If you've never tried Romano beans, you have been missing out on one of best vegetables ever. They're sometimes hard to find, and are available for only a short time in late summer/early fall, so if you see these in your local supermarkets or farmer's market, grab a bunch.
They're common in Italian households, but not so much in the U.S., unless you come from the South, as does my friend Emily, who said they are called pole beans there. Her husband Tom curates a beautiful garden in Hopewell, NJ, growing all kinds of fabulous produce, including agretti, practically unheard of here in the U.S. but another of my favorite seasonal vegetables in Italy. He even sells to a few high end restaurants, and I am occasionally the beneficiary of some of their goodness, including this latest batch of Romano beans.
These beans were simply prepared with small white potatoes, a little pancetta, some garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Be sure to use quality ingredients since when a recipe is so simple as this, each ingredient really needs to shine.
Start out by boiling the potatoes and about ten minutes before they're done, add the beans. Cook until the beans and potatoes are soft through and through. This is not the time for crunchy beans. They need to be soft enough to smush a bit with a potato masher. Then drain everything in a colander.
Meanwhile, saute some pancetta and shallots (Tom also gave me some Belgian shallots he grew) until the pancetta has rendered its fat and the shallots are wilted. Add the garlic and let it soften too.
Add the potatoes and beans, salt and pepper, and "smush" everything together with a potato masher or a sturdy fork. Add a little more olive oil if you like (and I like).
Serve with a nice glass of wine. This was dinner for me and my husband, and was very filling, but you might like to add a salad if it's not enough for you.
Romano Beans, Potatoes and Pancetta
(For two people)
Ingredients:
about 8-10 tiny white potatoes
about 1/3 pound Romano beans
1 thick slice of pancetta (about 1/2" slice)
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, finely diced
1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic, minced
salt, pepper
Instructions:
Boil the potatoes in water until almost cooked through. Add the beans to the water (after de-stringing them if they are stringy) and boil until they are cooked through - about 8-10 minutes. Drain everything.
Place the pancetta in a pan with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Cook until the fat starts to render, then add the shallot and cook until wilted. Add the garlic and cook until wilted, then put the potatoes and beans into the pan, season with salt and pepper. Smush the potatoes and beans somewhat using a potato masher or sturdy fork. Add more olive oil and mix everything well.
When I lived in Italy, I never made homemade pasta because I had Giovanni Rana -- the eponymous fresh pasta brand, that is. After eating a primo piatto of brodo with exquisitely delicious tortellini at my friend Clo's home near Rome, I was dumbfounded to learn that the pasta came from the supermarket. They were the next best thing to homemade and became a staple in my Trastevere kitchen.
After I returned to the U.S., I had to leave my beloved Rana pasta behind, but to my delight, a couple of years ago, I found packages of it being sold at a local ShopRite supermarket.
What is now a $500 million operation all started 50 years ago with Giovanni Rana, who was born in 1937 near Verona, Italy. To Italians, he is the kindly avuncular figure that everyone wishes she had in her family. In 1959, he began making pasta and selling it from his motor scooter to families who didn't have time to make their own. Pastificio Rana opened a few years later, and soon began to expand, with the help of family and friends.
Now it's the number one fresh pasta brand in Europe, and is expanding its sales across the U.S. Its biggest competitors are Italian mothers and grandmothers, according to founder and president Giovanni Rana. It opened its U.S. factory in Bartlett, Illinois last year. The company also owns and operates 30 restaurants in Italy and Europe. The New York City restaurant, where I was invited to participate in a pasta making class last week, has been open since November.
The Rana family includes son Gian Luca and daughter-in-law Antonella. "I would like that my company in the USA will become bigger than in Europe," Gian Luca said. "But I think that my mission is not only to produce business, but also to create new jobs and conditions so people can feel realized inside my company. For me that’s my best satisfaction."
He and his wife, who is director of their worldwide restaurants, are charged with ensuring that the pastificio and restaurant in New York City's Chelsea Market are up to the standards of founder Giovanni, who is still the international "face" of the company. His father is a man of "grande passione," Gian Luca said.
Judging from the tables filled with diners:
and bins of beautiful fresh pasta (and this is only a small portion of what's for sale), his father has no need to worry.
The small shop inside the restaurant tempts buyers with beautiful copperware:
And naturally, lots of pasta making tools:
The hospitality started the moment I entered, with an offer of an Aperol spritz:
And a plate of delicious and crispy fried ravioli stuffed with artichokes:
But we were there to make pasta, so our group got to work, with Antonella as our guide:
We made two types of ravioli -- one stuffed with crushed fava beans, ricotta, mascarpone and pecorino.
Making pasta by hand was not new to me, but even the first-timers caught on quickly:
And we got to eat a wonderful bowl of pasta prepared by the chefs in the kitchen -- with a sauce of snow peas, fava beans and shaved radishes.
I had never made nor eaten chocolate ravioli, so I was happy when Antonella said we'd give that a try.
