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Italian Panna galore in 18th-century! |
The Mozart Pasta Series No. 3 1. Pasta à la Richelieu (1790) |
The famous recipes from the 18th-century most famous kitchens of the Italian aristocracy of Rome and Naples and other cities, at whose salons Mozart & Leopold often spent their time in 1770s. |
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DIFFICULTY: Italian Maccheroni alla Riscelieù!!! |
1. PASTA À LA RICHELIEU (1790) With the term Maccaroni, in reality, various types of pasta were generically meant. For this recipe with cream, the best type of pasta is: real maccheroni, tortiglioni, rigatoni, paccheri (in this case, better if not gratinati in oven), and penne, if you want a more Florentine nuance, being penne a favourite type of pasta in Florence (as Paolo Petroni well pointed out). But maccaroni can be also spaghetti, bavette, trenette and bucatini! Only in Naples in 1770s, when Mozart and Leopold were there, even 30 different types of pasta (maccaroni) were regularly produced! For pasta all'uovo, the rule is 1 egg (fresh, entire) for each 100gr of flour or semola di grano duro (durum wheat flour). INGREDIENTS: real maccheroni (500gr; of semola di grano duro, i.e. durum wheat flour; serving 5 persons) butter (ca 80gr; fresh, unsalted) butter (ca 50gr; to be kept melted) cream (250ml; Italian type da cucina, i.e. for cooking = with fat 20-25%) salt (2 tablespoons for 500gr of pasta) pepper (crushed) nutmeg (some grated) salt (a pinch) real Parmigiano Reggiano (abundantly grated) RAGOUT OF SWEETBREADS young goat or kid (sweetbreads=animelle, cut into big pieces) [or abbacchio] black truffle (cut into thin slices) mushrooms (100gr; St. George mushrooms or Portobello mushrooms, cut into slices; you may use either fresh or dried up mushrooms) ham (200 gr; cut into thin slices) Champagne or Alsatian white wine (ca. 1 glass) light veal stock flour (ca 50gr; until you get a thick sauce) chicken livers Chenef small meatballs (= chicken breast 100 gr + butter 100gr + dry bread + 3 egg yolks + 2 whipped egg whites) shrimps (a few small; cooked and ready to be served) 1 white onion (peeled, cut into thin rings) 2 cloves garlic (peeled and chopped into slithers) 1 little carrot (cut into round slices) rosemary lemon juice FOR GRATINATURA real Parmigiano Reggiano (abundantly grated) butter (ca. 100gr; fresh, unsalted) METHOD: 1. Prepare the real Maccheroni exactly as in the recipe for Pasta with Cream Sauce (1790): [The Mozart Pasta Series No. 1: Link]. 2. However, before Gratinatura, you must have a ragout already well cooked, to be used to create the layers of the Terrine for the Gratinatura in oven. 3. Put, into a pan, the sweetbreads, the truffle, the mushrooms, the ham, butter, onion, garlic, carrot and rosemary. Let it cook and, at some point, pour the white wine and the light veal stock. 4. Add some flour to the sauce of sweetbreads and let it simmer gently. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. 5. Almost at the end of the preparation, add the chicken livers, the small Chenef meatballs, the shrimps. Let it cook gently, until ready. 6. Add some lemon juice and the Sweetbreads Ragout is ready. 7. Now prepares the layers of the Terrine for the Gratinatura. 8. Pour half of the Maccheroni in Cream Sauce into the Terrine. At the centre, create a round hole within the maccheroni and pour the sweetbreads ragout in the hole within the maccheroni in the Terrine. 9. Now cover, with a second layer of maccheroni, the first layer of maccheroni and the hole filled with Sweetbreads Ragout. 10. Grate the Parmigiano all over the second layer of Maccheroni and then pour the melted butter all over the second layer of Maccheroni. Now the Terrine is ready for the oven. 11. Put in oven to get a beautiful Gratinatura. When the Parmigiano got au gratin well and the surface of the maccheroni gets a beautiful golden colour, it's ready to serve. |
MACCARONI ALLA RISCELIEÙ Allorché i Maccaroni saranno cotti con acqua e sale, scolateli, passateli in una cazzarola sopra il fuoco con un grosso pezzo di butirro, e finiteli come quelli al Fiore di latte, ponetene più della metà nella Terrina, fateci un buco nel mezzo, metteteci un buon Ragù ristretto di animelle di capretto con tartufi, e prugnoli, coprite col resto delli Maccaroni, coprite sopra con parmigiano grattato, aspergete di butirro squagliato; fate prendere colore ad un forno ben caldo, e servite subito. RAGÙ DI ANIMELLE Fate imbianchire all’acqua bollente delle animelle, e tagliate in grossi pezzi, o animelle di capretto, o di abbacchio imbianchite egualmente, e intere, mettetele in una cazzarola con qualche tartufo in fette, o prugnoli, secondo la stagione, o ambedue secchi bene ammollati, un pezzo di prosciutto, un pezzo di butirro, un mazzetto d’erbe diverse; passate sopra il fuoco; quando principia ad asciugarsi bagnate con vino di Sciampagna, o altro vino bianco consumato due terzi, e culì quanto basti; ovvero sbruffateci un pizzico di farina, bagnate col vino suddetto, e metà sugo, e metà brodo bianco; condite con sale, pepe schiacciato; fate bollire dolcemente. Quando il tutto sarà cotto, aggiungeteci dei fegatini di pollo imbianchiti, e bene appropriati, qualche picciola Chenef, e qualche picciolo gambero cotto, e mondato; fate bollire ancora un momento; indi digrassate, levate il prosciutto, e mazzetto, e servite con sugo di limone, o per una Terrina, o per Antremé, o per guarnire, o riempire qualche Antrè; ma in quest’ultimo caso deve essere con poca Salsa, e senza Chenef, e gamberi, e le animelle tagliate in grossi dadi. |