Page 31 - The Valley Table - Winter 2022

NOODLING AROUND AT HOME
During the pandemic, many of us sought solace in sourdough baking. But now that’s so 2020. Why not level up to pasta-making? If you don’t get too ambitious, it can be a fun activity for a cold afternoon—and yields delicious results. We spoke with some of the Hudson Valley’s experts for their advice:
Stick to basics. “Use the simplest recipe you can find,” says Scott Ketchum, co-founder of Sfoglini.
Your mission is to start getting your technique down. “So much depends on the dough being balanced and mixed well to get the right moisture
to flour ratio. It will take a few tries.” Joseph Cafaro of Hudson’s Palizzata Market and Eatery agrees: “Pasta making requires patience. The first time I made dough by hand, it was very crumbly and took 15 minutes to get the consistency right.”
Flat is fine. Fettucine or papparadelle is good for beginners. You can use a pizza cutter to slice your rolled-out dough into strands. An inexpensive pasta machine (about $30 to $50) can help press the dough into sheets and keep your batches more consistent than working with a rolling pin.
Get a garganelli board. When
teaching pasta classes, Ketchum says a garganelli (pronounced gar-gah-nay-lee) board is a great tool. “It has a textured side that helps you make ridged or patterned shapes,” he says of the widely available wooden boards. “Or you can also make little balls of dough, press your thumb in and make cavatelli [little shell shapes] or gnocchi.”
Stuff some. You can buy a ravioli mold to create these beloved filled pillows of pasta. Lay one sheet of pasta on
the mold, squirt in the filling, top with another sheet, press, and then separate them with a pizza cutter. This gives you plenty of room to experiment with fillings based on what’s at your local farmers’ market—mushrooms, squash, cheese and more.
doesn’t yet offer that option. “Gluten- free pasta has come a long way,” says Rosenberg who thinks shapes like penne or rigatoni are more successful in recipes than ribbon-like gluten-free pastas. Some varieties you may find at your local market use quinoa, millet, amaranth, and even cauliflower.
Vegan pasta is growing in popularity as well. “About 90 percent of dried pastas are vegan, since they’re just flour and water,” says Joseph Cafaro
of Palizzata Marketplace & Eatery
in Kingston’s Stockade District. “The other 10 percent will usually be clearly labeled as egg noodles, so you know what’s in there.” Fresh vegan pasta is surging, too—and it’s something new. Usually, this variety contains wheat and eggs, but now the pros are figuring out how to ditch the dairy.
Fresh pasta is a signature at Palizzata and something chef and co-owner Cafaro is passionate about, having discovered it on a trip to Italy as
the true primi piatti on which locals
dined. He’s worked hard to create a delectable dough without the eggs. “Half of the fresh pastas I sell are vegan. We use semolina and water, and it will last for a week in the refrigerator,” he says. The vegan variety has all the flavor and texture benefits of traditional fresh pasta—as well as the quick cooking time. “Whether you buy mine or go to the supermarket, you’re looking at between two and five minutes,” he says, quite the speedy alternative to the 12–15 minutes often needed for dried. To try a super-savory vegan twist on a classic pasta with ragu, Cafaro shares his recipe for pappardelle with Impossible Blend, San Marzano tomatoes, and cashew cream (page 31).
Taking Shape
A great dish doesn’t just depend
on what’s in the pasta, though. It’s
also all about how that dough has been sculpted. New forms are a fun way to add a twist on familiar dishes, whether zucca, which look like plump
PHOTOS BY MEGHAN SPIRO PHOTOGRAPHY
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