Sunday, January 2, 2011

orecchiete, second try

Not one to settle too easily, especially after a failure, I boned up on my research and gathered my energy for another go at orecchiette.  I think this time they came out better.  The last ones dried brittle.  These seem somewhat stronger, and with these I definitely used the authentic technique that is widespread it Italy, especially in Puglia.  I know this stuff because I've been doing my research, on-line and in a new book I found in the Holyoke mall: Encyclopedia of Pasta, by Oretta Zanini de Vita, translated from the Italian by Maureen B. Fant.  The book isn't a recipe book, but it is eye opening.  Pasta forms are not set in stone; the name of one shape can vary from one valley to the next, even from kitchen to kitchen.  Basically, people are just making this shit up.  Still, there are some recognized standards of nomenclature, and pretty much everyone should recognize these as orecchiette.   


Well, some of them anyway...

1 comment:

Gregoire said...

I think the photo of the little pasta hats goes really well with the sentiment of your next post on dissolution. Odd that synching.