A Pasta for Favorite Company: Alain Ducasse’s Olive Mill Pasta

A red, white and green pasta was called for in celebration of Italy’s victory. And so I turned to my favorite pasta dish, Alain Ducasse’s Olive Mill Pasta. Aside from the Parkhurst Pear recipe, this remains the all time most requested recipe of my modest repertoire.

As humble as the ingredients may be, it does not pay to cheat and use cheap pasta. “[U]se a high-quality hard-wheat pasta, a pasta made with old-fashioned bronze dies. It's usually labeled "artisanal." That kind of pasta has the best flavor and also a rougher texture, so it can grab the sauce.” Ditto using cheap stock or just plain water or worse, bullion cubes. See below for more information on artisinal pasta.

The technique is basically the same as risotto, but not as monotonous. Begin with a soffritto, add the potatoes, then pasta and stock and remaining ingredients. Its almost a cross between risotto and stew, and as satisfying as both.

Tasty, delicious, and simple in presentation as well as execution it lends itself to any informal gathering. And if you have everything prepped before guests arrive, then cooking for friends is every bit the pleasure it is supposed to be: “You're not just standing there waiting for a big pot of water to boil, and then waiting for the macaroni to cook, and then applying a sauce. You are participating every step of the way, stirring, seasoning, reducing the liquid, enjoying the warmth and aromas around you, trusting your palate and then sharing what you have prepared with others.”

This recipe originally appeared in the New York Times by Florence Fabricant and is now available in The Chefs of the Times.

Olive Mill Pasta Adapted from Alain Ducasse

Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
2 medium-small onions, minced
1/4 pound fingerling potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick (small red potatoes work well, too)
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
5 1/2 cups, approximately, vegetable or light chicken stock
14 ounces artisanal strozzapreti pasta
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 medium-size ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced and diced, or 2/3 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes, not oil-cured, covered with boiling water and drained
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
8 branches fresh basil or arugula, leaves removed and slivered, stems lightly crushed
1 bunch scallions, trimmed, slant-cut in 1-inch pieces
3 ounces freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, about 1 cup.



1. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 10-inch sauté pan. Add butter. When it melts, add onions and potatoes. Cook, stirring gently, over medium heat until they begin to turn golden. Add minced garlic, and cook one minute longer.
2. In a small saucepan, bring stock to a slow simmer.
3. Add pasta to sauté pan, and stir gently. Lightly season with salt and pepper, and add tomatoes, crushed garlic and herb stems. Add 1 1/2 cups stock. Cook, stirring gently, until nearly all stock has evaporated. Add scallions and another cup of stock, and cook, stirring, adding additional stock from time to time, so there is always some liquid in the pan, until pasta is al dente, about 18 minutes. Remove garlic and herb stems.
4. Fold in cheese and all but 1 tablespoon remaining oil. Add slivered herbs. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Transfer to warm soup plates, taking care that the ingredients are well distributed. Drizzle remaining oil over each and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.

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The Peduzzi brothers carry on the tradition of artisan pasta started by their grandfather in the 80 year old family-owned company, Rustichella d' Abruzzo, in Penne in the province of Pescara.
What makes Rustichella d' Abruzzo different from all other pastas and so worth the price? Two natural, ancient ingredients: stone-ground durum wheat flour from hard winter wheat and pure mountain water, and the use of bronze molds. (And the packaging!—when I purchase a bag of this, I wonder if this is how people feel when they walk out of Tiffany’s with little blue boxes.)

Rustichella d'Abruzzo uses a high gluten durum wheat semolina mixed with pure mountain water to give a unique flavor and toughness to the pasta. The hand-crafted pasta is extruded through highly prized bronze molds. These molds have enough texture that sauces will cling better to the extruded more roughly-textured pasta unlike most pasta which is shot through slick molds with modern speed and efficiency. The pasta is then dried slowly at low temperature for up to 50 hours at 35 degrees. (Typical industrial standard is 4-5 hours at 90 degrees.)

All of this care has been rewarded with an ISO 9002 certificate and a most delicious pasta.

Visit their website for more information and some unique recipes that highlight this artisinal pasta.