Vesuvio
Arugula, Onion, Walnuts
When you live near the most famous volcano in the world, you pretty much have to make a pasta shape that pays homage to it, right? The vesuvio pasta comes from the Campania region of Italy but more particular is Gragnano where this shape along with others are considered to be the best dried pasta in Italy. While this isn't a traditional shape that has been passed down generations, it is unique and fun to play with in the kitchen for it's ability to latch on and tuck sauce throughout the pasta shape.
I had grown an over abundance of arugula (rocket for my cousins in England) this spring and needed to do something with it, so with about two cubic feet of arugula plants in my backyard I came up with this recipe. What’s so nice about the vesuvio and this recipe is that the onions and arugula tend to wrap around the shapes of the pasta while the walnuts can fall in it’s little pockets. The blend of nutty, peppery, and sweet flavors really creates a balanced pasta that you just want to grow arugula for.
Servings: 4 - Time: ~1 hr. - Difficulty: 1 - Itsa Easy
Ingredients & Mise en Place
16 oz. dry vesuvio
10 oz. arugula - preferably mature - cut or torn into smaller pieces
2 large red onions - quartered and sliced thin
4 oz. walnuts - crushed
3 cloves garlic - minced
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 lemon - zest and juice
2 cups white wine - pinot grigio works well
pecorino romano cheese - grated
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
pepper
Equipment
a bowl of ice and cold water
Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the arugula by cooking in the boiling water for a little over 1 minute - the green will deepen and the leaves will wilt. Reserve the boiling water for the pasta, and immediately place the arugula in the ice water to shock and stop the cooking process. Remove the leaves and set to dry over some paper towel layers.
In a large sauté pan over medium heat add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, garlic and onion and stir until soft - about 5-8 minutes. The turn the heat up to medium-high and add 1/4 cup of wine. Stirring occasionally reduce until there is no visible liquid and then add another 1/4 cup of wine. Continue this process a total of 8 times with the wine, if you feel your onions need a little more caramelization, then continue with water there on out. Do not go too far and create an onion jam, or completely caramelize your onions though, you still want a little bite left to them.
Cook the pasta in the same boiling water that the arugula was cooked in. The key is to try and time this so that the onions finish cooking when the pasta does, so time your reductions and pace for around 12 minutes to cook the pasta. Once the pasta has finished cooking add it to the sauté pan (add a little pasta water if you need to deglaze) and add in butter, lemon, lots of olive oil, pepper, salt and arugula. You may need to separate your arugula leaves if they stuck together in cooking. Stir until mixed. Plate, top with walnuts, and serve with a generous portion of pecorino romano.