ITALIAN
LA SIRENA 88 9th Avenue, New York, NY
lasirena-nyc.com THE DISH
Agnolotti Cacio e Pepe Located just steps away from the bustling Chelsea Market in The Maritime Hotel is La Sirena, the latest eatery from chef Mario Batali and business partner Joe Bastianich. The restaurant serves tapas in the barroom and a traditionally-inspired Italian menu in the main dining room. Chef Josh Laurano’s Agnolotti is one of their specialities, an irresistible dish, available on both the brunch and dinner menu, which consists of pillows of handmade pasta stuffed with three different cheeses and enveloped in a decadent cacio e pepe sauce. Try this at home and it will no doubt become one of your new Italian favorites. PASTA DOUGH
4 cups all-purpose flour, or 2 cups 00 flour and 2 cups all-purpose flour 4 large eggs
(don’t worry if it looks messy). When half of the flour is incorporated, the dough will begin to come together. Start kneading the dough, using primarily the palms of your hands. Once the dough is a cohesive mass, set the dough aside and scrape up and discard any dried bits of dough remaining on the wooden board. Continue kneading for 10 minutes, dusting the board with additional flour as necessary. The dough should be elastic and a little sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature before using. TO MAKE THE FILLING
Combine flour and butter and heat in a sauté pan until butter is melted and has turned a light golden brown. Add milk and whisk until incorporated, then cook until the mixture thickens. Gradually add the grated cheese and whisk until smooth; remove from heat. Whisk in mascarpone; once smooth, incorporate black pepper into mixture. Allow to cool for twenty minutes and then transfer to a piping bag. This can be made a day in advance, since it will need at least four hours in the refrigerator to cool completely.
between each spoonful of filling to form the agnolotti. The finished pasta should resemble closed envelopes with scalloped edges on three sides. If not serving the same day, place agnolotti on a baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen, place in a sealed plastic bag and store. Pasta will keep for up to three weeks in the freezer. TO FINISH
In a sauce pot, bring well-salted water (should taste like seawater) to a rapid boil. Gently place envelopes of pasta in the water (we like to allow about 14 to 15 pieces per person) and cook for about 4 minutes. While the pasta is cooking, place two tablespoons of freshly ground pepper into a sauté pan. Add the pasta water and the butter. Slowly incorporate the butter into the pepper water until it is emulsified. Add the cooked and drained pasta to the butter mixture. Allow to cook for another 30 seconds so that the agnolotti are evenly covered in sauce. Transfer to a platter or individual plates and enjoy.
FILLING
(Can be prepared a day in advance) 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 3 cups milk 1 cup grated Pecorino Romano 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano 1 cup mascarpone 1 cup freshly ground coarse black pepper SAUCE
2 tablespoons freshly ground cracked black pepper 2 ounces pasta water 4 ounces butter, cubed TO MAKE THE PASTA DOUGH
Place the flour in a mound in the center of a large wooden board. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the eggs. Using a fork, beat the eggs together and then begin to incorporate the flour; starting with the inner rim of the well. As you expand the well, keep pushing the flour up the sides to retain the well’s shape
TO MAKE THE AGNOLOT TI
Roll out pasta dough using a pasta machine. Make sure to start on a higher setting and progressively work your way down to a lower setting. Generally, the higher the setting number, the thicker the dough will be. The dough should be thin enough that you can see the outline of your hand through the other side but not so thin that it tears easily. Once rolled out, cut dough into strips, one foot long by three inches wide. Using the piping bag, place filling by tablespoonfuls along the length of each strip of pasta, leaving a one-inch gap between each spoonful of filling (keep in mind that it’s better to under-fill than overfill). Spritz edges of dough with a bit of water, then fold dough over from left side of strip to right, covering filling to form a long tube. Gently press between the one-inch gaps to seal around the filling. With a scallop-edged pasta cutter, trim along the right edge of pasta tube lengthwise, then using the same cutter, cut perpendicularly along the gaps
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ROSE & IV Y JOURNAL
