Good afternoon. We finally prepared the pasta dish we had mentioned in the previous posting and are about to sit down to enjoy it with our family. In honor of one of our most loyal readers and fellow blogger, Ms. LiDea, we will name it in her honor; we hope to prepare it live for her one day in her Russian home. Grazie per tuo aiuto cara LiDea.
We prepared potato and spinach gnocchi with a mixed sauce of tomato, shrimp andlobster, topped with avocado and that ultimately decadent necessity: caviar.
Do you think it came out creamy enough? I don’t know…Anyway, buon apetitto.
In the River Plate (geographic area that encompasses the socio-economic integration of the Argentine provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fé and Buenos Aires plus the southern part of Uruguay) we are used to visit the local pasta shop to buy fresh tagliarini, ravioli, gnocchi, fusilli, etc., plus artisanal sauces and grated cheese for our traditional Sundayfamily lunch. As we are mostly descendants of Italians, we value the opportunity to connect with our close family members through a nice meal. “La pasta del domingo” is much, much more that a dish that will be summarily consumed. It is a precious ritual.
For the past thirty years we have enjoyed that unique opportunity in South Florida thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of Mr. Jorge Stekelorum, who designed a superb pastificio called Mr. Pasta in Miami Beach (Instagram address: mrpastamiami )
We introduce you to Mr. Jorge who, true to his vocation of pastaio dal cuore, keeps “las manos en la masa”; he is preparing the dough for the spinach tagliarini and fettuccini.
After preparing the dough in that old Italian machine, he will cut it and leave it to dry.
In order to complete the numerous orders ( his shop provides pasta to many restaurants in South Florida) he can count on the priceless help of his wife Melanitt (too shy to allow us to take her picture but she is very beautiful, take our word) and two young and eager assistants named Harriet and Camila. In the following picture you can see the latter preparing by hand the traditional potato, spinach or cheese dumplings called gnocchi.
The working area is properly clean and they follow all the sanitary regulations of Dade County and the City of Miami Beach.If you live or are visiting the area, please stop by to say hello, buy some pasta or peruse some of the imported gourmet items they exhibit.
In these times of Social Distancing where families are spending more time together, including preparing some delicious dishes at home, this is a great place to shop and seek advice. Mr. Jorge will gladly inform you about the different choices of fresh and frozen pasta; moreover, they have several varieties of prepared sauces to accompany them.
As we have detailed in the previous posting we prepared today a gnocchiata of the day 29 with a sauce of San Marzano tomatoes, meatballs and sausages. What do you think?
Our son captured this image precisely when we were about to taste one of the meatballs.
Do you think it’s ready? Did you notice the melting Burrata cheese in the middle?
Well, we are going to honor this dish by siting down for a nice pranzo di domenica.
Good morning and Happy Sunday to you all. As you might know from reading one of our previous articles on the tradition, people of Italian heritage remember to eat some gnocchi on the 29th of each month to ask the Providence for good bearings (and a dish of healthy, nutritious food at our tables). This month, the 29th day fell on a busy workday so we decided to defer this cooking for Sunday in order to prepare it with care. We will use some fabulous items we bought at the Whole Foods supermarket in Miami.
This variant will be heavy on meats as we will use meatballs and sausages for the tomato sauce, for which we decided to christen it as the “Tony Soprano gnocchis” in honor of the unforgettable character played by the late and very much missed James Gandolfini. We remember how, before being whacked with a kitchen pan, one of the characters shouted that he liked to eat a wagon full of meats. The Sopranosis one of our favorite series ever.
We will keep you posted of any new developments in our most humble kitchen.
