Week 16: Minestra Di Pasta Grattata; "Pasta grattata is a clever way to enjoy homemade pasta without a lot of work..."

Some friends invited me over to watch "Secretariat" this weekend, so I suggested we do dinner and the movie Sunday evening, and I'll bring soup. They thought that sounded great. So when I met CS for breakfast Saturday morning, I brought my soup cookbooks and we looked through The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy: Seasonal Soups and Stews--Italian Style! that my dad had given me for Christmas several years ago. She thought the Cream of Asparagus Soup with Pearled Barley sounded good, and so did I; but it was in "Chapter 4 Primavera: Recipes for Spring," so I said we'll look forward to having that one in a few months. We looked through "Chapter 3 Inverno: Recipes for Winter" and picked one that sounded yummy and doable: Minestra Di Pasta Grattata (Grated Pasta Soup). Looked like simple ingredients--beef broth and pasta--and sounded pretty easy, so I thought I'd just swing by the grocery store on my way home to get the ingredients.

I felt kind of silly taking my cookbook into the store, but turned out to be a good thing I had it. Upon closer reading, I saw it said "A rich homemade beef broth is essential to the integrity of this soup," and it directed me to "Sostanzioso Brodo di Manzo" (Rich Roasted Beef Broth) on p. 25. I already have sea salt and extra-virgin olive oil, and I had no trouble finding the carrots, celery, fresh baby bella mushrooms, large yellow onions, and fresh thyme. I don't like cloves, and since it didn't say they're "essential to the integrity of the flavor," I decided it would be fine without those. That left 2 1/2 pounds of boneless stewing beef such as chuck, cut into 3-in pieces, and 2 1/2 pounds of beef marrowbones. I went to the meat counter and the nice butcher showed me the chuck beef for stew they had but it was cut in 1" cubes. He had boneless chuck that wasn't cut and said he would be glad to cut it, but was I sure I wanted 3" pieces? I showed him the recipe in the cookbook, and he said, OK, sure enough, that's what it says, and he went to cut it for me. Meanwhile, the other nice young man working at the meat counter took me to show me where the marrowbones were in the meatcase, and I picked out a couple of packages that totaled about 2 1/4 pounds instead of 2 1/2 and hoped that would suffice. 

The opening paragraph of this soup recipe says "Pasta grattato is a clever way to enjoy homemade pasta without a lot of work; you simply grate pieces of dough on the large holes of a box grater to create little shavings."  (Note to self: check when I get home to see if I have a box grater. I don't think I do, but for some reason, I'm thinking I may have used one once, but maybe that was at someone else's house.) The recipe then tells how to make the Pasta Grattata: "Mix and knead the pasta dough as directed in the recipe...." Recipe? What recipe? I can't just buy pasta dough? Sheesh. OK. I see over in the left-hand column where it says 1 batch of Pasta all'Uovo (p. 31), so I turn to that page and find a whole other recipe for Pasta all'Uovo (Fresh Egg Pasta Dough). I know I have sea salt and extra-virgin olive oil, and I'm pretty sure I have a little thing of nutmeg (I'm not gonna care that it's not freshly grated). It calls for 3 extra-large eggs, but they don't come in a carton of six, and I'll never use a dozen XL eggs, so I just get a carton of a half-dozen large eggs and wonder if 4 large eggs would be equivalent to 3 extra-large ones, or if I should just use 3 large ones. I pick up a bag of unbleached all-purpose flour and search fruitlessly for semolina flour. It only calls for 1 tablespoon (plus some more to sprinkle on the work surface), but it seems to be important for making pasta. I read the packages of all the different types of flour and don't see any that say they can be used instead of semolina, or used in pasta. Remembering that my dad had found a section in my cookbook that provided info. about pancetta and prosciutto, I look to see if it says anything about semolina. Sure enough, it says it's a pale yellow flour made from durum (hard) wheat. So, I pick up a little bag of Organic Whole Wheat flour and hope that will work, even though it doesn't say anything about being made from durum.

When I got home, I looked in my cabinets for a box grater, and I didn't have one, so I started a shopping list. I then skimmed over the pasta dough recipe, and it said "...set up your pasta machine with the rollers on the widest setting...." Wait--what pasta machine? I don't have a pasta machine. And besides, I thought the dough was just to be grated, not put through a machine. I asked a  couple of friends, CS and BS, if they had one I could borrow, but neither did. I looked on K-mart on-line, and they have a couple of electric ones on sale...for $139.99 and $143.99. That would be an expensive pot of soup. They also have a hand-cranked one for $29.99. Muuuuuch better. I went in to work Saturday afternoon and then went to our women's basketball game (which we won, yay!), so I swung by K-mart on my way home but they said they don't carry any in the store. So, I checked Hy-Vee, no; Wal-greens, no; CVS, no. I very rarely shop at Walmart, but as a last resort, I went there. They didn't have a pasta machine, but they do have quite the variety of small kitchen appliances, including a beef jerkey maker kit and at least 101 different kinds of George Foreman Grills. You'd think ol' George could branch out a little and make a pasta maker....

