This recipe marks the 10th that I've completed in this cookbook. And it was good. Really good.
I know what you must be thinking, 'another pasta recipe so soon?' But it just so happens that I love pasta and it's really hard to find a good plate of it around this area.
I don't want you to get the wrong impression that this book is only pasta, dessert, and a few simple sides. I just happened to be craving some pasta today, so I flipped through the pages and this recipe happened to jump out to me. Plus, as I've said in the last post, I will be able to use some of the rich chicken stock that I just made for this dish.
It is also the first time that I have tried Ricotta Salata. Ricotta Salata is a salted, dried, and aged type of Ricotta cheese. It can be made with milk from a variety of different animals, but the one that I bought was made with sheep's milk. Being harder than traditional ricotta, it is usually shaved or grated. To find this variety, I had to go to my trusty Whole Foods Market a few towns over from my house.
I just love Whole Foods Market, and I plan on upgrading my food blog purchases to have come mainly from this store. Not to sound like an advertisement, but they have so much more of a variety then my Stop & Shop down the street and frankly the quality is so much better. Stop & Shop is good for the basics, but when it comes to any sort of specialty items like the ones that you will find in this cookbook, I am going to need a better place to shop. Their staff is so much more knowledgeable and friendly than what you'll find in other stores, and if you have questions about any of their products they are always willing to help or let you try a sample to see if you will like it. Check them out if you have a store in your area and you'll be surprised at the level of quality that they offer.
As Mario explains in the notes for this recipe, the five lilies are in reference to the five different kinds of onions that are used which are all in the allium family. It really is the lily family, which is where he gets the clever name.
I started by slicing some Vidalia onions into 1/4 inch rings.
These get sautéed until golden brown. Then set aside.
Here's a picture of the ingredients for the next step. After melting some butter (or olive oil), I start to sweat the garlic, leeks, red onions, and scallions.
Now is a great time to drop the rigatoni in some salted boiling water. I like Barilla pasta, but you could use whatever kind you wanted. Mario has his own line of pasta available and I am really eager to try it.
Once the onion mixture is softened, I added a little of the homemade chicken stock. It gets reduced down until nearly evaporated. You could substitute the chicken stock for homemade vegetable stock or water.
I then drained the rigatoni when it's just shy of al dente and added it to my onion mixture. Letting it cook that last minute in the pan will cause the pasta to absorb the flavors as it becomes al dente. I put a splash of the pasta cooking water in the pan at this point as well, because my pan juices were a little too reduced. With the sun setting, it was damn near impossible to get the lighting right for the picture.
To finish, I threw in the chopped parsley and chives, grated some of the Ricotta Salata over the pasta, and drizzled in some extra virgin olive oil while the pan is off the heat.
This was so simple yet so tasty. I loved the taste contrast of the different onions. This is definitely something I would make again.
As the 10th recipe comes to a close, it also reminds me that there is just 10 days left until my wedding. I'm just a bundle of nerves and excitement right now! The days are just flying by. I'm really going to have to scrape for time to make another blog entry before the big day. But I think I should be able to find something.
Until next time...
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