Silvia Barban is a talented chef who loves making pasta, and she's the right person to follow to learn how to make homemade pasta from scratch.
Silvia Barban opened LaRina Pastificio & Vino in Brooklyn in 2016. Since then, she's been pulling out all the stops when serving her clientele. Nowadays, she's offering both delivery and dining in the heated outdoor accommodations in the backyard, sidewalk, and gazebo – adherent to all Covid-19 safety and social distancing regulations of course. If you’re in the area, drop by.
Through website and social media video tutorials with La Cucina Italiana, Silvia leads a pasta-centric tour of Italy's most regional recipes. The first food trip begins in Sardinia where you can watch her preparing Malloreddus with Sausage Ragù.
Malloreddus with Sausage Ragù by Chef Silvia Barban
Serves 4
* For the Pasta
Ingredients:
400g / 2½ cups semolina flour
180g /¾ ci[ warm water
2g / ½ tsp. saffron
+ extra semolina for storage and rolling
Method:
Mix everything together till smooth. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes, then create little dough snakes and cut them about 2cm then roll them out on a malloreddus board.
* For the Sausage Ragù
Ingredients:
4 pork sausages (with fennel seeds)
700g / 1 bottle tomato passata or crushed tomatoes
2 clove garlic in camicia (with skin)
1 chopped red onion
100g ½ ci[ extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon peperoncino/ dry chili flakes
100g ½ cup red wine
black pepper
Pecorino Sardo
+ extra virgin olive oil to garnish
* Utensils
Pot
Pan
Malloreddus board or a fork
Colander
Wooden spoon
Grater
Method:
Take the sausages out of the case and separate into small pieces, seasoning them with salt and black pepper. Warm up a pan, when the pan gets very hot add the sausage.
Seared the sausage as soon it takes on a nice golden color, then start to move it and with the help of a wooden spoon. Try to break the sausage into smaller pieces.
When the sausage is all the way seared, add the extra-virgin olive oil, the red wine (out of the fire), the red onion, chili flakes, and the whole garlic.
Let reduce the wine by half, then add the passata di pomodoro.
Let it cook for about 30 minutes at a low temperature covered with lit and keep stirring every five minutes. if you see that the sauce is reducing too much, just add a little more water. We want the sausage to get tender and the sauce to be flavourful.
In the meantime, bring to boil a pot of water.
After 30 minutes, take out the garlic from the sauce.
Aadd salt to the pot of boiling water. After 5 minutes add the malloreddus to cook for about 2 minutes, then strain in the sauce. Let it cook for another 2 minutes together with the sauce, if needed add more cooking water to make the perfect sauce, and right at the end when the fire is off, add the pecorino and a touch of extra-virgin olive oil. This last part is called mantecare.
Plate up the dish and add more freshly grated pecorino on top.
Recipe, video & photos Silvia Barban
Text Stefania Virone Vittor