When I got home I put a cooking 911 post out to my Macomb facebook peeps to see if anyone had a pasta maker I could borrow, and within 30 minutes, my colleague and friend, DV, came through and said, "Are you talking about the cranky thing you keep putting the dough through to make it thinner and then it cuts it into long noodles? If so, we've got one and you are welcome to borrow it!" Schew. Now I don't have to pick out a different recipe and start all over w/ the grocery shopping, etc. for tomorrow's dinner!

I Googled substitutions for semolina flour, and found the following list:
Kamut Flour
Spelt Flour
All-Purpose Flour (However, it is not nearly as good for making pasta. Pasta made from all-purpose flour should be cooked in lots of water and served while hot to avoid a mushy dish.)
Rice Flour (However, the pasta made from rice flour has a distinct rice flavor.)
Amaranth Flour
Quinoa Flour
Garbanzo Flour (Garbanzo flour is also labeled as gram flour.)

Hmmmm. No Whole Wheat Flour. Guess that means I'll have to take it back to the store Sunday and hope they carry one of the above so I can make the exchange. I need to go back to the store, anyway, because I forgot to get some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for serving. I did, however, remember to get a box grater while I was out looking for a pasta maker. I also recalled that a strainer was on my kitchen utensils to be purchased list from Week 4, so I picked up three different sized strainers--a 3", a 5" and an 8"--while I was at it. (When I got home and went to put them away in the drawer, I discovered I had a 3" one already--which, it turns out, I bought in Week 4, but that was 7 years ago, and I've never used it since.) Oh, well, maybe I'll need both, or donate one to the kitchen at work.

Ok, so upon further reading of the pasta dough recipe, I realized I should have read the ENTIRE recipe first, before beginning cooking or even doing any of the shopping: "Purists maintain that truly good, tender pasta dough cannot be made in a food processor, but I disagree. Once you make this dough, you'll see why. This recipe is easy to follow and works every time....To mix the dough, put the all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon of semolina flour, salt, and nutmeg in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade." Yup, that's right. I DON'T HAVE A FOOD PROCESSOR (except my magic squisher, which doesn't have a work bowl). Breathe. Read on. "Knead the (dough) briefly on the work surface. Then, using a rolling pin..." Rolling pin. Hmmm. I've certainly used one before, but I can't recall if I have one of my own, or if I'm just thinking about when I was little and helped my mom make pie dough and Christmas cookies. A search of my kitchen drawers and cabinets confirms that it's the latter.....And, looking back at the beef broth recipe, I now see that it says: "Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, skimming any foam that forms on the surface with a skimmer." Skimmer. Hmmm. Nope, I know I don't have one of those. "...Strain the broth through a colander lined with cheesecloth..." Cheesecloth. Hmmm. Where's my shopping list? 

And NOW (at 11:30 Sat. night) I see something that makes my heart sink: "...simmer very gently, uncovered, skimming the surface as necesary for the first hour or so, for 5 hours..." Wait. I have church at 10:30 a.m., followed by lunch and the Annual Meeting, so I was planning to run to the store after and go by D & CV's to borrow their pasta maker, and start cooking around 2:00. Keep reading: "...Let cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until well chilled...." OK, so what time's dinner? 10:00 p.m.? Seriously.

Not finished reading--there's some fine print I hadn't seen earlier: Makes 6 to 8 first-course servings. First course? Hmmm. My friends are making salad and bread. I'm bringing the main course. Or, so I thought. Oh, good--there's a Cook's Note at the end of the Beef Broth recipe: "Resourceful Italians often serve the meat and vegetables, drizzled with good olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper, as a light second course to a broth-based soup." Schew. Good thing I'm a resourceful Italian. I'm providing the entree, which consists of two (apparently light) courses: soup; and meat and vegetables. Hope my friends aren't very hungry, 'cause it's gonna be a late, light dinner.

"To Do" list for Sunday morning BEFORE church:
--get all ingredients and utensils out and ready
--prep the veggies
--Kmart for food processor, rolling pin, skimmer, and cheesecloth
--Hy-Vee for flour and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese;
--D and C's house to borrow pasta maker
--Video store to rent "Secretariat"

Sunday morning I only got the first three things on my list done before church, so I slipped out about 5 minutes before the service was over and ran to the grocery store. As I rushed down the flour aisle, I happened to see a whole huge section of specialty flours across from the regular flour which I hadn't noticed yesterday. And right there it was--the Semolina Flour nearly jumped off the shelf and into my oh-so-happy waiting arms. Got the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and some cheesecloth (which I hadn't found that at K-mart), and made it back to church just in time for the start of the lunch. I could only stay for the first half hour of the meeting, though, or I'd never have time to get the soup made. Swung by D & C's, and he gave me a brief but thorough lesson in how to use the pasta maker. Stopped by the movie rental store and picked up "Secretariat" and was home and ready to cook by 1:15.

