Just past the onerous rush of Viale Marconi, within the quieter By way of Gerolamo Cardano, is a well-liked bakery known as Albanesi il forno delle meraviglie, that means “the oven [or bakery] of wonders”. Established in 1959 by Aldo Albanesi, and now run by his sons Adriano and Alessandro, Albanesi is wondrous additionally for its measurement. Behind an 11-window shopfront lies virtually 500 sq m of store flooring, and a small maze of laboratories during which virtually every little thing that may be made is made: bread, pizza, pies, muffins, biscuits, contemporary egg pasta, sauces, baked pasta and different dishes which might be able to eat. The snake of glass-fronted counters additionally maintain cheese, different dairy merchandise, cured meats, and greens and olives preserved in numerous methods, whereas the cabinets are full of on a regular basis provisions of fine and sensible high quality. It is a store with one thing for everybody.
It additionally sells acini di pepe, a tiny pasta formed like peppercorns and manufactured from durum wheat, and pastina, one other small pasta used largely in soups or for stuffing into greens. Acini di pepe was the explanation we first visited the store six years in the past, on the advice of a colleague, and at a time once I was writing a e-book about pasta and subsequently making an attempt to get my arms on as many shapes as doable. On that first go to I purchased stelline (stars), alfabeto, puntine (dots) and risoni, in fact, which is just about the identical form as orzo, solely not known as orzo in Italy, as a result of that phrase means “barley”.
I’m repeating myself, I do know, once I say that baggage of pastina are essentially the most satisfying baggage of pasta to take from the shelf and transfer round in your hand, as a result of they slide in a lot the identical means as a beanbag does when it meets a bum. I additionally like measuring out small pasta shapes, raining them into the dimensions or, in case you are positive sufficient, straight right into a pan of boiling water. To make this week’s recipe, you want 300g of any small pasta form (peppercorns, stars, letters, factors, orzo) to fill eight purple pepper boats. You additionally have to par-cook the pasta for half the really helpful cooking time, then drain very effectively and unfold out, if doable: you don’t need it to proceed cooking, as a result of it has to spend one other 40 minutes within the oven.
The peppers might be eaten right away, however they’ll sit fortunately for hours, days even; simply preserve them within the fridge if the wait is longer than just a few hours, and keep in mind to take them out upfront. They’re wondrous eaten at room temperature (or shortly reheated), particularly after a protracted day.
Purple peppers filled with orzo, tuna, capers and herbs
Serves 4
4 medium purple or/and yellow peppers, all even in measurement
300g orzo, or different very small pasta form
Additional-virgin olive oil
Butter
1 purple onion, peeled and diced
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 handful contemporary parsley, minced
1 medium-sized tomato, or a number of cherry tomatoes, finely chopped
100g tuna packed in olive oil, drained
1 heaped tbsp small capers
2 anchovy fillets, minced
Minimize the peppers in half lengthways via the stalks, scrape out the seeds and trim away any white pith inside. Boil the orzo in salted water for a half the really helpful cooking time (if it suggests, say, 10 minutes, cook dinner it for less than 5), then drain effectively.
Working in a frying pan, heat just a few tablespoons of olive oil and a little bit of butter, then fry the onion and garlic till comfortable. Add the par-cooked orzo, parsley, tomato, tuna, capers and anchovies, then style and season with salt as wanted (it most likely gained’t want a lot) and generously with black pepper.
Fill the pepper boats virtually to the brim with the orzo combination and prepare them snugly in an acceptable baking tray. Spoon three tablespoons of water and three tablespoons of oil into the underside of the tray, cowl loosely however utterly with foil, and bake at 180C (160C fan)/350F/gasoline 4 for 40 minutes, eradicating the foil for the final 10 minutes. Earlier than serving, end by zigzagging every pepper with a little bit of olive oil, or spooning over some melted butter and anchovies, or thinning some basil pesto with extra-virgin olive oil, spooning that over the peppers and topping every half-pepper with a basil leaf.
