If you haven’t had black pasta, I don’t know what you’re doing with your life.
Yes you may think it’s gross to make noodles out of a fluid that comes from a sack inside a sea creature. When I just wrote that I realized how weird that sounded. Okay, it is kind of gross, but it is so tasty and looks killer when you are presented with a plate of it.
There is a salty and rich flavour that lives in the ink that just goes so well with a light and simple sauce. The first time I made it for someone, they asked me what I thought it tasted like and I said the sea. When I worked in Italy, I had never seen something so beautiful and vivid. The black against any plate pops and accentuates the other colours of the food so well.
You can make the pasta yourself by adding a few spoonful’s into the pasta dough or it can be purchased as dried pasta from any Italian specialty store.
This past weekend I made some for a dinner party and it brought back so many memories of my time in Italy.
I made a sauce of white wine, shallots and butter, along with tomatoes and herbs from my backyard and combined it with tiny muscles and scallops. You don't want to be making any heavy sauces with this, because you will hide the squid ink's delicate flavour
Classic squid ink recipes have some of the ink mixed with tiny calamari inside a risotto. You can also combine it with a bit of flour and sparkling water to make almost a tempura like batter. This dough is then deep fried and eaten with Aioli on the side. These recipes will make you feel like you have a little bit of the Italian Riviera in in your own home!
Next time you see some black pasta at the store; don’t be afraid to get some. You will definitely be impressed.
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