"Arrange the (meat and veggies) in a large roasting pan." Hmmm. When I went to get out my pan, I realized it's a broiler pan, and I had a sinking feeling that wasn't the same thing as a roasting pan (which a quick Google search confirmed). At the same time, it occurred to me that my 5 qt. pot (Dutch oven) wasn't going to be big enough to hold 5 qts. of water plus all the meat and veggies. Ok. Breathe. Don't cry. I arranged most of the meat and veggies in the broiler pan and the rest in a brownie pan, put them in the oven, and ran back to Kmart to get a large roasting pan and a 12 qt. cooking pot. When I got back home, I washed the roasting pan and transferred all the meat and veggies into it. However, the celery and carrots were already mushy and somewhat burned from being in the brownie pan, so I picked out and threw away the mushy burned celery and carrots and cut up more and put in to replace them. All fixed.

I had to figure out what to do about the time, though. The soup started to simmer at 2:15, and it was supposed to simmer on medium or medium low for 5 hours, then cool to room temperature, then be refrigerated until well-chilled, then be brought to a boil and reheated for 15-20 minutes. I estimated if I did all that, dinner really would be served at 10 p.m. I decided it would cook faster on medium, plus the label on my new pot said "faster cooking," so maybe 4 hours would be OK. I talked to CS, and she said DG was making bread from the dough I'd given her for Christmas, and she was going to have it ready at 5:00 and wanted to serve it warm. We decided the three of them should go ahead and watch the movie on Direct TV, and I would watch it (the DVD I'd rented) on my computer as I cooked and made the pasta. They could have some bread and appetizers to tide them over till I got there at 6:30, and I'd bring some more appetizers for us to have while the soup cooled and was reheated.

While the broth cooked, I got the pasta maker all set up, washed and assembled my new food processor, and started making the dough. Now, remember, I'm working from THREE recipes here: the primary Grated Pasta Soup one; and the beef broth one; and the pasta dough one. Once I got the dough kneaded and was ready to tackle putting it through the pasta machine, I happened to turn from the dough recipe to the main soup recipe, and I read: "Mix and knead the pasta dough as directed in the recipe, but do not roll it out after it has rested. Instead....Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the dough...." What? So, I don't get to use the pasta maker at all?  At this point, I sat down and carefully re-read all three recipes. Sure enough. Just as the name of the soup says, it's grated, not run through a machine.

I got the pasta dough made just fine (except for the part where I cut my hand on the grater--did I mention I sliced my left index finger and right middle finger with the carrot peeler earlier?), and the soup was cooking nicely. I started to gather my cookware, utensils, and food to take out to my friends' house where we were having dinner, and I couldn't find the Parmigiano-Reggiano I'd bought at the grocery store this morning. So, I jumped in the car and rushed back to Hy-Vee to get another wedge of that, along with some grape tomatoes and spinach dip to go with the carrots and celery I was going to take for appetizers. I finished watching "Secretariat" just in time to load the car and head to my friends' house. (Wonderful movie, by the way.)

I got there at 6:30, and while they finished watching the movie, I fixed them a plate of veggies and dip (they'd already had some crackers and cheese and grapes) and started getting the soup cooled. We all gathered in the kitchen and visited while I got the soup chilled and re-heated, and dinner was served at 8 p.m. (Yes, I put the soup in the freezer instead of the fridge to speed up that process.)  The salad and bread were delicious, and everyone seemed to like my soup and the "second course" (served simultaneously) of meat and cooked veggies. There was nothing light about the meal--it was very filling. DG had made pumpkin muffins for us that looked yummy, but no one had room for dessert, so we each took a couple to go. I just now had one for a bedtime snack, and it was delicious.

Biggest lesson learned this week: I need to read thoroughly--not skim or glance through--the entire recipe (and any additional sub-recipes) and make sure I understand the entire scope and have ALL the ingredients and supplies, including cookware and utensils, before I start. Also, I learned I should ask someone who works at the store if I can't find something--the clerk could have shown me the other section of shelves of flour the first time I was there if I'd asked instead of just thinking they didn't carry the semolina when I couldn't find it. And, I learned a lot about cooking utensils, cookware, how to make pasta dough, and how to set up a pasta maker, though I didn't actually get to use it, so I can't yet say I've learned how to make pasta. D & C said they hadn't used their cranky pasta maker in about six years, so maybe they won't be needing it anytime soon and will let me hang on to it till I get a chance to use it in another recipe that calls for homemade pasta! (~:

I'm too tired tonight to look for a suitable quote for this week; so, for now, I'll share this one from the Intro. of "The Soup Diaries":

“Do you have a kinder, more adaptable friend in the food world than soup? Who soothes you when you are ill? Who refuses to leave you when you are impoverished and stretches its resources to give a hearty sustenance and cheer? Who warms you in the winter and cools you in the summer? Yet who also is capable of doing honor to your richest table and impressing your most demanding guests? Soup does its loyal best, no matter what undignified conditions are imposed upon it. You don't catch steak hanging around when you're poor and sick, do you?” ~Judith Martin (Miss Manners)