Rich Table by Sarah and Evan Rich
December 26, 2018 by JennyEvan and Sarah Rich are the chef proprietors of Michelin-starred Rich Table, one of San Francisco’s most coveted reservations. Their debut cookbook Rich Table brings recipes from the restaurant together with the food the Riches cook for friends and family at home. Full-color photographs capture the rustic elegance of the food and the restaurant, while over 100 meticulously tested recipes span salads, vegetables, meat and fish, sweets, drinks, and the pasta dishes that are legendary. This gorgeous book made my best cookbooks of 2018 list.
The elegant, yet understated, book cover sets the tone for this title’s content – dishes that are impressive but approachable. Yes, some dishes are more complex than others, but all shine with inspiration and creativity. Bucatini with pork sausage, peaches and arugula can be prepared for a special weeknight dinner while Aged duck lasagna with Santa Rosa plums and cress may wait for a weekend meal. This is a brilliant book that brings a balance of rustic and fine dining to our table.
Richilini
with green garlic, squash blossoms, and mozzarella
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In our never-ending quest to not be entirely Italian, we came up with our very own pasta shape: Richilini. It actually sprung from a trip we took to Mumbai several years ago. We went to an open-air market and found a brass rolling cutter that we ended up using to cut this noodle shape so that its edges are fluted.
While the shape originated in India, the flavors in this dish are inspired by the Mexico episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. There’s a montage where they flash an amazing image of someone at a market cooking a quesadilla with beautifully stretchy Oaxacan cheese and fresh squash blossoms. We wanted to eat our TV. So the day after watching this, we spun the concept into a pasta. At the end of the cooking process you throw in mozzarella so it gets sticky and really stretchy, just like the quesadilla cheese.
CHEF’S NOTE: You can substitute an equal volume of thinly sliced garlic cloves for the green garlic. This dish is really all about the squash, so pick the freshest vegetables and blossoms you can find. The dish comes together super fast once the pasta is cooked, so have everything, including serving plates, ready to go beforehand.
- 2 small yellow summer squash
- 1 Tbsp [15 ml] plus 1/3 cup [80 ml] extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup [20 g] thinly sliced green garlic
- 1/2 cup [120 ml] water
- 20 fresh squash blossoms, about 6 oz [165 g]
- Salt
- Fresh Pasta Dough, cut into Richilini (recipe follows)
- 8 oz [225 g] fresh mozzarella, torn into bite-size pieces
Trim the squash and slice in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds from the center of the squash. Thinly slice the squash into half-moons.
Heat 1 Tbsp [15 ml] of the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the green garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 1 minute. Add the squash and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent but not brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the water, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer until the water has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes.
Transfer the squash mixture to a blender. Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. With the blender running, slowly drizzle in the remaining 1/3 cup [80 ml] olive oil. Continue to blend until emulsified, 15 to 30 seconds. Blend in four of the squash blossoms until smooth, 45 to 60 seconds. Season with salt.
Pull the petals off of each of the remaining squash blossoms and tear each into three to four pieces.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, 20 to 30 seconds. Drain immediately, reserving 1 cup [240 ml] of the pasta cooking water.
In a large skillet, heat the squash sauce over medium-high heat until bubbling. Add the pasta and 1/2 cup [120 ml] of the pasta cooking water. Cook, stirring constantly, until a creamy sauce has formed around the pasta.
Add additional pasta cooking water, as needed, to make the sauce. Add the mozzarella and stir until it starts to melt. Remove from the heat. Season with salt.
Divide the pasta among four shallow serving bowls. Top with the torn squash blossom petals. Serve immediately.
Serves 4
Fresh pasta dough
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When we opened, Evan was rolling all of our fresh pastas and making all the pasta sauces, which took an insane amount of time away from focusing on keeping our restaurant running. Eventually we grew enough that we could pass this important duty off to our current reigning “pasta queen,” Reyna Hernandez. Her name actually happens to mean “queen” in Italian, and she lives up to that 100 percent. Regina has been the noodle master for several other great restaurants. We always say Regina can do anything. She creates our pasta dough in a 20-quart mixer, then spends her days hand-cutting and shaping the most beautiful noodles you’ve ever seen with the ease of a ballerina.
Keep in mind, pasta is easy to make at home when you’re not charged with feeding a mob. It’s just egg yolks and flour. Here you’ll find our recipe for pasta. It will not do you wrong. Just use the freshest eggs possible, and remember that the deeper the yolk’s color, the more flavorful it’ll be.
- 1 1/2 cups [210 g] all-purpose flour
- 12 large egg yolks
In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix the flour and egg yolks on medium speed until the dough comes together into a ball that is moist but not sticky, about 5 minutes. (If there are still stray bits of flour in the bowl at this point, turn off the mixer and knead the dough by hand, still in the bowl, for a minute to encourage the flour to incorporate.) Raise the speed to medium-high and continue to knead until the dough is shiny and elastic, about 5 more minutes. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Divide the rested dough into four pieces. Cover three pieces with plastic wrap. Roll one piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/4 in [6 mm] thick. Roll the rectangle through the thickest setting of the pasta machine, leading with a short side. Place the dough on the counter, with the long side facing you. Fold the rolled dough up like a letter:
Fold the right side of the dough over, a little past the center. Fold the left side over to slightly overlap the right edge. Roll the dough through the thickest setting of the machine again. Repeat the folding and rolling through the thickest setting once more.
Now reduce the thickness of the pasta machine by one setting, and roll the dough through the machine again. Continue to roll the dough through the machine, reducing the thickness each time. Dust the dough lightly with flour as needed to prevent sticking.
Stop after running the dough through the third-to-last setting, unless you’re making lasagna, which you’ll roll to the second to last setting. The dough should be about the thickness of two postcards, or 1/32 in [0.75 mm] thick.
Now you’re ready to cut the dough into any pasta shape you please.
To store shaped pasta, freeze the shaped pasta on a baking sheet until fully frozen. Transfer the frozen pasta to a zipper-lock bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 weeks. Cook the frozen pasta directly from the freezer.
Serves 4
To make Richilini: Lay the stack of dough sheets on the counter with the short end facing you. Use a fluted pastry cutter to cut the dough into strips about 1/4 in [6 mm] wide. If you don’t have a fluted pastry cutter, you can substitute tagliatelle in recipes calling for Richilini.
Toss the pasta in a little flour and transfer to a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining sheets of dough. Let the pasta rest on the baking sheet, uncovered, until ready to cook.
Special thanks to the publisher for sharing the cover recipe above and for providing three copies of this book in our giveaway below. Reprinted from Rich Table by Sarah and Evan Rich with permission by Chronicle Books, 2018
The publisher is offering three copies of this book to EYB Members in the US and Canada. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.
Which recipe in the index would you try first?
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