Rossella's Cooking with Nonna - Nonna Angela’s Fresh Sicilian Maccarruna with Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

For 4 Person(s)

For the Sauce:

• 10 Roma tomatoes, ends trimmed

• 2 medium carrots, peeled

• 1 small onion, whole

• 1 bunch of basil, washed

• 2 extra virgin olive oil

• 2 teaspoons sugar

For the Pasta:

• 2 1/4 cups refined Semolina flour (Rimacinata) (see link below)

• 2/3 cup tepid water

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1. To make the Sauce:

   1. Add the tomatoes, carrots, onions, basil and oil to a large saucepan. Fill with water until the ingredients are just barely covered.

   2. Bring to a boil and cover. Cook until most of the water has evaporated, about 20-30 minutes.

   3. Pass the ingredients through a strainer or a food mill into another bowl.

   4. Transfer the strained Sauce back to the saucepan. Add the sugar and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes stirring occasionally.

2. To make the Pasta:

1. Pour the semolina onto a clean work surface and make a well in the center. Add the Oil and then add the water little by little, a few tablespoons at a time. Begin to mix with your fingers, catching any water that tries to escape from the sides.

2. Keep adding the water while trying to form a uniform ball of dough.

3. The dough will be crumbly at first but will begin to come together after 5-7 minutes of kneading.

4. Once you have obtained a uniform ball of dough and the dough no longer sticks to your hands, keep kneading with the heels of your hands for an additional 7-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and soft but firm enough to hold an indentation. The end result should feel somewhat like playdo- damp to the touch but not sticky. If the dough feels too wet, dust it and your work surface with extra semolina. If the dough feels too dry, add a teaspoon of water at a time and knead it through.

5. Take a piece of dough and roll on a wooden board into a rope shape. Cut into 3 or 4 inch pieces then roll each piece onto a wooden skewer. Using the heel of your hand, roll on the board until it becomes thin. If you have trouble rolling, add a little oil to your wooden board. Extract the “maccaruni” by pulling the dough off the skewer with the palm of your hand, then place on the edge of a bowl lined with a clean cotton cloth.

6. Drop then Maccarruna into salted boiling water and cook until al dente and the Pasta begins to float to the top of the pot, about 8-10 minutes. Drain and transfer to the pot with the sauce. Toss for 1-2 minutes over a low flame and serve with a generous sprinkle of grated cheese.

Pecorelle di Pasqua 🐑

The Easter season brings a time of reflection, celebration, and new beginnings. For the past 5 years i have hosted my family for Easter dinner all while keeping on the old traditions and creating some new ones. One of the most important part of our meal is the cooked lamb however, i prefer the sweeter version of the marzipan lamb or “Pecorelle di Pasqua”. Lambs represent purity, sacrifice, and symbolize Jesus Christ (the "lamb of God") As such, the Easter sweet often comes with a flag bearing the sign of the cross, a symbol of victory over death.

But why marzipan?

Almonds come into season in October, and provide a highly nutritious, high-calorie food with a long shelf-life to see you through the winter. But in May in Sicily there’s a sudden abundance of fresh fruit that feels like nature going into frenzy. Nature comes back to life and nobody needs boring old nuts any more. So why not use them up with a celebration of Easter? It feels like a celebration of spring ending winter anyway, with its emphasis on resurrection.

This year I actually helped my nonna make her beautiful Pecorelle di Pasqua so I could learn the process and it was actually a lot easier than I thought. She started by melting sugar over ow heat, then added in the almond flour and some water. Mixed it together and we had marzipan or almond paste or “Martorana” like we call it in Sicilian. The fun part was molding the paste which we used nonnas 50 year old molds, made of plaster, that she brought from Sicily. We had to let them dry overnight so she could add the finishing touches and bring these sweet creatures to life! although it's perfect little body looks too good to eat, sometimes you just have to say a prayer and dig in! Buona Pasqua

Nonna's Sundried Tomatoes

If you haven't tried Nonna's sun-dried tomatoes, you're basically missing out on life! Oddly enough, I actually don't like tomatoes raw, I only eat them cooked or sun-dried. The combination of Nonna's TLC and that Sicilian sun give these tomatotes a flavor you won't find anywhere else.

The process starts with Nonno's picking "only the good tomatoes" from the farm. After he brings them homes, Nonna cleans them, slices them in half, lays them out on a wooden board covered in tin foil and heavily sprinkles them with sea salt. Then every morning for about 3-4 days, Nonno will set them out on the terrace where they face the direct sunlight and he brings them in around lunch time because they're "in the way". Once the tomatoes are thoroughly dried, she stretches them out, which you can see her doing in the picture below, so that they stay nice and round and flat. But the real action takes place after they bring them back to the states where Nonna stuffs them with breadcrumbs and fries them. ahhh-mazing-ly delicious!