Passatelli and I go waaaay back, it reminds me of my childhood, of my grandma, of those cold wintery days when I was a bit sick maybe, and couldn’t ask for a better way to be pampered.
Passatelli is somewhat in between a pasta and a dumpling dough, and traditionally it’s served in a clear chicken (or beef) broth. But I decided to do a more summery version of this dish, which you can twist to your own likings (and I encourage you to do so!).
So let’s get started
List of Ingredients
For the passatelli:
panko breadcrumbs, 130 gr
parmesan, 100gr
nutmeg, 1tsp
lemon zest, 2 lemons (about 2tbsp)
eggs, 2 large (about 110-120gr)
rocket sauce (see below), 2 tbsp
chlorophyll powder (optional), 1/4 tsp
butter, 15gr
For the rocket sauce:
rocket, 100gr
mint leaves, 10gr
olive oil, 50gr
lemon juice, 2 tbsp
For the caramelized onion:
yellow onion, 1 large
butter, 15gr
olive oil, 1 tbsp
hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped, 20gr
Servings
3 people, as a main
Method
First thing to do is preparing the rocket sauce, by adding the rocket, mint and olive oil to an blender jug and blitz until smooth and creamy. add in the lemon juice and mix by hand (very important, otherwise the lemon juice starts emulsifying into the sauce, making it lighter in colour). Set aside.
Finely slice the onion, heat up the butter and oil in a sauce pan, once hot add the onion and cook on a low heat for 25-30 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onion is evenly caramelized (you decide how pale/brown you want the onion to be)
Whilst the onion is caramelizing, prepare the passatelli dough: mix all the dry ingredients on one side, and beat up the eggs with the rocket sauce on the other. The chlorophyll is totally optional, but I like to use it to enhance the green colour. Mix the two groups together until you get a kneadable dough. Add a splash of water if necessary to bind the dough till it has a smooth-ish surface. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes, covered, in the fridge. At this point you could either use a potato mash press with large holes, or, if you don’t have it, you can roll the dough into 2-3 mm thick strips, 4-6 cm long (I didn’t really pay attention to measure the stripes, as long as they were longer than 4 cm. Depends how perfected you want the look to be. Personally I like it more rustic and homemade looking).
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a tbsp of salt. Delicately drop the passatelli (the water should boil softly), and wait until they come to the surface, for 1-2 minutes. On the side, heat up a frying pan and add the 15gr of butter remaining from the recipe, to melt. Once the passatelli are cooked, using a slotted spoon transfer them into the frying pan (it’s okay with some cooking water splashed in it too) and braise them for a couple more minutes. Switch off the heat, add the rocket sauce and the onions to the pan, and gently mix together. Transfer onto the plates, dust with the chopped hazelnuts, and BON APPÉTIT!