Pici con Pomodoro e Pancetta – Pici with Tomatoes and Pancetta – 番茄醃肉意大利pici面
Pici con Pomodoro e Pancetta (Pici with Tomatoes and Pancetta)
Pici is a hand rolled pasta. Similar to spaghetti, thicker than Bigoli but thinner than Japanese Udon. Some recipes suggest using farro flour. If you can’t find farro flour, you can substitute it with semolina. When making fresh pasta at home you should use ’00′ flour (wheat). When I first made pasta I was told to use semolina. Not sure how or why. I ‘think’ perhaps people saw semolina in the ingredients for dried pasta from Italy. So the assumption was that people used semolina at home in Italy. If they did it would be the exception not the norm. Pasta made at home are laminate pasta (ie: made with a Kitchen Aid pasta attachment or similar). Dried pasta are extruded pasta using a heavy duty pasta extruder.
In this recipe I suggested pancetta but would prefer using a cured salted pork similar to Italian lardo. You take fat back strap and cure/brine it for however long you can. Slice it and fry it up. It’s simple but delicious. You can substitute any fresh or dried pasta in the recipe if dont feel like making and rolling pici.
- 500 ml semolina flour
- 500 ml all-purpose flour(wheat)
- 1 to 1½ cup water
- + plus flour for dusting
- For 4 portions of the sauce:
- 400 gr Pancetta, cut into strips
- 8-16 Tomatoes(campari/cherry/heirloom)
- ¼ cup onions, chopped finely
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 200 ml extra virgin Olive oil
- 5 gr Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped finely
- 1 tablespoon chili flakes OR 2 ea fresh chillies, finely chopped(optional)
- salt and pepper to taste.
- Put a pot with approximately 4 litres of water on the stove to boil. Add 4 tablespoon of salt
- In a large saucepan, add ½ the olive oil and turn stove to medium heat.
- Lay the pancetta to fry till slightly crisp on both sides, approximately a minute on each side. Remove the pancetta for later.
- Drop the pici/pasta noodles into the pot of boiling salted water. Noodles will take 2-3 minutes if freshly made, longer if dried or frozen, 6-12 minutes. Check noodle for doneness by eating it. Make sure it’s 70-80% of the texture you desire, as you want to finish the noodle in the sauce. *Try to coordinate the cooking time of your pasta with the sauce.
- Using the fat from the pan(you can skim some of the fat), saute the onion, garlic and parsley for about 1-2 minutes on high heat.
- Add the tomatoes. Cook for another 1 minutes.
- Add the chillies and pancetta to the saucepan. Toss the saucepan a few times.
- Add ½ cup of the pasta cooking water. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Drop noodles into the saucepan and toss everything for a minute and allow the sauce to penetrate the noodle.
- Place both the flour in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
- Make a well the center of the flour
- Add the water a little at a time, use a large fork or chopstick to stir the flour and water.
- Stir enough water till you form a dough ball.
- You may need more OR less water depending on the flour and humidity.
- Place the dough ball on a floured work surface and knead it like bread until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes.
- Place dough back in mixing bowl and cover or saran wrap the dough until needed.
- The dough needs to rest, covered for at least 10 minutes at room temperature. It can be made in advance, refrigerated for two days before rolling.
- Place dough on floured work surface. Cut about 1/10 of the dough and roll it out. Roll the dough about ¼″ thick.
- Using a long knife cut across the length of the rolled out dough. Place the pasta strands between 2 hands and lightly roll back and forth to create a snake like noodle. Like a udon noodle. Get your kids or love ones involved in rolling the pasta.
- Dust a tray with semolina and place you noodle on the tray, dust with more flour and cover with a clean dish towel.
- Pasta is ready to use. Or can be frozen for several months.
- Plate the pasta. Drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil and grated cheese(parmesan, pecorino or grana padano)
- 四人份番茄醃肉醬
- 醃肉絲 400 gr
- 番茄（頂部切十字花） 8-16個
- 洋蔥末 ¼杯
- 蒜 3辦
- 橄欖油 200 ml
- 意大利平葉香菜末 5 gr
- 辣椒末 1茶匙
- 鹽、胡椒粉 適量
- 方法
- 鍋中加入4升水，燒開，加入4茶匙鹽。
- 大鍋中加入1/2橄欖油，烤箱預熱至中熱。
- 將醃肉煎至兩面酥脆，每面煎約1分鐘。
- 將意大利面放入滾水中，煮至7-8成熟撈出。
- 大火炒洋蔥、蒜、與香菜約1-2分鐘。
- 加入番茄，烹製1分鐘。
- 加入辣椒末和醃肉。
- 加入半杯煮意大利面水，加鹽、胡椒粉調味。
- 加入意大利面翻炒1分鐘。
- 盛出意大利面，滴入一些橄欖油及芝士。
- *注意協調醬汁與意大利面的烹飪時間。
