Cornmeal Pasta/Stradette

Pasta made with cornmeal is part of Piemontese culinary heritage but is rarely seen or made anymore. In the past, cornmeal was cheaper than wheat flour and was used to make a pasta called stradette; they are similar to the classic tajarin and are known as tajarin di granoturco. This is easily made in a food processor. The typical sauce for this pasta is leek sauce but butter and sage is also very good.

Serves 6 to 10

Ingredients

  • FOR THE DOUGH
  • 4 large eggs, pluslarge yolks
  • 3 cups King Arthur unbleached all purpose flour
  • 1 cup finely ground cornmeal
  • Pinch salt
  • FOR THE SAUCE
  • 8 medium leeks, white part only, cut into inch wide thin strips
  • 6 tablespoons Filippo Berio extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken or veal stock
  • Grated Losa cheese
  •  
  • Ingredients

Directions

  1. Directions 
  2. FOR THE DOUGH
  3. Whirl the eggs and yolks in the food processor.
  4. In a bowl, mix the flours and salt together.  With the motor running, add the mixture a cup at a time to the eggs until a dough is formed and leaves the sides of the bowl.  You may not need all the flour or you may need a bit more.
  5. Gather up the dough and knead on floured surface until smooth.  Cover and let rest 20 minutes.  Then cut the dough into 4 pieces and roll each one into a flat 5 x 4 inch rectangle and thin in the pasta machine.
  6. Cut using the fettucine cut.  Wrap the strands around your hand to form the classic bird’s nest and store on a clean towel while you make your sauce.
  7. FOR THE SAUCE
  8. Heat the oil in a medium size saucepan over medium heat.  Add the leeks and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Do not let the leeks brown but cook slowly until they are very soft.  Slowly pour in the heavy cream and stir to combine.  Let the mixture cook over low heat until reduced by half.  Slowly add the stock.  Raise heat to medium high and bring to a simmer.  Let sauce reduce by half. Keep warm.
  9. Cook pasta as you would fresh pasta, three minutes in boiling salted water, test for doneness, drain, do NOT rinse.
  10. To serve, place about 2 tablespoons sauce in the middle of a 3 to 4 ounce serving of the cooked stradette and sprinkle with cheese. Serve immediately.

This recipe was featured on Season 24 - Episode 2421.

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Comments

bobbi

how do i find the receipes from the saturday show on January 31, 2015. I don;t know what season please reply…

rena conley

Hello again,
Please tell who supplies your meat, poultry, fish, produce (I know you have a wonderful husband that gardens) however, ingredients matter. Now I understand that we (USA citizens will not have labels stating origins of meat). This is upsetting to me, personally. So many products have the Italian flag; however, it is not from Italy. Thanks for caring and listening.
Rena Conley, 13294 Old Dutchtown Avenue, Gonzales, La. 70737 and email-rcnyb@eatel.net

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