute or two before serving with freshly made mozzarella. I love the way the Indian spices mix with the fresh goodness of the heirloom tomatoes. It's a wonderful way to say goodbye to summer. The kirby cucumber by the way, is from the locally grown produce section of Fresh Direct.

Sasha's Spice-Infused Heirloom Tomato Salad

3 large heirloom tomatoes
1 kirby cucumber
fresh mozzarella
1 1/2 tsp fennel
1 1/2 tsp cumin
pinch of pepper
pinch of cayenne
1/3 cup olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar (I used fig-infused balsamic vinegar)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup cilantro
1 tsp diced jalapeno
1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger


And before you thought I forgot - a bit of a review of Eataly Market. I love Eataly - everything there is fresh, gourmet and absolutely screams out Mario Batali. There's quite a few restaurants there, and even though I have been about 5 times already, I have not tried them all. So far, I have tried the panini bar, La Piazza, Verdure, La Pizza and La Pasta. Next I'd like to try the raw bar restaurant (Il Crudo), the fish restaurant (Il Pesce), and the gourmet beef restaurant (Il Manzo). In fairness, I should warn readers, the place is a hot spot right now. It will cool off, but right now the crowds are pretty fierce, even at lunchtime during the week.

 On my first visit, I went to the panini bar and had a brasaole, arugula and pesto panini which was delicious (not pictured).  Then, I went back to the absolutely crazy Saturday night atmosphere with my husband. First, we stopped a the Piazza and enjoyed a sampling of parmesan cheeses with a glass of Italian spumoni. Next, we decided to try the pizza and pasta restaurants. I had one of the fabulous Italian sodas. I've tried a variety of the Italian sodas at Eataly - I've never seen any of them anywhere else in NYC, but the ones I've had so far have been fabulous - rhubarb, lemon, lime - a whole variety of flavors and not overpoweringly sweet like American sodas. My husband had a Moretti beer.

At La Pasta/LaPizza we both started with a fabulous dish of the homemade fresh pasta in a pesto sauce - it was one of the best pesto dishes I've had. Fresh and simple, but oh so good. Then we followed with a basic pizza, which was good, but perhaps a bit too much cheese. But oh that crust - it was irresistible. The cheese was still great though, and of course they make their own mozzarella fresh at Eataly every day.

I have also had the opportunity to try the gelato at Eataly, which despite the long lines, does not dissapoint. I had two favors that would seen not to go well together - Fig and Hazelnut, but they were actually both delicious and went together just fine. I love fresh figs and the fig gelato took me back to that day in Napa a couple years ago where I tasted fresh mission figs from the trees.

Finally, I have tried Verdure (food pictured above),  the vegetable restaurant. There were so many great choices on the menu, including specials. However, I went with a lime flavored Italian soda and vegetables a la piatra, a dish that was composed of a variety of fresh market vegetables, from cauliflower to asparagus to sprouts to radicchio, to zucchini and just about everything else you could imagine. It was an amazing vegetable salad. The brushetta of the day was also amazing - fresh sweet corn with chives and black garlic.  The black garlic was amazing, with an almost balsamic/tamarind like taste - so exotic and delicious. I plan to make my own bruschetta using some later this week, since they sell it at Eataly market.

Sasha's Kitchen: Spice-Infused Heirloom Tomato Salad and NYC's Eataly (a review)

Sasha's Kitchen: Bucatini all' amatriciana

One of my favorite restaurants in New York is Noho's Lupa Osteria. I have been going there for years, and is especially fun at about 11 PM after drinks, as the atmosphere is always lively and never skips a beat. Lupa, like Mario Batali's other restaurant, Babbo, is known for the signature dish, bucatini all' amatriciana.

Mario Baltali prepares his bucatini all' amatriciana using guanciale, or pig jowls. Upon further research, I learned that the only way to prepare guanciale is to purchase fresh pig jowls, and dry them for about three to four weeks. Don't get me wrong, I like Mario Batali, but the man clearly has an obsession with lard, guanciale and unusual pig parts. Drying pig jowls in the bathtub doesn't really work so well for a nice Jewish girl, so I decided to come up with a similar recipe using something that I might actually consider working with in my home. In the end, I settled on turkey bacon, which is not only more friendly to my semi-kosher family and friends, but also much healthier. However, you could certainly also prepare this dish with either beef-fry or with bacon, if you prefer. This is essentially my take on an Italian classic.

Another thing worth noting is that in preparing the red tomato-based sauce for this recipe, I never add any sugar to the sauce. Rather, I add a handful of baby carrots which add a natural sweetness to the sauce.

Sasha's bucatini all' amatriciana

1 28 oz. can tomato puree
1 small can tomato paste
3 small tomato paste cans filled with water
1 tsp garlic, diced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
dash of salt
1-2 handfulls of baby carrots
2 T butter (if you are adverse to butter in this recipe, you can substitute olive oil)
15 strips of turkey bacon, bacon or beef fry, whichever you prefer
1 diced red onion
3 T olive oil

Prepare the sauce with the tomato puree, tomato paste, water, garlic, spices, baby carrots and butter. Bring to boil and then allow to simmer for about a half an hour until it reaches the desired consistency.

Saute the olive oil, red onion and bacon/turkey bacon in a saute pan until fully cooked and add to the sauce.

In the meantime, cook the pasta. I use bucatini, which looks exactly like spaghetti, except that it has a hollow, tubular structure. However, if you are unable to find bucatini, regular spaghetti will work just fine.

This is extremely tasty, and an easy weeknight meal. There's always plenty of sauce left over for the next night, which is great when you need a break from cooking.

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Sasha's Kitchen: Bucatini all' amatriciana