Dunderi - Ricotta Pastaling

Today the power went out, but thankfully we have a gas stove and since there was nothing to do I decided to make some pasta that doesn't require a pasta machine. I started watching a series called "Two Greedy Italians" to get a better idea of what non-pasta Italian cuisine is. Dunderi is like an ellipse of ricotta, parmesan and flour so it's kind of like a pasta dumpling? A pastaling?

This will be a partial episode of Foodboxing, since we got a large box of produce on Tuesday with an interesting special ingredient.

Dunderi Ricotta Pasta Dumplings (Pastalings) as written down from episode 1 of Two Greedy Italians
Printable Recipe

Dunderi Ingredients
200g flour (After looking this up, it is about 1.6 cups of sifted flour)
A little more flour for dusting dough/work surface
220g ricotta cheese
3 egg yolks
20-30g parmesan cheese
A pinch of nutmeg
A pinch of salt and pepper
A pot of salted boiling water.

Sauce 
1 red chili, chopped, seeds and all (I used red pepper flakes)
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
Olive oil
2 cans of diced tomatoes
A generous handful of basil, chopped

Preparation


Get the water in a pot and on the stove. Combine ricotta and egg yolks in a bowl with a fork. Mix in parmesan, nutmeg, salt, pepper. Add flour and use your hands to combine ingredients into a ball of pasta dough. Lightly flour a work surface and knead just a teensy bit more. Slice the ball into about 1 inch slices. Roll each piece into a roll. Lightly flour the tops. Slice the rolls into little pieces. Guests might think they look like pieces of banana.

Start on the sauce. Put some olive oil into a hot pan. Toss in the garlic and chili. Add the tomatoes. Stir briefly then add the basil.

Put the dunderi into the boiling water and cover for 3-4 minutes. Eventually they will rise from the bottom and start to float.
Remove the dunderi from the water with a slotted spoon and mix into the sauce pot. Make sure they get all covered in the sauce. Serve with fresh grated parmesan.


This was surprisingly easy and quick to make. It was also very different from any pasta I've ever had. It had such a natural taste with an incredibly fresh and aromatic sauce. One of my friends and I discussed how home made sauce doesn't quite pack the same kind of kick that store bought sauces do. I'm guessing our salt content is much, much lower or perhaps these home made sauces taste better the next day? I'll find out tomorrow at lunch.

it battles and devours me

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