Recipe - Pasta Al Cioccolato In Dolce-Forte

Stephen Ceideburg

SAUCE
1 md Red onion
3 Celery stalks
1 md Garlic clove
2 md Carrots
10 Sprigs Italian parsley,
leaves only
4 ounce Pancetta
One half cup Olive oil
1 pound Lean ground beef
1 cup Dry red wine
1 cup Drained canned imported
Italian tomatoes
Salt, freshly ground pepper
to taste

DOLCEFORTE
One half cup Red wine vinegar
4 tablespoon Raisins
2 tablespoon Pine nuts
1 tablespoon Semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon Sugar

PASTA
3 cup Unbleached allpurpose flour
4 Extralarge eggs
2 teaspoon Olive oil (optional)
4 Level tablespoons
unsweetened cocoa powder

FOR PASTA
Coarse salt

The sauce: Finely chop onion, celery, garlic, carrots and parsley together
on a board or in a food processor. Cut pancetta into small pieces.

Heat the oil in a terracotta or enamel saucepan. When hot, add the chopped
ingredients and pancetta and saute slowly over low heat for about 15
minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Mix in ground beef and
when it is no longer reddish, add wine and let it evaporate for about 5
minutes.

Pass the tomatoes through a food mill to remove seeds and, when the wine
has evaporated, add tomatoes to the saucepan. Taste for salt and pepper and
simmer slowly for about 25 minutes.

Dolceforte: Put all 5 ingredients in a small bowl and set aside for about
20 minutes. When the meat sauce is ready, add the dolceforte to the
saucepan. Stir to incorporate and simmer 5 minutes longer.

The pasta: You can make it by hand, of course, but this seems the simpler
way. Place ingredients in a food processor with the metal blade and pulse
on and off until a ball of dough forms. Turn out, gently knead into a ball,
cover with a towel and let rest about One half hour. Divide dough into quarters
and knead until smooth by putting through pasta machine rollers, starting
with widest setting and working down to the last setting (pasta will be
very, very thin). Cut into tagliatelle (the wider cutter) and let stand on
a board, loosely covered with a clean towel, until needed (do not let dry
out).

Bring a large pot of cold water to a boil. Add coarsegrained salt to
taste. Prepare a warmed serving dish by spreading 1 cup of the sauce over
the bottom.

Add the pasta to the boiling salted water and cook for about 30 seconds
after the water has returned to a boil. Drain and put in prepared serving
dish. Pour remaining sauce over pasta and toss very well. Serve
immediately.

PER SERVING: 650 calories, 22 g protein, 52 g carbohydrate, 39 g fat (12 g
saturated), 158 mg cholesterol, 195 mg sodium, 4 g fiber.

Jayne Benet writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, 3/18/92.

Posted by Stephen Ceideburg

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini