Regionali means Gragnano — bronze dies and slow dries make superior pasta in this Italian hill town.
By CINDA CHAVICH
If you’ve been paying attention to the bags of good quality pasta on the supermarket shelf, you may have noticed some new words on the packages.
The best pastas, mainly imported from Italy, include all kinds of details on the label, from the specific name of the pasta, the Italian region that specializes in the particular shape, and other more general descriptors, like “trafilatura al bronza” or “de Gragnano, en Italie, La ‘Ville des Pates’.”
I learned the translation of both, and more about what goes into making artisan pasta, during a recent trip to The Pasta Factory (Pastificio dei Campi) in the Italian hill town of Gragnano near Naples which, thanks to its breezy location, is known as the best place in the country to produce dried pasta.
In fact, Gragnano’s weather has the Goldilocks factor when it comes to drying pasta — “temperature not too high, not too low, not too wet,” explains Margarita Forglia, describing the warm winds that rush up the valley each day along Via Roma, “the pasta maker’s street.”
Pasta was once dried like laundry here, hanging outdoors on drying rods. Today’s artisan pasta makers use old-fashioned recipes and traditional methods to maintain the Gragnano quality.
EXTRUDING WITH BRONZE
First there’s the trafilatura al bronza, the bronze dies to extrude pasta in a variety of shapes and sizes. Because the bronze is not smooth, the pasta is extruded relatively slowly and retains a nice rough “tooth” that helps hold the sauce, a texture similar to hand-rolled fresh pasta. By contrast, larger industrial pasta makers use Teflon-coated dies that extrude pasta much faster, but with a perfectly smooth surface.
LOCAL WHEAT AND WATER
The next step is drying. Before the kingdom of Naples discovered Gragnano’s ideal weather conditions some 500 years ago, dried pasta did not exist. Fresh pasta, made with eggs in northern Italy, was perishable and did not travel well so pasta was not popular in the south.
“Historically we talk about pasta from Roman times but Gragnano only started making pasta without eggs, just semolina and water, in the Middle Ages,” Forglia says, as we sit in the company’s stylish cooking school space learning how their artisan dried pasta is still made using a unique local wheat. “Wheat from Puglia was milled here and the pasta was made here and delivered all over the kingdom.”
SLOW AND STEADY DRYING
She passes us a long strand of bugati and we see the dusty coating of flour left behind after their slow, two-day drying process that mimics the traditional air-dried noodles. It’s just enough residual flour to perfectly thicken a simple sauce. Small noodles are layered in wooden trays while curtains of spaghetti move slowly through drying rooms. The pasta retains a light, buff colour and fresh grain aroma — compared to the golden yellow color of industrial pasta, the result of fast, high temperature drying that caramelizes the sugars in the flour.
GRAGNANO PGI
There are still more than a dozen pasta making plants in Gragnano, but to use the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) logo, the Gragnano-made pasta must also be made using local spring water and bronze dies. This company goes one step further, using only Italian durum wheat, with exceptionally high (14%) protein levels.
All of the extra time that goes into making this kind of artisan pasta costs money, which is why imported Italian pasta, or pasta made using these methods, is more expensive than commercial brands.
But if you’ve ever wondered why a simple dish of pasta with olive oil and garlic is so exquisite in your favourite Italian restaurant but seems to fall flat at home, consider the pasta.
PASTA ALLA NORMA
I enjoyed this classic combination at Osteria Assud Morsi+Sorsi, a welcoming spot for excellent local food and wine in Marsala.
2 round Sicilian eggplants (or 2 large purple eggplants)
¼ cup (50 mL) extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 tsp (5mL) crumbled dry oregano
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp 95mL) Balsamic vinegar
2 cups (500 mL) canned San Marzano tomatoes, crushed or whirled in a blender
¼ tsp (1 mL) cayenne pepper
3 Tbsp (40 ml) chopped fresh basil, divided
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 pound (450 g) dried penne or fusilli paesani pasta, cooked al dente
¼ pound (125 g) ricotta salata (dried ricotta) or Parmesan cheese, grated
Cut the eggplant into thick slices, then into 2-inch fingers. Sicilian eggplant is sweet – if using regular eggplant, toss with a little salt and set aside in a colander to leach out any bitterness, then rinse and pat dry before proceeding.
Heat half of the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat and sauté the eggplant quickly until golden. Sprinkle with half of the oregano and set aside. Repeat with remaining eggplant and olive oil.
In the same pan, with a little more olive oil if necessary, sauté the garlic over medium heat until beginning to color. Return the cooked eggplant to the pan and add the vinegar, crushed tomatoes and cayenne, with half of the basil. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente, drain, reserving a little cooking water. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce, with a little of the reserved cooking water and toss together until heated through and pasta is nicely coated with sauce.
Serve in 4 warm pasta bowls, sprinkled with remaining basil and grated cheese. Serves 4.
POLPETTE DOLCI
From Maria Grammatico, the famous pastry maker of Erice, an historic mountain-top town in Sicily, comes this recipe for meatballs with classic Sicilian touches like pine nuts and dried currants, in a simple tomato sauce. Serve it over any shape of Italian pasta. It’s from her memoir, Bitter Almonds.
Sauce:
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp (25 mL) olive oil
1 Tbsp (15 mL) tomato paste
½ cup (125 mL) warm water
3 cups (750 mL) tomato puree, homemade or canned
1-inch piece cinnamon stick
½ tsp (2 mL) salt
¼ tsp (1 mL) freshly ground black pepper
Meatballs:
1 cup (250 g) whole blanched almonds, toasted
1 Tbsp (25 mL) sugar
1 pound (450 g) ground beef
2 cups (500 ml) stale white bread crumbs (made from Italian bread)
¾ cup (175 mL) freshly grated Pecorino cheese
¼ cup (50 ml) dried currants
¼ cup (50 ml) pine nuts
1 tsp (5 mL) ground cinnamon
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
¼ tsp (1 mL) black pepper
2-3 eggs
olive or vegetable oil for sautéing
Spaghetti for eight (2 lb/1 kg), cooked al dente
To make the sauce, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent. Add the tomato paste and water. Simmer 1 minute, then add the tomato puree, cinnamon stick, salt and pepper. Simmer 15 minutes.
For the meatballs, grind the almond with the sugar. Combine the ground nuts with the beef, bread crumbs, cheese, currants, pine nuts, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Add eggs, one at a time and stir – use just enough egg to bind the meat mixture. Shape into 1 ½ inch meatballs or patties and brown in olive oil.
Add the meatballs to the simmering sauce. Simmer 20 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through. Serve over pasta.
Serves 8.
©Cinda Chavich
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