Bedtime stories for dinner

Adam Gopnik's discussion of food in literature* and one of this week's new dishes made me think of my sister's favorite bedtime story:

ONCE upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter. They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir tree.

"Now, my dears,'' said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, "you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.''

A fan of neither savory pies nor Potter-era English cooking, I maintain that had Peter been Pietro, he would've lost his brass buttons to avoid becoming a much tastier dish:

Braised bunny
Ingredients: rabbit, olive oil, leeks, celeriac, garlic, flour, salt, pepper, white wine.
Heat olive oil in a pan. Add chopped leeks (green part), celeriac, and garlic. Add quartered rabbit, dredged in flour. Let brown. Add salt and pepper. Add white wine (until almost covered) and let it simmer on the stove for about an hour and a half.

By the way, to all you poultry-eating vegetarians out there, rabbit is white meat.

* Thanks, Elise!
Photo credit: Mark Bridge
Original caption: "Cute enough to eat (but not quite large enough)"
http://flickr.com/photos/markbridge/147757763/

Walter Mitty needs to grow a pair (pasta fresca)

Ubaldo Artini is the relative of a fellow who works with me at the restaurant. He smokes Marlboro cigarettes, drinks Becks beer, and likes to run. A past marathon winner, he has also run four ultra-marathons. In the past few years lower back pain has made him shift his focus to half marathons, the upside of which is that he has more time to spend with his three-year-old grandson, Marco

Marco's dad works with me at the restaurant, which is how I met his father in law. Right now, Ubaldo is in Antartica (running a half marathon), but when he gets back he has promised to help me join the local Italian running club and to take me with him to races on Sundays. He always rests on Saturdays and trains in the evening after work.

Ubaldo works in a warehouse.
...
Anyway, in preparation for next fall, I've been spending my afternoons making fresh pasta (and running a bit). The ingredients are simple (flour + egg) but the proportions must be flexible. Because the humidity affects the moisture retention of the flour, it's better to allow the flour to be drawn into the dough, rather than forcing it to incorporate. Thus the "bowl of flour" method.

If you decide to buy pasta at the store, you'll come across three types: teflon, aluminum, and bronze-pressed. The metal refers to the material used in making the pasta machine, which affects the texture of the pasta. For optimal sauce retention, go for bronze (most texture), but aluminum is fine. Avoid teflon. Pasta made without egg (i.e. barilla) yields a lighter noodle and less-starchy cooking water.

Pasta shape is also key to transporting the sauce from plate to mouth. In general:
- Thinner, lighter noodles will allow you to taste the subtleties of the sauce (good for truffles)
- Shaped pasta should be paired with sauces that complement their size. (i.e. sausage and broccoli rabe go well with orecchiette)
- Taglitelle goes with anything

Finally, don't break or cut your pasta into pieces. Eating broken pasta is like drinking melted ice cream.