One of the guilty pleasures that I have never, up to now, revealed to a living soul is my penchant for late-night pasta snacks. But not just any pasta, but a pasta risottata: pastina of the kind usually used for soups, cooked like a risotto, in just enough liquid (usually a mixture of water and milk) so that by the time the liquid has almost evaporated, the pasta if cooked and a creamy ‘sauce’ remains. I enrich the dish with a dab of butter and a spoonful of grated cheese just before pouring the concoction into a bowl and eating it greedily with a spoon.
I have always kept my love of this little mock baby-food to myself. After all, serious foodies do not indulge in such trifles, right? And, worse still, the method violates just about every traditional rule about the proper preparation of pasta.
But then, not so long ago, while shopping for some new cookbooks in Rizzoli in New York, I stumbled across a book that a friend from Rome had heartily recommended to me, Cuochi si diventa by Milanese gastronome Allan Bay. As I leafed through the book, I found a chapter entitled “Mania dell’autore: la pasta a risotto” and, lo and behold, I found recipes for something very much like my late-night pastina…
Ingredients
For a single late night snack
- 100g (3-1/2 oz) pastina
- 1/2 medium onion, finely minced
- A nob of butter
- Broth or water, q.b.
- 25g (1 oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Optional:
- A bit of vegetable, meat or fish, cut into small strips or cubes, as a condimento
Directions
You begin with a soffritto of minced onion sweated in butter, then if you like add whatever condimento you wish—this time I used swiss chard leaves finely cut into a chiffonade—and allow it to insaporire (absorb the flavor of the soffritto) for a few minutes.
Then add your pasta—I used orzo, known in Italy as risoni—and just enough broth or water to cover the pasta. (NB: Unlike a risotto, there is no need to allow the pasta to ‘toast’ nor to add wine.)
As for any risotto, after the initial liquid evaporates, you add successive ladlefuls of liquid as needed, until the pasta is al dente. By this point, most but not all of the cooking liquid should have evaporated.
Add grated cheese, mix well and serve your pasta risottata immediately.
Notes
Bay says that this technique will work with any kind of pasta. That said, I usually stick to various forms of pastina: tubetti, orzo, quadretti, broken up fidelini and so on. Orzo is perhaps the best choice, at least if you want to imitate the look and feel of a true risotto. After all, the pasta known as orzo in the US is also called risoni, or ‘big rice grains’.
Lately, the technique has become popular for use with long pastas like spaghetti and spaghettini. Popular long paste risottate include the currently trendy spaghetti all’assassina from Puglia and spaghettini all’acqua di limone e provolone from Campania. You should avoid bulky pasta shapes like rigatoni. They won’t cook evenly in the relative small amounts of liquid required for this technique. As a general rule, the pasta should be small enough that it is fully immersed in liquid to start.
Thicker pastas are sometimes parboiled beforehand for say 2-3 minutes. This reduces simmering time since the longer you simmer, the more starch will be drawn out of the pasta. Too much and your pasta risottata will turn out gummy rather than creamy.
Cooking liquid
As for the liquid, as for risotto you can use any type of broth you like. Or just water if the condimento is flavorful enough.
Condimenti
And as far as the condimento is concerned, as for risotto, the possibilities are practically endless. Bay proposes a cacio e pepe (see this post for the pasta recipe). He also enjoys condimenti with zucca (Italian pumpkin) potato and provola cheese, as well as with mussels and cherry tomatoes.
That said, this technique lends itself to relative light sauces better than more ponderous ones. A ragù for example, would become impossibly ponderous. And sauces that already starchy, like béchamel, are guaranteed to come out gummy.
More on Allan Bay
Despite his Anglo-Saxon name, Allan Bay is Milanese born and bred, having got his last name from his English father. He’s a regular food columnist for the Corriere della Sera and a professor at the University of Pavia. Bay is known in Italy as something of an iconoclast. Indeed, Cuochi si diventa is a rather quirky cookbook—definitely not for the traditionalist. Still and all, it is heartening to see my ‘secret’ technique for pasta risottata endorsed by one of Italy’s great gastronomes!
Post Scriptum
Since I wrote the above post way back in 2010, pasta risottata has really come up in the world. From a niche taste then, it’s all the rage today. And it has become more or less standard practice now to finish off boiled pastas for a minute or two, or even more, by simmering them in the sauce. A kind of pasta semi-risottata.
The technique has become so common I think its at risk of overuse. There are limits to the technique and, if overused, it can become rather monotonous. But that’s a topic of its own, the subject of another post…
Pasta risottata
Ingredients
- 100 g (3-1/2 oz) pastina
- 1/2 medium onion finely minced
- A nob of butter
- Broth or water q.b.
- 25 g (1 oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Optional:
- A bit of vegetable meat or fish, cut into small strips or cubes, as a condimento
Instructions
- Sweat minced onion in butter, then add the vegetable, meat or fish, such as swiss chard leaves finely cut into a chiffonade. Allow it to gently sauté for a few minutes.
- Add your pasta and just enough broth or water to cover the pasta.
- As for any risotto, you add successive ladlefuls of liquid as the prior ones evaporate, until the pasta is cooked al dente. By the end, most but not all of the cooking liquid should have evaporated.
- Add grated cheese, mix well and serve immediately.
10 Comments on “Pasta risottata (Pasta Cooked in the Manner of Risotto)”
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Incredibile! I thought I was the only one on earth (or at least in Rome…) who loved midnight “pasta a risotto”. I began this (unealthy ?) practice even before reading the excellent Allan Bay's cookbook. My usual recipe is rather tomato-based, but this is a marginal detail.
I love this pasta because it is so fast and tasty… no need to sneak around about it!!!
This sounds exactly like the sort of thing I would crave late at night, after everyone else was in bed. The creamy, savory flavor sounds so comforting.
I thought I was the only one sneaking into the kichen late at nite – crumbled cornbread in a glass covered with cold milk (I don't belive I just wrote that) ….LOL
This sounds SO delicious. I have many types of small pasta that I need to use – what a great way. This might actually curb my 3AM growlies! Thanks for sharing your “secret”.
This sounds great and fast!!! I love risotto but don't always have the time to prepare it and I love the addition of the Swiss chard. ~LeslieMichele
Pastina has been our little family secret for years. You cannot get it in Minnesota, so whenever we go to New York, we come home loaded with pastina. Love this with orzo – simple but packed with flavor.
Don't worry Frank! We all have our little secrets … your pasta habit doesn't seem so bad. Quite delicious, in fact. ; )