PASTA 101

I am crazy about pasta and sometimes my wife says that I should be born in Italy. (laughs)
Maybe someday I must really go for some serious Italian culinary classes, but for the moment practice my basic pasta.

Lets see what pasta I am cooking today.




Taglierini alla Bottarga
(Taglierini pasta with mullet roe)

Ingredients:
Bottarga
Taglierini
Garlic
Italian Parsley
Olive oil
Red pepper
Salt
Pepper






Bottarga is a specialty in the Sardinia island, Italy. I got my bottarga when I went Taiwan, they called it "乌鱼子", and prices are relatively cheaper. Japanese also produces very good bottarga and they called it "Karasumi", but prices are also alot higher than Taiwanese. This explains why I saw many Japanese buying bottarga when I toured Taiwan.

My second time trying to cook the bottarga pasta. This time I sauteed the red pepper and minced garlic to golden brown in olive oil followed by adding the freshly boiled pasta. After mixing the taglierini in infused oil, I garnished the pasta with chopped parsley and grated bottarga. I think the whole did not blend well together and it was also a little too oily.

Regretting this way of cooking, I researched on a better bottarga recipe in the internet and I found one really good one. It was prepared by Chef Giuliano Gargani and he is the owner of the famous "Trattoria Garga" in Florence, Italy. I saw his youtube video and immediately it caught my full attention. His restaurant is also very well-acknowledged by Japanese, and he owned one at Tokyo, トラットリア ガルガ TRATTORIA GARGAS.


Youtube URL for video recipe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSfMvXTw7r8

Trattoria Garga

Location: Via del Moro 48r, Firenze
Telephone: +39 005 239 8898
Email: garga@fol.it


トラットリア ガルガ TRATTORIA GARGAS
http://www.vinvino-to.jp/gargas/

S&B Instant Pasta Sauce by Chef Ochiai

When instant food is mentioned, one will instantly think of Japan.
Japanese can proudly say that they one great inventor of instant, a good example will be instant noodles. For me, I like to explore their retort pack instant pasta sauce. Japanese creates alot of fusion with pasta, they have their special way of preparing food all over the world and never too apart from original.

In Japan, there is an Italian Chef that inspires me alot and he is Chef Tsutomu Ochiai, owner and chef of La Bettola. He loves sharing his techniques and do not over complicate method of cooking pasta. (I have watched him on TV). When I saw his collaboration of pasta sauce with S&B, I immediately bought and tried out.
The first S&B pasta sauce I bought was arrabiata pasta sauce. Arrabiata is an Italian word for Angry. Why? It was made with rich fruity ripe tomatoes, garlic, red chillies and olive oil. Simple yet packs alot of punches.
My second choice was the "Uni" (Sea Urchin) pasta sauce, I chose it because I like sea urchin. The box contained two retort pouches. One with the sea urchin and another was cream sauce. The only thing I could figure out was the difference in retort timing during the packaging process. I boiled my favourite De Cecco Fettuccine to pair with it but found out that Taglierini would be a better choice. (Taglierini picks up the sauce better) Here is the outcome of the taste, sauce was packed with flavour of the sea, a rich sea urchin sauce.

("Uni" pasta is the best seller at La Bettola)
The pack contains a good amount of sea urchin and the price is just 380円, definitely a good buy.

I really look forward to my next few purchase which will be included in one of the URL below.


S&B Pasta
http://www.sbfoods.co.jp/products/catalog/products.php?CGLCODE=00700&CGMCODE=00200&CGSCODE=00100

LA BETTOLA
http://www.la-bettola.co.jp/

De Cecco
http://www.dececco.it/EN/