Pasta Fagioli with Mussels and Olive Oil Press

Ciao friends! This week we are making Pasta Fagioli with Mussels!

Ingredients

3 tbsp Olive Oil

2 garlic cloves

mussels

1 package of pasta (small) or 10.5 ozs of left over pieces of homemade pasta

1 can fagioli borlotti

Directions

Place your mussels in a heated skillet with the olive oil and garlic cloves. Allow them to cook over a medium heat until they open and release the water. Remove the pan from the stove and allow the skillet to cool. Next you can remove the meat from each shell and set aside. Drain the juice from the pan into a bowl or directly into the food processor.

Add a half of can of beans to the food processor with the juice from the skillet and mix.
Add the contents to a pot over medium heat.

Cook the pasta for half the amount of time on the box as it will cook more in the soup.

Add the other half of can of beans to the pot with the sacue. Allow the sacue to reduce until it reaches the right consistency.
Next add the pasta and mussels then stir well. Enjoy!

I visited my friend Carlo in country town of Sabina. People come from all over to process their olives here once a year in late Fall. Enjoy the pictures of the process. You can't beat homemade olive oil!














My friend Carlo and his olives. We watched the entire process. Very interesting!

I hope you all have a great week! See you next Fabiolous Tuesday!

your Chef,

Fabio

Artichoke Pasta al Forno

I visited a farm located off the Appian Way. They were so kind as to show

me their produce and allowed me to take some home for my recipes.

If you are interested in reading more about the Appian Way: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appian_Way

http://www.parcoappiaantica.it/en/default.asp

Artichoke Pasta al Forno

Ingredients

1 package paccheri pasta

6 slices of speck

1 clove of garlic

extra-virgin olive oil

parsley

Filling:

1 egg yolk

2 artichokes

3 c parmesan

7 ozs ricotta

Bescimella Ingredients:

2 1/2 tablespoons of butter

2 1/2 tablespoons of flour

4 1/4 c of milk

2 pinches of salt

8 ozs of provolone

Directions

Remove outer layers of the artichoke until you arrive at the white part of the artichoke then cut the tip (see picture). With a tool, remove the "chokey" part. Place the artichokes in a pan and cook with oil and garlic for one minute. Add 1/3 c water and a pinch of salt. Cover the pan and steam for 20 minutes or so. Until you can insert the tip of the knife into the artichoke easily. Remove the artichokes and chop finely then let cool. Combine the cooled artichoke, egg yolk and ricotta with 1/3 c parmesan for the pasta filling. Then place in the fridge to cool.

Prepare Besciamella Sauce: melt 2 ½ ounces of butter, then add 2 ½ ounces of flour. Stir for a couple of minutes then and 4 ¼ cups of milk, the provolone and 2 pinches of salt. Stir until the besciamella is thick.

Cook the pasta in boiling water for 3 miniutes. Remove from heat and run under cold water. Fill the pasta with the pasta filling. Grease the baking dish with butter then line the sides with the speck slices. Add one layer of the filled paccheri and then add a layer of besciamella sauce. Repeat this process until the dish is full, add an additional layer of the besciamella sauce. Top it off with a layer of parmesan and cook for 30 minutes at 350°F.

Until next Tuesday!

Chef Fabio