Passatelli Pasta with Brown Butter

Passatelli pasta is a specialty of Romagna as well as the northern part of neighbouring Marche and Umbria. I was introduced to it at one of my favourite Romagnolo restaurants, Osteria La Corte in San Leo, a hill town on a rocky outcrop inland from Rimini, where I always have lunch on my Emilia-Romagna food & wine tours. Passatelli is classic cucina povera, a way to use leftover bread that also tastes great. It’s traditionally made with a perforated concave metal disc with two handles that’s pressed into the dough; but extruding it through the largest disc of a potato ricer works just as well. If your dough is too firm to easily press through the ricer into the pot of water, knead it a little to soften it and/or press it out onto a plate then tip the passatelli into the boiling water. Passatelli are most often cooked and served in a clear broth, usually made from capon (castrated rooster). My recipe is inspired by the way Daniele and Paolo serve theirs at Osteria La Corte, dressed with the local cave-aged cheese (formaggio di fossa); I use Parmigiano, but any firm cheese works well. The consistency of the passatelli can vary depending on the breadcrumbs you use, and it tastes great even if the dumplings are a little soft. Very fine, dry breadcrumbs are best, so leave the bread out overnight if need be before making them. You can watch Paolo making his passatelli pasta here. I serve my passatelli with a crisp white wine to cut through the rich buttery sauce. Mouth-filling Mauro Molino Roero Arneis works a treat with its lovely floral notes and hints of apple and lemon.

Serves 4 as a starter (or 2 as a main course with salad)

Ingredients

120g very fine, fresh white breadcrumbs (4¼oz/1–1½ cups)
80g freshly-grated Parmigiano Reggiano, plus 15g extra for serving (3oz/½oz)
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
3 eggs
¼ cup plain flour (35g/1¼oz)
75g butter (2⅔oz/⅓ cup)
Squeeze lemon juice

Method

Place breadcrumbs in a food processor and blitz for a minute or so to ensure they’re fine.
Add cheese, lemon zest, pepper and nutmeg and blitz to combine.
Add eggs and blitz to form a paste.
Dust a board with half the flour, turn paste onto it and scatter remaining flour over the top.
Knead well to completely incorporate the flour into the paste.
Shape into a log, roll in any remaining flour on the board, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, overnight is fine.
Remove from fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil using 10g salt/litre water (⅓oz salt/2 US pints water).
Meanwhile, place butter in a frying pan over medium heat and cook until it’s nut brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
Once butter is brown and water is boiling, squeeze the dough through a potato ricer (fitted with the largest disc) into the boiling water, using a sharp knife dipped in the water to cut off strands about 3cm (1¼ʺ) long.
They’ll float almost immediately, let them boil for 2–3 minutes, until tender.
When passatelli are tender, return butter to a medium heat and, as soon as it starts to sizzle, add a squeeze of lemon juice then use a slotted spoon to scoop them out of the water into the frying pan. Toss to coat them well in the butter.
Transfer to a shallow bowl, layering with some of the cheese and a sprinkle of pepper as you go.
Scatter remaining cheese over the top and serve immediately.