You may find yourself dusting off your hand-cranked pasta machine after thumbing through Erica de Mane's Pasta Improvvisata. She has taken pasta in one hand, tradition in the other, and pulled together an inspired cookbook. This book is about cooking. Sure, there are plenty of recipes, but each recipe is a point of departure that encourages inspired cooking.
Goat cheese and basil pair beautifully, and I'm always experimenting with different ways to put them together. Here I've placed cheese-filled baked summer tomatoes on to of a pesto-dressed pasta. The tomatoes look like little eggs sitting in their nests. When the tomato juices mix with the basil, garlic, and goat cheese, you get all the taste of high summer in one bite. The success of this dish depends greatly on superb basil from your farmer' market (or your garden) and plump, juicy tomatoes that have never seen the inside of a refrigerator.
Makes 4 main-course or 6 first-course servings
For the pesto:
About 1/2 cup pine nuts, plus a handful, lightly toasted, for garnish
1 or 2 young garlic cloves, peeled
About 2 loosely packed cups basil leaves, washed and well dried
About 1/4 cup freshly grated mild Pecorino cheese (Toscano is good here)
About 1/4 cup freshly grated Grana Padano cheese
About 1/2 cup olive oil (I like a green Tuscan oil for pesto, but a lighter oil form Liguria is more traditional)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
For the tomatoes:
One 11-ounce log unaged goat cheese
About 1/4 cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
4 to 6 small round tomatoes (1 per serving: 4 for main course or 6 for first course)
Olive oil
1 pound spaghetti
In a food processor, place the pine nuts and garlic and chop roughly. Add the basil leaves and process a few seconds, until they can start to break down. Add the cheeses and blend everything until you have a rough, dry paste. Now add enough olive oil (about 1/2 cup) to achieve a rich, smooth paste. Season with salt and pepper and process a second to blend. I like pesto not too finely ground, but instead with a bit of texture. I think this gives it a brighter flavor.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
To prepare the tomatoes, mix the goat cheese with enough cream to make it soft and spreadable. Season with pepper and if needed, salt. Cut the top off the tomatoes and scoop out the insides. Salt lightly and place, cut side down, on paper towels to drain for 20 minutes.
Spread a little pesto on the inside of each tomato and fill to the top with goat cheese. Place the tomatoes in a lightly oiled baking dish. Drizzle a little olive oil over each one and bake until the tomatoes start to shrivel and the cheese is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. (Don't cook them any longer or at a lower temperature. You want them to cook quickly to retain their shape and juiciness.)
Cook the spaghetti until al dente, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta cooking water. Drain, leaving a bit of water clinging to the pasta, and transfer to a large serving bowl. Toss with the pesto, adding a bit of pasta water if necessary to loosen the pesto further. Divide the pasta among individual bowls and place a tomato in the middle of each serving. Top with a sprinkling of toasted pine nuts. Serve hot. The tomatoes are best served hot, but they can also be served warm on top of the hot pasta. The main point is that the goat cheese should be warm enough to be runny so it can blend easily with the pesto and tomato juices.
Ideas: Italians love to stuff vegetables, and many of the classic stuffed-vegetable dishes I've found, are wonderful placed on top of a dish of pasta, creating multilayered tastes. Stuffed zucchini or stuffed zucchini flowers are delicious over pasta in tomato sauce. Classic mushrooms stuffed with garlic and bread crumbs look and taste great on top of a dish of pasta with mushroom sauce over spaghetti dressed with a parsley-flecked aglio e olio (garlic and oil sauce).
When choosing vegetable to stuff and serve over pasta, think small - mushrooms, small tomatoes, small onions, and zucchini blossoms are good choices. Large vegetable like bell peppers, glove artichokes, and large tomatoes will overwhelm the pastas and are best served as a separate course.
