Pasta was the theme; we went with “Tagliatelle with Caramelized Onions and Fresh Herbs” in The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (check out her 25-year-old eponymous podcast here.) This recipe is appealing because it is simple, features spring herbs, and is from an exceptional cookbook with numerous suggestions for paired dishes. I found a lone porcini at The Mushroom Shop and decided to make a raw porcini salad (from The Italian Regional Cookbook). Finally, I couldn’t help but make the “cool-weather” suggested Zabaione Jam Tart (also The Splendid Table). All courses are from Northern-to-Central Italy, keeping the dinner fairly regionally focused.

Wild Mushroom Salad (The Italian Regional Cookbook): I have made this recipe once before and loved it! The recipe uses Italian parsley as a leafy element, but I read that raw porcini is commonly served with arugula, so we decided to use that instead to keep the flavors very delicate. We sliced the porcini on a mandoline, used a mix of aged reserve Parmesan and regular Parmesan. The result was fantastic! We ate with our hands, rolling up each piece of porcini with a leaf and some salt, olive oil, and lemon.
Joe’s Rating: 7.5
Difficulty: 2

Tagliatelle with Caramelized Onions and Fresh Herbs (The Splendid Table): To start, we had to make a batch of egg pasta. The recipe for egg pasta is very egg heavy, using 4 jumbo eggs for 3.5 cups of flour and no other liquids! We did have to add a bit of water to get the consistency right, but otherwise this produced a great pasta. We also used tipo ’00’ flour instead of the stated all-purpose, figuring that in 1992 that might not have been commonly available in the states and thus excluded from the recipe. We started by making the dough by hand using the traditional mound method, then switched to a machine (a Kitchen-Aid stand-mixer attachment) to roll out the dough. Be sure to flour generously and give it time to cure.

The sauce required caramelizing onions in an interesting manner; you first steam the onions for 30 minutes and only attempt to caramelize them rapidly once they are soft and lots of their juices had escaped. I found that this worked but that it took longer than they stated to do both steps (extract juices and then caramelize them) – I’d recommend going slowly. The rest of the preparation is straightforward. Note for the interest of wine pairing that the onions and herbs include 2/3-cup of cream, but that this is not enough to make the sauce “cream based”. The resulting dish was excellent – herbal, fresh yet satisfying.
Joe’s Rating: 7
Difficulty: 6

Zabaione Jam Tart (The Splendid Table): Finally, we get to dessert. The Zabaione is made with Marsala fortified wine, giving it a liquor note that is distinctively Italian. It also uses 6 large egg yolks for 6-8 servings, making it very rich. The pastry is also referred to as a “cookie crust” – keep this in mind when deciding how much to mix it. I opted to mix the dough very little, trying to get a flake like a biscuit; however, this makes the dough difficult to roll and fit into the tart pan. That is OK if you don’t mind building the crust in the pan, otherwise mix more thoroughly. The prune-jam flavor paired excellently with the zabaione. Yum!
Joe’s Rating: 7.5
Difficulty: 6