In Praise of Pasta Secca. Part III. Why Pasta Is Your Friend or The Food That Unites.
Variations for that Simple Tomato Sauce.
When I was in high school, I poached an Italian exchange student from another family and we adopted her as our own. She began asking me for things like tins of tuna to concoct small pasta meals for herself in a home where my divorced mother who was running the show on her own, would leave our dinner aided by some processed food stuff on the stove. As I became more familiar with Italian food culture, I realised how difficult this experience must have been for Roberta, who during her S.A.D. stay in America, added some weight to her slight athletic frame.
In my mid 20’s, I was a guest in Roberta’s family home and during that long winter in Trento, I learned so many things about food and about myself. I was already knee deep in my Italian love affair and delighted to participate in the natural rota of the mindfully cooked whole food meals that we enjoyed for both lunch and dinner where pasta was consumed more often than not. I watched Roberta’s mother carefully measure out each portion (an average of 80-100g for an adult), and so for the first time in my life, while sometimes switching to whole wheat pasta on a notion, I did the same.
This became the beginning of one of the two accidental Italian weight loss moments in my life, and these happenings both occurred when I was consuming pasta on a regular basis. When, for the first time in my adult life, I sat down to eat regular, mindful, home cooked whole food meals. The second time was down South, when we moved to Calabria as I headed into my mid 30’s. When during our extended stay with Nonna Mimma, I was served carefully measured plates of now gluten free pasta as part of her abundant vegetable laden Mediterranean table. What do these unintentional experiences have in common? Intentional eating and portions as well as variety and fibre in the form of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil and lean protein. While regional and seasonal traditional foods reflected each territory at opposite ends of the boot, what remained the same was the framework, the rhythm, the structure, the timing, the shape and certain ingredients. Recipes for SLOW EATING + SLOW LIVING in both places at different times to include afternoon naps and movement in the outdoors and sunshine on both hot and cold days. Lowering stress, nurturing healthy gut microbiomes and regulating nervous systems.
PASTA’S BAD WRAP
But this post isn’t about weight loss or weight gain, it’s about how food in its many forms has the power to create illness or health on a personal, community and global level. It is also about how vilified plates of pasta and carbohydrates in general can contribute to wellness on both a physical and spiritual level. There are a million and one scientifically proven diets in this world with studies to back them, and thanks to these limiting theories, we have a confusing food culture of deprivation where people believe that pasta and carbs in general cause weight gain and poor health. And yes, indeed they can, but pasta, when chosen and eaten in proportion to your individual needs, at a table with people you love, can be your best friend.
BIO-INDIVIDUALITY, A HOLISTIC VIEW OF A PERSON
Bio-individuality is a concept that respects and views a person from a holistic point of view, telling us that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to health and nutrition. Instead, each individual has their own unique biological makeup that requires individual dietary, lifestyle, community and spiritual elements which are ever changing throughout our lifecycles.
I whole heartedly stand behind this concept, which also applies to grains and pseudocereals. Dictated by genetic, personal and environmental factors, there are some people who will thrive on all or certain types of grains when prepared and cooked properly and some people who just cannot tolerate them at all. As with any type of produce, a considered or unconsidered consumption can help a person thrive or make someone incredibly unwell. For most people, whole grains can create energy and wellness when integrated into a balanced diet.
WHEN THE GRAIN CHANGED
The white and often chemically treated processed flour and the resulting products that we know today are a very modern phenomenon. Humans have been consuming and domesticating whole grains for tens of thousands of years in various forms such as corn, rice, wild rice, sorghum, rye, barley, oats, teff, millet, wheat varieties and pseudocereals to form cultural and economic backbones that have connected us as a species. It was a biodiverse world, where rural rituals and rites were developed to process and consume crops in ways that maintained vital nutrients and supported the land. When the industrialisation of pasta was introduced, – bran, fibre, B vitamins and oils were stripped from the wheat kernel to create a whiter, more fashionable, shelf stable, yet anemic product. The cause was major nutritional deficiencies within the population that demanded the nutritional fortification of these new goods. Maria Giuseppina Truini Palomba in her book ‘La cucina sabina’ captures this phenomenon within the early 20th century as a mirror for the rest of society where modern soft white processed flour and industrial pasta and bread represented the innovative future, and wholegrain varieties represented a poor and slowly fading rural past.
‘Eggs were used for bartering, to obtain goods which weren’t available. Pasta was always homemade with water and flour, or made with bread dough. During the holidays, fresh pasta with eggs was made, or ‘la pasta compra’, that is, the one from industrial production that was bought as a half kilo, wrapped spaghetti in straw paper after being broken in half, or, if the pasta was short in paper husks. Even white bread was a luxury, in fact everyday bread was dark because it was made with semolina or corn or barley flour or mixed with flour from other cereals. And sometimes they even added potatoes. The daily meal consisted of only one plate, a main course, generally a hot soup eaten in the evening, or in the evening reheated and served on pieces of bread.’
