Culurgiones

Is there anything dreamier than a man making fresh pasta?

Probably a man trying to pronounce "culurgiones" while making these delicate pillows of potato-y goodness. Le sigh...

Adam Leonti, please have my babies.

I saw that video a while ago in a feature on Tasting Table I was 40% intrigued by the pasta and 60% intrigued by his beard... but anywhoo, we're here now, we have pasta and that's all that really matters.

And the recipe's actually pretty stellar - stellar enough for me to have made it twice in two days.

You Will Need:

For the Pasta:

3/4 pounds (or 12 ounces) semolina flour

5 ounces (2/3 cup) water

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the Filling:

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1 cup grated Pecorino Romano

1 Tablespoon extra-virgin Olive Oil (I used Wegmans basting oil because it's awesome)

15 mint leaves, minced

1 egg, lightly beaten

salt and pepper

For the Brown Butter Sauce:

1 stick unsalted butter

salt and pepper

 2 ounces Pecorino Romano

1 heaping Tablespoon finely minced mint leaves

Directions:

For the Pasta: Combine the semolina, water and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low until smooth, about 7 minutes. If the mixer struggles, stop and mix by hand. Let dough rest at room temperature, covered with a damp cloth or wrapped in plastic wrap for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough in thirds and flatten each piece with your hands. Use a pasta machine to roll, starting with the widest setting and moving to a thinner and thinner setting. If you don't have a pasta machine, a rolling pin would be fine - Adam uses one in the video above, so whatevs.

Once thin, cut the pasta sheets into 3- to 4- inch circles. Keep the circles covered with a damp cloth until ready to fill (don't layer them on top of one another because they will stick!).

For the Filling: Place potatoes in a steam basket and set in a saucepan with an inch of water. Bring to a boil, cover and let steam until a form can easily pierce the potatoes (about 20 minutes). Transfer the potatoes to a medium bowl and while still hot, mash them until smooth.

Mix in the pecorino, olive oil and mint, then mix in the egg. (Or you can mix this all ahead of time - I always grate my cheese while the potatoes are steaming.) Season with 25 turns of black pepper and 2 pinches of sea salt. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Stuff the pasta (HERE is another video you might find helpful to master the technique).

Pasta can now be frozen for a later date - freeze them on a tray lined with parchment and not touching, and once frozen, they can be put in a freezer bag. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Melt butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Cook the butter until brown solids form and it smells nutty, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat as soon as solids are browned. Season with salt and pepper; keep warm. Boil the pasta for 2 1/2 minutes.

To serve, arrange culurgiones on plate, drizzle brown butter over the top and sprinkle with pecorino and minced mint leaves. 

Yum Yum! I threw a little panko into my butter about halfway through the browning to add a little crunch.

And inspired by their Polish doppelgänger - the pierogi, I'll also be trying some different variations of the potato filling - next time, a sweet potato and sage edit!

For now, I do sleep a little easier at night knowing there are oodles of these things sitting in my freezer ready at a moment's notice to be featured on a dinner plate. :)

 Unfortunately beard-y dreamboat chef not included. 

Life is so unfair.