Pici

I’ve been obsessed with making my own pasta by hand for a few years now.  I generally make egg pasta, cutting nice irregular tagliatelle, and I also like making ravioli (and tossing with butter and sage. Mmmm.)   Recently I’ve decided to take the leap with pici, which are hand-rolled and come from Siena.  (For you English speakers, that’s pronouned PEE-chee).

After a trial and error, I grumbled for help on twitter and was directed by @divinacucina to her recipe, which I used on Saturday with a group of girlfriends, as two of them had “won” a Tuscan cooking session at a small woman’s practica I had organized, and again last night with another group.  I needed a little more water than the recipe called for, but it worked out nicely and I definitely recommend her recipe.  I added a bit of olive oil as well, out of pure desire.

Pici *sound* complicated to make, because you roll each noodle by hand, but really it’s a very fun, social activity.  Nice to do in groups, but it’s so easy you can do it alone.  Champagne, chit-chat and music usually go well with the process.

So on Saturday, we chatted and sipped champagne, each of us coming up with her own MO for rolling the perfect pici as the music of Mina played in the background.

I made a special sauce that my aunt and I invented together in Buenos Aires on New Year’s Eve.  I’d share the recipe here but I’d like to get permission from the co-inventor (and really it was more her creation than mine, though I have since branched off and have my own version).  What I can tell you is that the end result, between the pici and the sauce, was fantastic – the pici were perfectly delicate.   With a glass of bonarda that was black as night, even better.  A peach kuchen dessert (made by one spectacular lady) and small glasses of grappa were followed by tango – as usual.   How much better can a Saturday get?

*Thanks to Elizabeth for the photos and the dessert!