Baked wolf's eye pasta with asparagus, roasted red pepper and romano cheese creme sauce!
Northern Italian food can be much richer than southern Italian food, especially during winter. In areas in the Italian Alps region, winter food can be very rich and hearty. Cooking influences from France, Austria and Switzerland can be noticed in some of the Italian Alps cuisine. Basically, the cuisine of any country in the Alps mountain region offers many rich old fashioned ski lodge style entrees that are meant to provide comfort, fuel and calories for staying warm during a day of skiing on the slopes. The use of cream and butter becomes more frequent in the Italian alps region, while in southern Italy, cream and butter are rarely included in a recipe. Besciamella sauce is at home in Northern Italy. The best Italian chefs that I apprenticed with never used a cream reduction to make cream sauces. They made besciamella sauce with milk and roux. Cheese sauces were always made with besciamella sauce. A few Italian chefs that I worked with, would eat no cream sauces. When asked why, they answered by saying "This is for the tourists!" Hey! Italy has been in the tourism business since the days of ancient Rome. Providing comfort to tourists is part of hospitality. Many tourists from countries north of Italy easily relate to entrees and pastas that feature a cream sauce. Any good chef offers food that sells. If the tourists prefer cream sauces, then cream sauces are made. Italian chefs have a great sense of balance when creating a special du dour. Vegetarian offerings have been high priority items in europe during recent years. Even though a cheese sauce is part of this recipe, vegetables are the featured ingredient. Dairy product tolerant vegetarians who are in cold weather areas, like ski lodge communities, occasionally do like a heavy filling cheese besciamella sauce pasta. Nothing makes a cold shivering person feel warm and comfortable as quickly as a rich cheese sauce pasta can!
Formaggi Romano Besciamella: Heat a sauce pot over medium low heat. Add 3 pats of unsalted butter. Add and equal amount of four, while constantly stirring with a whisk. Stir till the roux becomes a whitish yellow color. Add 1 1/2 cups of milk. Add sea salt and white pepper. Add 1 tiny pinch of nutmeg. Add 1 minced garlic clove. Stir occasionally as the sauce heats and till it thickens to a very thin sauce consistency. Reduce the temperature to low heat. Simmer and reduce the sauce, till it becomes a thin sauce consistency. Add 3 tablespoons of finely grated romano cheese, while stirring. Stir till the cheese melts into the sauce. The cheese will thicken the sauce to a medium thin sauce consistency. Keep the sauce warm on a stove top.
Mezzi Occhi di Lupo al forno e Asparagi Peperone a Formaggi Romano Besciamella: Cook 1 portion of mezzi occhi di lupo pasta in boiling water over high heat, till it becomes al dente. One minute before the pasta becomes al dente, add 15 to 20 thin pencil asparagus spears that are cut 3 1/2" to 4" in length. Cool the al dente pasta and blanched asparagus spears under cold running water. Drain the water off of the pasta and asparagus. Place the pasta and asparagus in a mixing bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of small diced roasted red bell pepper to the romano besciamella sauce. Add 3 pinches of minced Italian parsley to the sauce. Add enough of the sauce to the mixing bowl to coat the pasta with flavor. Toss the ingredients together. Place the mixture in a casserole baking dish. Try to arrange some of the asparagus spears on top of the pasta, so it looks nice. Spoon a generous amount of the remaining sauce over the pasta. Place 1 thick slice of plum tomato on top of the center of the pasta. Drizzle a few drops of olive oil on the tomato slice. Sprinkle a tiny amount of finely grated romano cheese over the tomato slice and the pasta. Bake the pasta in a 350 degree oven, till the ingredients become hot and a few very light golden highlights appear. The tomato slice will become tender by this time. (Do not brown this pasta or the flavor will become bitter and the asparagus spear tips will become dry!) Place the casserole dish on a serving dish. Allow the pasta to cool for 1 minute, so it becomes a safe serving temperature. Garnish with an Italian parsley sprig.
This is a very nice tasting simple baked romano cheese sauce pasta and vegetable recipe that is perfect for a cold day. This Mezzi Occhi di Lupo al forno e Asparagi Peperone a Formaggi Romano Besciamella is like pastas special du jours that are commonly sold to tourists from northern europe. This baked pasta has a nice gentle northern Italian flavor. Yum! Ciao Baby! ... Shawna
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