Mafalde Florentine Style
Mafalde Florentine Style
I was looking for a pasta recipe, preferably one that used something other than a tomato-based sauce. They’re my personal favorites, but it was definitely time for a change.
In the end, it was the “mafalde” in the “Mafalde Florentine Style” recipe in Lidia Matticchio Bastianich’s “Commonsense Italian Cooking” that caught my eye. Mafalda (pictured above) is a popular Argentinian cartoon character. I don’t know if she’s named for mafalde, a ribbon shaped pasta with wavy edges that looks like narrow lasagna noodles, but given that more of half of all Argentinians are-at least in part-of Italian descent, that may well be the case.
While Mafalda is as ubiquitous in Argentina as the Peanuts gang is in the United States, this recipe will, when I finally track it down, be a first for mafalde. Until then, I’ll follow the author’s advice and use fettuccine, a similarly shaped pasta -minus the wavy edges-that’s readily available.
Mafalde Florentine Style
Serves 6
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the pot
1/4 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
One 5-ounce bag fresh spinach, chopped
1 pound malfalde or fettuccine
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 cups drained fresh ricotta 1/2 cup grated Grana Padano or Parmigiana Reggiano
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for pasta. Soak the raisins in hot water to cover for 10 minutes, then drain.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the pine nuts, and cook, stirring, until toasted, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach, and season with the salt. Once the spinach is in the skillet, start cooking the pasta.
Let the spinach cook until wilted, about 3 or 4 minutes, then ladle in 1 cup pasta water and add the raisins and nutmeg. Simmer until the pasta is almost ready.
Stir the ricotta into the sauce over low heat. Remove the pasta with tongs , and add directly to the sauce. (Add a little more pasta water if the pasta seems dry. Remove the skillet from the heat, stir in grated cheese, and serve.
Adapted from a recipe in Lidia Matticchio Bastianich’s “Lidia’s Commonsense Italian Cooking” (Borzoi Books, $35)