Just past the arduous rush of Viale Marconi, within the quieter By way of Gerolamo Cardano, is a well-liked bakery referred to as Albanesi il forno delle meraviglie, which means “the oven [or bakery] of wonders”. Established in 1959 by Aldo Albanesi, and now run by his sons Adriano and Alessandro, Albanesi is wondrous additionally for its dimension. Behind an 11-window shopfront lies nearly 500 sq m of store ground, and a small maze of laboratories wherein nearly all the pieces that may be made is made: bread, pizza, pies, desserts, biscuits, contemporary egg pasta, sauces, baked pasta and different dishes which are able to eat. The snake of glass-fronted counters additionally maintain cheese, different dairy merchandise, cured meats, and greens and olives preserved in numerous methods, whereas the cabinets are full of on a regular basis provisions of fine and sensible high quality. This can be a store with one thing for everybody.
It additionally sells acini di pepe, a tiny pasta formed like peppercorns and product of durum wheat, and pastina, one other small pasta used principally in soups or for stuffing into greens. Acini di pepe was the rationale we first visited the store six years in the past, on the advice of a colleague, and at a time after I was writing a e-book about pasta and due to this fact making an attempt to get my palms on as many shapes as attainable. On that first go to I purchased stelline (stars), alfabeto, puntine (dots) and risoni, after all, which is just about the identical form as orzo, solely not referred to as orzo in Italy, as a result of that phrase means “barley”.
I’m repeating myself, I do know, after I say that baggage of pastina are probably the most satisfying baggage of pasta to take from the shelf and transfer round in your hand, as a result of they slide in a lot the identical means as a beanbag does when it meets a bum. I additionally like measuring out small pasta shapes, raining them into the dimensions or, if you’re positive sufficient, straight right into a pan of boiling water. To make this week’s recipe, you want 300g of any small pasta form (peppercorns, stars, letters, factors, orzo) to fill eight crimson pepper boats. You additionally must par-cook the pasta for half the beneficial cooking time, then drain very properly and unfold out, if attainable: you don’t need it to proceed cooking, as a result of it has to spend one other 40 minutes within the oven.
The peppers may be eaten immediately, however they’ll sit fortunately for hours, days even; simply hold them within the fridge if the wait is longer than a number of hours, and keep in mind to take them out prematurely. They’re wondrous eaten at room temperature (or shortly reheated), particularly after a protracted day.
Crimson peppers filled with orzo, tuna, capers and herbs
Serves 4
4 medium crimson or/and yellow peppers, all even in dimension
300g orzo, or different very small pasta form
Additional-virgin olive oil
Butter
1 crimson onion, peeled and diced
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 handful contemporary parsley, minced
1 medium-sized tomato, or a number of cherry tomatoes, finely chopped
100g tuna packed in olive oil, drained
1 heaped tbsp small capers
2 anchovy fillets, minced
Reduce the peppers in half lengthways via the stalks, scrape out the seeds and trim away any white pith inside. Boil the orzo in salted water for a half the beneficial cooking time (if it suggests, say, 10 minutes, prepare dinner it for under 5), then drain properly.
Working in a frying pan, heat a number of tablespoons of olive oil and a little bit of butter, then fry the onion and garlic till tender. Add the par-cooked orzo, parsley, tomato, tuna, capers and anchovies, then style and season with salt as wanted (it in all probability received’t want a lot) and generously with black pepper.
Fill the pepper boats nearly to the brim with the orzo combination and prepare them snugly in an appropriate baking tray. Spoon three tablespoons of water and three tablespoons of oil into the underside of the trat, cowl loosely however fully with foil, and bake at 180C (160C fan)/350F/fuel 4 for 40 minutes, eradicating the foil for the final 10 minutes. Earlier than serving, end by zigzagging every pepper with a little bit of olive oil, or spooning over some melted butter and anchovies, or thinning some basil pesto with extra-virgin olive oil, spooning that over the peppers and topping every half-pepper with a basil leaf.
