Weeknight Kitchen: Zita with Tomatoes, Capocollo and Diced Mozzarella

Weeknight Kitchen: Zita with Tomatoes, Capocollo and Diced Mozzarella

I keep forgetting to post this recipe up for John we both can't resist a good Pasta Dish . Well here it is!!


Courtesy of The Splendid Table

Zita with Tomatoes, Capocollo and Diced Mozzarella is just right for icy evenings when you're tired and want easy, but different. If you're moved to invite friends in for a weeknight party, this is the dish that will make them happy. If you can, use mozzarella that comes packed in liquid. Creamy, stretchy and perfect for this pasta, you'll be won over.

Zita with Tomatoes, Capocollo and Diced Mozzarella
From The Italian Country Table: Home Cooking from Italy's Farmhouse Kitchens by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (Scriber, 1999). Copyright 1999 by Lynne Rossetto Kasper

Serves 4 as a main dish, 6 to 8 as a first course

In this dish, tubes of pasta are sauced with tomatoes, browned bits of pancetta and capocollo, garlic, basil and big chunks of milky mozzarella. Country cooks know the secret of getting a stunning amount of flavor from a little meat and a lot of tomatoes. Their trick is using cured meats —salami, pancetta, prosciutto or the capocollo some people call poor man's prosciutto. In this recipe you simply brown the meats in olive oil, sauté in lots of garlic and basil, add part of the tomatoes and cook the sauce down fast. Then add the extra touch—near the very end of cooking, you stir in some drained canned diced tomatoes. They give the sauce a juicy, meaty finish. Toss with the pasta and mozzarella and serve it in a deep bowl.

* Extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 to 3 1/4-inch thick slices (4 ounces) high-quality hot capocollo, coppa, or soppressata, cut into generous 1/4-inch dice
* 3 to 4 1/4-inch-thick slices (6 to 8 ounces) pancetta, cut into generous 1/4-inch dice
* 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 tightly packed tablespoon fresh Italian parsley leaves, chopped
* 5 large cloves garlic, chopped
* 1/2 tightly packed cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
* 2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes, thoroughly drained
* Salt
* 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
* 1 pound zita, sedani, or small penne
* 6 quarts boiling salted water
* 14 to 16 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into generous 1/2-inch dice

1. Film the bottom of a 12-inch sauté pan with olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add the capocollo, pancetta, and pepper and cook until lightly browned, adding the parsley toward the end. Raise the heat to medium-high. Stir in the garlic and basil, sautéing until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

2. Add the two 28-ounce cans of tomatoes, crushing them with your hands, and boil, uncovered, about 8 minutes, or until thick. Season with salt and assertive black pepper. Stir in the diced tomatoes and cook just 1 minute. Remove from the heat and cover the pan. (The sauce can wait about an hour at room temperature. It can also be refrigerated in a covered container up to 2 days; reheat before proceeding.)

Cook the pasta in fiercely boiling water until a little less done than you'd like it. Drain immediately.

Toss the pasta with the sauce over medium heat a few minutes. Fold in the mozzarella and turn into a warmed serving bowl. Serve hot.

LYNNE'S TIPS

* Zita are narrow hollow tubes 2-1/2 to 3 inches long and between 1/4 and 1/2 inch in diameter. De Cecco is one producer. You could substitute sedani or penne, but I like zita's distinctive length.


* Use tomatoes canned in their juice, not puree. Muir Glen and Hunt's are two preferred brands.


* For this recipe you want fresh mozzarella packed in liquid, not the rubbery ball sealed in Cryovac. Check the expiration date on the container and buy the freshest one you can find. Fresh mozzarella is perishable; use within a couple of days.

THOUGHTS FROM LYNNE

When making a tomato sauce you want fast cooking. Those sauces of legend that simmer at the back of the stove all day are generally meat sauces, an entirely different matter. Once the tomatoes are in the pan, six to ten minutes at a brisk bubble should do it. The idea is to intensify the lush richness of the tomatoes without losing their bright fruity qualities. Long cooking cancels all that, turning tomatoes metallic-tasting and bitter.

A big, 12-inch straight-sided sauté pan with its wide-open surface area encourages fast evaporation, which concentrates and intensifies all that we love about tomatoes. For raw summer tomatoes, always cook them until thick, or leave them raw. Anything between tastes lifeless.

All the basic elements line up in this sauce—the sauté becomes the big character booster for the tomatoes, then there is the fast finish once the tomatoes are in the pan, and a few minutes of mellowing.

Happy New Year to you and all the people you care about from all of us at The Splendid Table,

Lynne

 

Capocollo or Pancetta?