Difficulty
cost
time
30 min
Here you have a simple recipe that will refresh your table during hot days in summer.
INGREDIENTS FOR 10
Fusilloni 700 g
Ripe tomatoes 500 g
Fresh mozzarella 350 g
Evo oil 50 g
Fresh basil 30 g
Fine salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
WHAT YOU’LL NEED IN YOUR KITCKEN
Blast chiller
Colander
Follow These 4 Steps to Start
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Cook the fusilloni in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, then spread on an oiled tin. Use a blast chiller to cool quickly. In alternative, cool the pasta under running cold water after draining.
Cut the mozzarella into small dice (macédoine) and set to drain in a colander.
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In the meantime, parboil the tomatoes after cutting a small cross at the end opposite the stem. Drain and cool quickly in ice water. Peel, seed and remove watery pulp, then chop to small dice.
Dress the cold fusilloni with the tomatoes, mozzarella, a julienne of basil and extra virgin olive oil. Season with a little fine salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Eat at room temperature but store in the refrigerator if necessary.
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The cook’s secret
The mozzarella should be drained beforehand so that it does not release extra liquid in the pasta which would be anti-aesthetic. If you want to prepare the salad ahead of time, it will be better to add the mozzarella just before serving.
Italian pasta
According to Italian legislation, dry pasta is obtained by drawing or rolling with subsequent drying of doughs prepared exclusively with semola of durum wheat and water. European legislation, however, provides for the possibility to add soft grain wheat flour. The latter type is less expensive but lowers the quality level of dry pasta because it inevitably softens during cooking (cannot maintain the al dente degree of cooking) and also releases starches into the sauces used to dress it.
Glossary
Small dice (macédoine): foods are diced into cubes of about 5mm per side. It is an ideal cut for chopped cooked vegetables (such as aubergines) and to finish sauces and condiments. It is also appropriate for fried vegetables to garnish pasta dishes, timbales and casserole dishes. Finally, it is often used to prepare fruits.
Fusilloni: short, spiral-shaped pasta. The term fusillo and the variant fusillone both derive from fuso, or spindle, the instrument used to twist and wind thread or yarn. In former times, this type of pasta was made by hand with a method than was handed down from mother to daughter. With a rapid movement of expert hands, a spaghetto of pasta was twirled around a knitting needle to produce the spiral and the gesture recalled that of the spinners.
Drawing: the technique of drawing or extruding the pasta dough through the dies that give it its shape. If the die is of bronze, the surface of the dough is slightly coarse, which makes it better to capture sauces and dressings.
Rolling: the dough passes through a series of calenders at successively reduced distances until a sheet of the desired thickness is obtained. This process avoids the high temperature (80 °C or more) and the pressure (10 bar or more) that the pasta undergoes in the drawing process.
How Much Do You Know…?
The inclusion of soft grain wheat flour in dry pasta lowers the quality because:
A recipe by Jamie Oliver for fusilli: click here to see Jamie Oliver’s recipe
