“Life is too short, and I’m Italian. I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size zero.”

Sophia Bush might be better known for her time on the teen drama One Tree Hill, but this quote attributed to her should go down as a proverb passed from generation to generation. Whenever Michael Ferreri of Res Ipsa Cafe is on our class lineup, carb counting be damned! In case you missed it, read on for all the details.

While pasta was obviously why everyone was at COOK this rainy May night, Michael started the night with a delightful antipasti plate with black anchovies, Sicilian sardines, roasted red peppers, pickled ramps, olives, parmigiano and arugula. Not only serving as the first bites for the evening, it was also a great placeholder while pasta so-easy-you-can-make-them-at-home were being formed.

Pasta!!

If you’re here for a clean and easy pasta recipe, you’re going to be disappointed. Because Res Ipsa uses semolina flour dough, the recipe is going to vary depending on the season in which you’re cooking. Weird, right? The moisture in the air can have an effect on your pasta, so a good starting point is a 30% hydration. This means you will weigh your flour and add 30% of that weight in water. If it’s the dog days of August, you may not need more water. However, if it’s the dead of winter in Philadelphia, you’ll need the extra water. 

Starting with semolina flour and water, Michael made little crumbles of the mixture in the “bowl”. After the water is no more, bring all the excess flour over the crumbles and proceed to fold to form a ball of floury goodness. As you roll your dough ball, constantly turn it so that you’re creating gluten at an equal rate throughout the dough. From here, you can start to make your desired shapes.

The second course for our guests was cavatelli with pesto trapanese. When you see pesto, you probably think fresh herbs and pine nuts. In this case, you would only be half right. This Sicilian iteration is made with almonds instead. And the cavatelli shape helps hold the sauce in the ridges. 

Using the dough you already made, roll out a rope about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into segments about an inch long. Either grab your cavatelli board or a fork, press the piece of dough against your desired surface and roll it. The elasticity of the dough will create a little pocket while the peaks and valleys will be formed by the roll.

Following a light, herbaceous offering was a dish that takes advantage of the bountiful fruits of the sea. Anellini is somewhat reminiscent of Spaghetti-O’s – Michael admits as much. Taking a rope considerably thinner than the cavatelli, cut a piece long enough to wrap around your finger at the first knuckle. Place your hand on your cutting board, roll your hand towards your body keeping the dough in contact with the surface, and boom, you’ve started every Gen Xer’s childhood guilty pleasure. Instead of tiny meatballs though, we were treated to tender calamari and cockles with bright, sweet English peas (yay spring!). 

Sicilians have a penchant for using what’s available to them versus using ingredients that require resources to procure. It’s the main reason eggs don’t exist in most of their pasta. The same can be said for cooking with rabbit – they have a dog known for hunting them! So braising it alla pizzaiolo only makes sense as they would be making use of leftover tomatoes and sauce from the pizza making process. Michael’s choice of shape for this course are reminiscent of tiny bowls. The orecchiette were formed by cutting tine pillows of dough and flattening them with a butter knife while rolling the knife towards your body. Horray for pasta shapes!

The last savory course was about the simplest of the night: cacio e pepe with malloreddus. Malloreddus is a DOC (the Italian governing body of all things epicurean) and is as simple of the cavatelli except this shape HAS to be made with a fork. These tiny pockets of joy are perfect for this dish because who doesn’t want all the pepper, brown butter and cheese (pecorino and parmesan) in every bite. The two tricks to this dish are simple enough. First, toast your pepper. This releases oils and yields wonderful aromatics. Secondly, brown the aforementioned butter. It gives a nice nutty profile to a relatively rich dish.

Being spring and all, the strawberries in the dessert were amazing. Macerated with basil and sugar, they adorned lightly toasted polenta cake finished with toasted pistachios and creme anglaise.

After 4 courses of pasta, one can’t help but wonder if there is anything more heavenly. From light to hearty, Michael and his team at Res Ipsa know their way around Italy’s greatest export. Be sure to check them out for dinner…and breakfast or lunch. Don’t forget your favorite bottle of vino, as it’s BYOB!