I consider that this the primary time, after testing recipes for a few years, that I truly doubled a recipe in order that there could be sufficient to feed the 2 of us.
I bought contemporary pappardelle at a neighborhood pasta store the place you should purchase, contemporary every day, pasta in bulk. I actually recognize that, as a result of I can purchase what I want, and never have small quantities of varied leftovers from prepackaged pasta that normally are available in one among 2 sizes, 10 ounce packages, or 1 pound packages. That being stated, within the case of this recipe, having somewhat bit extra, or much less, pappardelle is just not an issue, being that you could at all times alter the sauce elements a bit.
There have been 2 elements on this recipe that I used to be uncertain of, and truly wished that I may change. Being that it was a check recipe, I exercised some self-control, and solid forward, limiting myself to the recipe as written.
In the case of parsley, I’ve solely used the leaves of the plant. With cilantro, I do use the stems in addition to the leaves, however with parsley I at all times thought the stems to be powerful, and have by no means chopped them up and used them as you do right here. The stems had been a pleasant addition to the sauce, and I appreciated the thought that I used to be utilizing one thing that might have simply ended up within the compost bin.
The opposite ingredient that I silently wished to alter was maintaining the fennel seeds complete. I like fennel seeds rather a lot, however have at all times toasted them in a small forged iron pan, after which floor them. When leaving them complete, they weren’t one thing to get caught in your tooth, however ended up being little pops of taste.
In each circumstances, I realized a brand new method, appreciated the outcomes of each, and can use each of them once more.
We had been serving a Napa Valley Zinfandel with this for dinner, so I truly used 1/3 C. of that dry Zinfandel for my purple wine within the dish.
I went to 4 shops, in search of passata, strained tomatoes, together with 2 locations the place I used to purchase jars of them. I couldn’t discover them, however they’re very simple to make, no must even search them out. I drained cans of diced tomatoes positioned the drained tomatoes within the meals processor, and pulsed them until I had a pleasant chunky sauce.
The completed dish made for a comforting, bistro-style bowl of pasta. It was very simple to throw collectively, and one thing I can see making once more, particularly if I’ve a bunch of parsley that I want to discover a use for. We loved a inexperienced salad with skinny slices of purple onion and cubed beets with this dish.
