Having spent the last 5 years moving from city to city and in that process opening myself up to making new sets of friends all over again; I have found that the simple joy in taking the day or an evening to intentionally cook together and share in the spoils of your work is critical in establishing and cementing those friendship groups.
Most of my good memories stem from the planning and execution of a little dinner party. In this aspect I put on my curation hat and will gladly cycle halfway across town to snag a specific bottle of Vino di Anna to pair with Damians Southern fried chicken and come back sauce. I like rusticity but behind that is the need for the food, the setting and the drink to supplant expectations.
I share my love of the BBQ with a select few friends who understand to bring their A game. In Amsterdam I have Maxence and Jef with their Octopus or marinated wings and turbo steaks. A memory deeply ingrained in my soul is grilling steak and octopus on the jetty of the Amsterdam canals; taking it in turns to flip the steak, jump in the water and hand out little aperitifs. This crew have also been known to boil clams on mini camping stoves on the Provence beach side; a little sand in your clams never hurt anyone. In Singapore I found a kindred spirit in Vivien and Pete. Our infamous bbq’s at the pottery studio on Mr Lims makeshift konro grill are what made me feel welcome in Singapore.
On to last Monday’s dinner at Vivien and Pete’s newly renovated apartment. They’re still getting to grips with their new house and kitchen but it’s wonderful to see their long journey come to fruition with all the little design details blossom. Naturally Rachel suggested, albeit requested handmade pasta as has become a calling card for me. Making it once a month is fun but all the time starts to drag, so when Rachel said she can make orecchiette better than me I decided to hold my hands up and focus on the sauce.
A lot of discourse calls for long 8 hour, slow bubble simmers of Ragu, which of course will lead you to slap around the chops, fat laden, umami rich Ragu. But; in a pinch I favour the quick sausage Ragu utilising a lot of pantry essentials and is a luscious sauce with spaghetti and other dried pasta or if in the mood; this hand crafted orecchiette.
Orecchiette Dough
200g Semolina
200g Tipo 00 pasta flour
200g Water
16g Extra virgin olive oil
Pinch salt
Method
In a bowl add the water and oil
Add in your flours and salt and begin to mix with your hands until a shaggy dough is formed
Place on to your surface and kneed for 10 mins until a smooth, supple, dough is formed, cling wrap and rest for 30 mins or overnight to full relax and hydrate.
Divide your dough into 5 using a scale if you want to be precise and then roll each piece into a long log, cut this into little pellets.
To shape, use a knife the drag the pellet towards you on the table when it has increased in size, pick it up and pushing the middle of the piece with your thumb, it will look like a small mouse ear with nice texture to catch the sauce. Put on to a semolina dusted tray and continue with the rest of your dough.
Quick sausage Ragu
4 x pork and fennel sausage
2 shallot diced
4 cloves garlic - sliced thin
2 pinch fennel seed
2 bay leaf
Extra virgin olive oil
100ml white wine'
100ml chicken stock
1 tin of plum tomatoes, I use Mutti
Salt and pepper
Parmesan
Method
Technically speaking this is less of a recipe and more of a rule in making pasta sauces, especially store cupboard sauces such as a putanesca or amatriciana. It’s about adding things at the right time and reducing to the right point.
Start by taking your Italian sausages out of the casing, breaking apart and then browning off in a thin film of olive oil. Once all browned, add your garlic slivers a few more glugs of oil, turn the heat down and gently saute the garlic until soft but not brown then add fennel seed, the diced shallot and continue to cook on low. At this point add a generous pinch of salt to draw moisture from the onions.
Deglaze with your white wine reducing until mainly evaporated, then add the tomato, bay leaves and stock and turn the heat to medium. At this point taste your sauce, now you can start to add black pepper and mini pinches of salt as it’s reducing.
I like to reduce fast to the point where the flavour is intense but the freshness of the tomato isn’t jammy and lost.
Upon boiling your orecchiette and adding it your pan of Ragu, toss with a little ladle of salted pasta water, a big knob of butter, a handful of parmesan and a big squeeze of lemon.
At this point it’s down to your taste buds to embellish the pasta, do you like it saltier? Do you like more acidity? Would you add peperoncino rather than black pepper? This is a really nice way of building the layers in good sauce making. I say take it and run with it.