If you are ever in LA be sure to plan a special restaurant meal in advance - plan in advance because reservations are a must. With Osteria Mozza Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich meld their prodigious talents. With the commitment to product, environment and hospitality, the unique but equally engaging concepts provide dynamic templates for displaying the group's profound passions. This fancy talk from the restaurant's website means you'll eat extremely well prepared meals made with locally sourced ingredients which leave a limited environmental footprint.
What it doesn't say is that you'll be eating one of the best meals you have ever eaten.
One of the most popular items on their menu is the Orecchiette with sausage and Swiss chard a dish created by Silverton herself. This raises a challenge for the unsuspecting cook as Silverton is notorious for perfection and making everything from scratch. With the original version of this recipe Silverton calls for homemade orecchiette, sausage, chicken broth,bread crumbs, fennel pollen that you had gathered yourself . . . in fact it would take a minimum of two days to pull a plate of pasta together.
The average home cook just can't do that.
A few weeks ago when Adam, of Amateur Gourmet, fame posted a revised version of this recipe I immediately decided to try it out. Even with Adam's revisions it took a bit of time to pull together but the results were amazing - catapulting it high on the list of the best things that I have eaten this year.
Now about fennel pollen - In an article for Saveur magazine, Peggy Knickerbocker wrote, "If angels sprinkled a spice from their wings, this would be it." It takes many fennel flowers to produce even a small amount of the pollen, making this spice almost as costly as saffron. The flavor is incredible, like taking the fennel seed, sweetening it and then intensifying it a hundred times. Fennel pollen is very popular in Italy where they make fennel pesto or mix it with olive oil for bread.
Whenever I have been in Italy fennel pollen was out of season and the precious crop had already been snapped up. SIGH Imagine my excitment when I was last in California visiting Palma and Brad and I popped into the Savory Spice Shop outlet in Palm Desert and found a bottle there! I had no idea what I was going to do with it, I only knew I could NOT live without it. Having tasted it with this pasta I can see why chefs and cooks in the know go wild over it.
Orecchiette with Fennel Sausage and Swiss Chard
1 bunch Swiss chard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1/2 large yellow Spanish onion, thinly sliced
12 garlic cloves, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 dried arbol chiles
1 pound sweet Italian sausage taken out of the casing
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (optional; chile flakes are a nice alternative)
1 cup basic chicken stock (homemade or boxed or you can substitute 1/4 cup salted pasta water mixed with 1/4 cup plain water)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kosher salt
12 ounces orecchiette or a similarly shaped pasta
3 tablespoons finishing-quality extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
2 teaspoons fennel pollen (optional; I couldn’t find it but I don’t doubt it’d make things taste even better and more unusual)
2 tablespoons toasted bread crumbs
Start with the chard. After washing carefully, pull the leaves from the ribs. Roughly chop the leaves and set aside. Cut off and discard the very ends of the ribs and slice the ribs 1/4 inch thick.
Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add the ribs, season with salt, and saute for 2 to 3 minutes until just translucent (not at all brown). Add the onion, garlic, and chiles and season with salt. Saute the vegetables for 10 minutes, adding water to the pan (up to 1 cup), stirring often to prevent the vegetables from browning. Add the chard leaves, season with salt, and fold the leaves in with the onion for 1 or 2 minutes to wilt slightly. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring now and again, until the leaves are very dark green.
Turn the vegetables out onto a cutting board and chop in all directions until you have a homogenous mixture (almost like a puree).
Now heat a saute pan over high heat. Add the sausage with a splash of olive oil and cook until the meat starts to sear. Break it up with a spoon into pea-size pieces and cook until it’s browned on the outside and cooked on the inside. Add the chopped chard and cook for 2 to 3 minutes to warm it through. Sprinkle the pepper over the sausage, add the chicken stock, and cook the sauce for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, to bring the ingredients together. Add the butter, stir until it melts, and turn off the heat while you cook the pasta.
Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted, rapidly boiling water. About 1 minute before the pasta is done, place the sauce back on high heat. Lift the pasta out of the water and add it to the pan with the sauce. Cook the pasta with the sauce together for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the sauce is thick, adding fresh water to the pan if the pasta looks dry or sticky instead of slippery and glistening.
Turn off the heat and stir in the finishing quality olive oil, the Parmesan, fennel pollen (if using). Spoon into warmed bowls and top with the breadcrumbs.
Comments