no.4
Silk Handkerchiefs with Pork Ragu
And just like that, we are one month into Pasta Sunday! I’m so happy to have you here. If you’re new, welcome! This weekly newsletter is an ode to slow Sundays and taking the time to enjoy the process of making pasta. This week I’m sharing the ultimate Sunday sauce, the kind that bubbles away for most of the afternoon while you potter around and get on with other indulgent Sunday things. Can it get any better?
Yessss it can because we’re enjoying this ragu with mandilli di sea. Now before I go on about the pasta, full disclosure must be given and it is that this sauce truly goes well with a multitude of shapes (also great given that you will most likely have leftovers). So if you’re not in the market for making fresh pasta, you can read on in comfort that it is not a necessity for this dish.
However, if you are in it for the flour and eggs, then you will love this. Silk Handkerchiefs, aka mandilli di sea, are paper thin squares of pasta that are so light, so luxe, so delicious. Like silk, you might say. Think of this dish like a ragu tucked into bed between silky sheets - it’s bliss.
Personally, I love making these with a yolk only dough given they’re rolled so thin you can spread the cost per batch pretty far - and that colour! You just can’t beat it.
Suggested Wine Pairing
I might be favouring Italian varieties but I truly think you can’t go wrong pairing a deeply comforting bowl of pork ragu with something like a Sangiovese (side note: did you know that the name Sangiovese derives from the Latin “blood of Jupiter”?).
Sangio’ is super food friendly, medium to full bodied, and works particularly well with any tomato-type flavours. It’s a no brainer.
Looking for something else to try? Nero d’Avola, Primitivo or Tempranillo (Pinot Noir, on crack - as once described by my local bottle-o).
Cin Cin!
Sunday Soundtrack
Everything I’ve been listening to this week, throw it on and get kneading.