The spectrum of the Italian soft wheat flour world, with its varying culinary uses and the assignment of 5 refining grades ranges from Type 00, 0, 1, 2 to wholemeal carrying a different glycemic index and nutritional content based on each grade. Tipo ‘00’ carries the highest glycemic index and wholemeal carries the lowest. Durum wheat, which contains more protein, absorbs more water and has a greater satiating power also carries a lower glycemic index expecially when cooked al dente.
In an excerpt from La Cucina Italiana, Giorgio Donegani, Italian expert in Nutrition and Food Education as a Member, former President and Scientific Director of Food Education Italy, tells us why it is also important to consider the sauce:
‘For us Italians, pasta is a major source of carbohydrates. In fact, it makes little sense to talk about pasta without considering how it is served, because the sauce can affect its nutritional profile, improving its balance, even turning it into a (nutritionally) complete main course.’
PASTA NORTH AND SOUTH
And in La Cucina Italiana’s pasta volume 2 as part of their ‘Passione e Tradizione a Tavola’ series, we see similar thoughts reflected around the more luxurious consumption of la pasta all’uovo.
‘Homemade egg pasta, made mainly with soft wheat flour, was historically born after that of durum wheat semolina: eggs, in fact, in a "poor" diet like that of the past, were rarely consumed. The tradition of egg pasta probably originates in the North of our country where, for climatic reasons, the cultivation of durum wheat was more difficult than that of soft wheat. Furthermore, in the peasant economy of the past, eggs were very precious in the South, a food sometimes used as bargaining chips: in those countrysides the hens did not produce eggs during the winter, they started again at Easter, while in the North the they laid all year round, so they could be used in the kitchen without economy.’
IS IT THE END OR THE BEGINNING
Today we can find pasta secca in so many forms. It is amazing how this world has evolved even in the last ten years – next to the now classics, we find combinations made from ancient, pseudo, and gluten free grains as well as pulses and legumes. There are all kinds of choices to be made around pasta that are worth considering in our daily lives. Like so many, we find pasta very handy in feeding our whole family mostly at lunchtime. Our children don’t benefit from a warm meal at school, so most days we lunch together when they get home. With this ingredient, we often make some of their favourite and most satisfying meals. We are not purists, we also use a variety of everything that has been mentioned here. Small shifts within our personal possibility can create great change even when it comes to the act of preparing a plate of pasta with a simple sauce.
PLAYING WITH YOUR SAUCE. ON TOP OF IT ALL.
These recommendations are not my own inventions, they are just methods adjusted to what I have absorbed over the years through various means and now, if you do not have your own recipes, then I hope that these ideas will inspire you.
First.
For 4 people, depending on the course, I typically make between 350/400g of pasta to 400g of tomatoes, fresh or canned. My choice for a canned tomato is always a high quality San Marzano.
I bring a medium/large pot of water to a boil so that the pasta has room to move and I salt it with a small handful of sale grosso or big salt and I add the pasta when it comes to a boil again cooking according to instructions, testing along the way and draining when al dente. I start this procedure once I get the sauce going so as not to arrive with over cooked pasta and under cooked sauce.
Then to a medium heavy bottomed sauce pan you can add a combination of the following:
1 small onion, cut in half, thinly sliced or finely chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, whole, thinly sliced or finely chopped
1 small stick of celery, whole or finely chopped
1 small carrot peeled, whole or finely chopped
Small handful of fresh basil torn on the spot
1 small handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1-2 good pinches of fresh marjoram
A good sprinkle of wild dried oregano
½ - 1 small peperoncino crumbled
Quality extra virgin olive oil, a few good glugs
Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
To serve: Finely grated Parmigiano or Pecorino Romano
Then.
Gently warm a thin film of oil over low heat in the said pan and go:
Recipe 1.
Add onion and/or garlic as desired above, lightly season and cook until transparent. Add the tomatoes crushing with the back of a wooden spoon. Tear in some basil and/or crumble in some dried oregano.
Recipe 2.
Add a battuto of chopped celery, carrot, onion, garlic, parsley and/or marjoram. Lightly season and cook until soft. Add the tomatoes crushing with the back of a wooden spoon.
Recipe 3.
Add tomatoes directly to the oil immediately crushing with the back of a wooden spoon. Add one or two halves of small onion, the whole peeled carrot, the stick of celery and some torn basil leaves and/or chopped parsley. Lightly season and continue as noted below. When the sauce is cooked some will run all ingredients through a food mill, but I simply remove the whole vegetables or crush them in a rustic way (as they should be very soft) into the sauce with the back of a fork.
Finally.
Gently simmer the now assembled sauce on low, half covered, for 20 -30 mins, adding some pasta cooking water to loosen if it reduces too much or cook it a bit longer if it needs to reduce more. Check and adjust seasoning if necessary. Drain your pasta (reserving water always if needed) and add it to the sauce. Toss gently, plate and serve with finely grated cheese or not. Listen for noises of instant satisfaction.
NOTES:
Chopped and sliced things give you more flavour, whole things bring a more gentle flavour and can be removed
I always add the peperoncino to the oil together with the vegetables
When I cook with celery sometimes I finely chop in some of the leaves as well
Sometimes I add a little drop of white wine after I add the tomatoes
Use versions of these sauces as a base for building other recipes. Please do not hesitate to use your own creative combinations with all ingredients listed above.