European

This meat filling is similar to the one for cannelloni on page 165. You can use them interchangeably.

Most countertops and work surfaces are built at a height that is comfortable for chopping and mixing. The best height for kneading any kind of dough is slightly lower—at about hip level, where you can really get your weight into the kneading process. If you have a convenient surface at such a height, use it to knead dough. If not, any countertop will do—just stand back a little from the table so you’re pushing out, not down, on the dough. My grandmother’s method for kneading dough is a little different from most—she taught me to dig my knuckles into the dough in between rounds of gathering and pushing the dough. I pass that method along to you here. Even if you prepare the dough in a food processor, I suggest you finish kneading the dough by hand. Once you develop a feel for the right consistency of pasta dough, you’ll never lose it. You’ll be able to make adjustments to the kneading time or the amount of flour or water to work into a dough each time you make it.

Gorgonzola continues to age as it is stored in the refrigerator, intensifying in piquancy as it does. To slow this process down, wrap the cheese tightly in plastic wrap and store it in the coldest part of the refrigerator. This sauce is a good way to use leftover Gorgonzola cheese.

If you choose to make the manicotti with pasta squares, fill and roll them on a damp towel—it will make them easier to handle. For a lighter, thinner sauce, add a little stock to the tomato sauce or to the baking dish after you add the sauce, or don’t cook the sauce quite so much when you make it. If you have some fresh basil in the kitchen, tear some leaves and scatter them over the manicotti in the dish right before you bake them.

I always roast meats by adding some liquid to the roasting pan first, then allowing it to cook away and the meat to brown. The aromatic steam penetrates the meat before the surface of the meat is seared by the heat. Then I add more liquid as the meat cooks, to make a delicious pan sauce. Mortadella is one of those ingredients that give a tremendous amount of flavor to meat-based ravioli or cannelloni fillings. Think of mortadella as the Italian version of bologna, seasoned with Italian spices and studded, mosaiclike, with pistachios and cubes of seasoned pork fat. Thinly sliced mortadella is delicious as part of an antipasto assortment or in a sandwich. Add the mortadella to the meat and vegetables when they’re fresh out of the oven: the steam coaxes the flavor out of the mortadella. To grind the meat-and-vegetable mixture, you can use a hand-cranked meat grinder or a grinder attachment for an electric mixer. In either case, choose a disc that is fine but not too fine. Although it isn’t absolutely necessary, when I have besciamella handy, I like to stir a little into the meat filling. It helps to bind it and adds a smooth texture. You can prepare this filling with a combination of beef, veal, and pork, or with leftover roasts, like turkey, pork, or beef. If you’re making this filling with leftover meat, reheat it by simmering it with its own gravy and the porcini-soaking liquid, the soaked porcini, and some vegetables, like diced onions and celery and shredded carrots. When the meat is warmed through and moist and the vegetables are tender, season them, add the remaining ingredients, and grind as above.

It isn’t hard to make featherlight gnocchi. The main thing to keep in mind is this: the less flour you add and the less you handle the dough, the lighter the gnocchi will be. The less moisture there is in the potatoes before you start adding flour, the less flour you will need, so the following tips for making light gnocchi all have to do with removing as much moisture from the potatoes as possible: Don’t overcook the potatoes—their skins will pop open and the flesh will soak up water. Rice the potatoes while they are still quite warm and steaming—rubber gloves help. Spread the riced potatoes out in a thin layer so the steam rising from them has a chance to escape. Once you form gnocchi, they must be cooked or frozen immediately or they turn to mush. To freeze them, pop the tray with the gnocchi on them right into the freezer. When they are solid, scrape them into a resealable plastic bag.

This pasticciata can be prepared entirely in advance and refrigerated for up to 1 day. Let the refrigerated pasticciata stand at room temperature for about an hour before baking.

Stand by the pot as the sauce cooks—once it starts to thicken, it will stick to the bottom of the pan if you don’t stir it constantly. And once the bottom scorches, the flavor will permeate the sauce. If the sauce does stick and burn, immediately transfer it to a clean pot without scraping the bottom. Check the sauce, make sure it doesn’t taste scorched, then continue. Don’t let these warnings scare you away from cooking the sauce enough, though; there is nothing worse than the taste of raw flour on your tongue.

I am always telling you not to add oil to the water when you cook pasta, because it will reduce the adherence of sauce to the pasta. Cooking long, flat pasta—like these lasagna noodles—is the exception. They have a tendency to stick together when they cook; the oil will help prevent that. Inevitably, some noodles will break. Save the pieces; they will come in handy to patch the layers of lasagna. You’ll notice in the meat-sauce recipe that the final consistency of the sauce should be fairly dense. Following that pattern, I suggest you drain the ricotta first, to remove a lot of the moisture. Removing excess moisture from the ingredients will result in a finished lasagna that is more compact and intense in flavor. You may assemble the lasagna completely up to a day before you serve it, but don’t cook it until the day you plan to serve it. Lasagna tastes better and is easier to cut if it is allowed to stand about an hour after it is removed from the oven. It will retain enough heat to serve as is, or, if you prefer, pop it back in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. My favorite way to serve lasagna is to bake it and let it stand 3 to 4 hours. Cut the lasagna into portions, then rewarm it in the oven.

To keep them both intact, add the little “pockets” of ricotta and the eggplant pieces just before serving the pasta or turning it into the baking dish. It is one of the nuances in cooking that make a difference. When you take a bite of the finished pasta, you’ll get little bursts of different tastes, which you wouldn’t enjoy if the eggplant pieces were broken apart and the ricotta was mixed in with the pasta. If you choose to bake the pasta, make sure the pasta is well moistened when it goes into the baking dish—the heat of the oven will dry it out a little. You can toss little pieces of mozzarella or Fontina cheese in with the pasta before adding the ricotta and eggplant if you like. Just make sure the consistency of the pasta stays fluid and creamy.

A pound of “jumbo” pasta shells contains about thirty-six. This recipe makes enough filling for about thirty shells, so it’s likely you’ll have a few extra shells, which may come in handy, as some shells break in the box or during cooking. Be sure to cook the shells very al dente before filling them, or they will tear when you try to stuff them. Individual servings of stuffed shells make an impressive presentation. If you have enough individual baking dishes, divide the shells and sauce among them, then top with cheese, keeping in mind that you might need a little more cheese to top individual servings than is called for in the recipe.

Pesto is at its best when used immediately after it is made. However, it can be refrigerated for up to a few weeks if it’s spooned into a container, topped with olive oil, and sealed tight. If you find yourself with an abundance of basil in summer, make some pesto and store it in small portions in the freezer, where it will last for up to a few months. Frozen pesto gives great freshness of taste to hearty winter soups and pasta sauces. Long pasta shapes, like fresh tagliatelle or dried spaghetti or linguine, pair well with pesto. When dressing pasta with pesto, remember these important points: Don’t actually cook the pesto—you’ll lose its fresh quality—but warm it together with the cooked pasta for a minute over low heat. There should be just enough pesto to coat the pasta lightly. If necessary, spoon in a little of the pasta-cooking water to help the pasta and pesto glide into a bowl.