Pappardelle with Mediterranean flavor. With the garden’s harvest every day, one must cook and preserve; recipes whirl in the head, and there is an abundance of choices. If I think that many years ago, during my teenage years, I used to make a soup with stock cubes every evening, ha, ha! I spent my days between working outside the house, and in the fields… In my free time, I wandered in search of new adventures. Nothing stopped me, neither rain nor snow. I marveled at every season, fell in love with nature, and then with food. I was a glutton, but I didn’t like to spend time cooking; when it was my turn, we ate the essentials. Over the years, right after getting married, I became interested in cooking and applying what I had learned in nature, eating what I collected. Not only the vegetables expertly grown by my dad but also the herbs I learned to recognize with my mother. She wasn’t particularly fond of cooking, but there were some recipes that I faithfully carry with me.
After getting married, I always tried to have my own garden, and for most years, I succeeded, and I believe I passed the same passion on to my children…
Vegetables are an integral part of my cooking; and these pappardelle also reflect the spring harvest.
Very simple to prepare, aromatic and exquisite!
It takes little: vegetables and wild fennel pesto
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients
Vegetables, fennel, raisins, pine nuts…
- 10.5 oz flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 espresso cup pesto (wild fennel)
- 1 cup peas (shelled)
- 1 onion
- 6 zucchini flowers (or zucchini)
- 1 carrot
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- to taste castelmagno cheese
- to taste olive oil
- to taste salt
Useful Tools and
Rolling pin, cutting board, knife, frying pan for the sauce, blender, pasta pot, rudigliu for shaping the pappardelle
- Frying Pans
- Knives
- Cutters
- Pots
- Blenders
For the Pappardelle
Clean and cut the vegetables, sauté in a pan with a little oil
Add the cherry tomatoes and finish cooking. Adjust the salt and prepare the pesto as indicated.
With the flour and eggs, make a consistent dough and roll out the dough; I did it manually, but a machine works fine too. Cut the pappardelle and if you like, scallop with the rudigliu, which in Sardinia is used to decorate some traditional breads or pasta, and even incredible sweets.
Cook the pappardelle in salted water and dress with the vegetables and wild fennel pesto.
Cut slices of Castelmagno, distribute and your pappardelle are ready to enjoy.
Some Additional Advice
Pappardelle with Mediterranean flavor are named for the presence of ingredients from the Mediterranean area, they taste of sun and fields, sea and summer aromas. I rolled out the dough manually, as often happens when we are few at the table. I almost always prepare egg pasta using remilled semolina, as it gives a more porous surface. Over time, I have had the opportunity to learn about different flours, and I find that in Italy, we have a heritage that we must cherish. Homemade pasta with native flours remains one of the best traditions! Accompanied by a good glass of sparkling white wine, it becomes a complete dish of all the nutrients needed for a good diet.