Again, the chefs were preparing a dish for us with similar ravioli, and this time, they were fried. I don't have a good photograph of the finished dish unfortunately, but let me say that it was divine - served with a mixture of whipped cream, meringue bits, berries and pomegranate seeds.
The pasta we made in class was placed in bags for us to take home, and if there's one thing that could be improved, it's that the ravioli made in class would have survived the trip home better if they had been packaged in a box, with waxed paper between the layers, rather than in a bag, where they all got stuck together. They were almost unusable. I say almost, because I got to thinking I could salvage them by kneading the mass together with some flour, which I did.
I then rolled it through my pasta machine and the little flecks of fava were visible.
I cut some of it into fettuccine:
And some maltagliatti too. Thank you Giovanni Rana for coming to New York and spreading your product across the U.S.
Right now the brand is available only in the Northeast U.S., but the list of places where you can buy the pasta in the U.S. is constantly expanding. "In a short time we hope to cover all the United States," Gian Luca said. Click here to see all the different varieties of pasta and sauces available and here to find out where to buy them. I derive no income from promoting the brand. I just think it's excellent and I want you to know about them too.
If you have a few minutes, check out this charming video where Giovanni Rana talks about how he got his start making pasta. He'll take you on a short ride through Verona to Lago di Garda, accompanied by the beautiful music of Giuseppe Verdi.
Tortelli di Ricotta e Fave, Shaved Red Radish and Pecorino
Put the flour in a large bowl with the grated orange peel, salt and cocoa powder.
Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well.
Put the dough on a table.
Knead well with both hands until dough is smooth and elastic.
Let the dough rest before rolling it out and cutting as needed.
for the filling:
1.7 oz. melted chocolate
5 oz. chocolate chips
1.8 oz. ricotta cheese
1.8 oz. mascarpone
5 oz. chopped hazelnuts
14 cl. heavy cream
Put the ricotta cheese in a large bowl with mascarpone, chocolate chips and hazelnuts
Mix everything with a spatula
Pour the melted chocolate and heavy cream into the cheese mixture and blend well with a spatula or whisk.
Refrigerate until ready to use.
To assemble:
frying oil
10 oz. chocolate dough
7 oz. chocolate ricotta filling
3.5 oz. heavy cream
1.8 oz. meringue
1 pomegranate, deseeded or mixed berries
2 t. confectioner's sugar
Roll out the pasta dough into two thin sheets
Using a spoon, space the filling along the entire length of the pasta, leaving space in between.
Gently lay the second sheet over the first layer and squeeze the dough over the filling, making sure there is no air in between.
Cut with a pastry wheel or use a specialized ravioli cutter. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Fry the ravioli in the hot oil and drain.
Beat the heavy cream with the confectioners sugar until thick. Break until the meringue into small pieces and mix with the heavy cream and pomegranate seeds and/or mixed berries.
Place the cream mixture on a plate and arrange the fried chocolate ravioli around the mixture, scattering more berries around the plate.
Sometimes friends ask me if I really cook all the things I post on Ciao Chow Linda. Well, yes, I explain, and lots more too. Some of the things I cook turn out to be less than blog-worthy though, and that included a tomato ricotta tart I made a couple of weeks. It looked lovely, but the crust wasn't cooked all the way through, as you might be able to tell from the photo below:
I tried again with the same crust, this time rolling the dough really thin, using a freeform, crostata shape instead of the removable bottom tart pan. I decided to skip the ricotta cheese in favor of caramelized onions, gruyere and parmesan cheese. And I went with cherry tomatoes, since I still had so many ripening in the garden. (OK, I admit it, aside from the crust, this is an entirely different recipe from the first tomato tart.) The cherry tomato variety I've been growing - "black cherry" - has a darker hue and a sweeter taste than the bright red ones more commonly seen in the markets. But any cherry tomato variety will do for this recipe - even yellow ones. You can cut the tomatoes in half if you like, but this time around, I left them whole.
The crust is really special too - it's imbued with the goodness of parmesan cheese, fresh herbs and cracked black pepper. Roll it out thinly, then layer the cheeses and caramelized onions on top, leaving about two inches all the around the perimeter for crimping.
Scatter some fresh herbs (in this case, oregano and thyme) and place the tomatoes on top.
Bake at high heat (425 degrees) but keep an eye on it near the end, covering the edges of the pastry with aluminum foil if it looks like it might burn.
I served it as a main course, along with romano beans and fresh sweet corn. But this would work great as an appetizer too, cut into smaller pieces.
1 T. finely minced fresh herbs (thyme, oregano or sage)
1 t. salt
1/2 t. freshly cracked black pepper
1 stick cold butter
1 large egg yolk, beaten with 3 T. ice water
Place the flour, cornmeal, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and sage in a food processor and pulse until mixed well together. Add the butter in small pieces until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add the egg yolk and water and mix it just enough until it starts to hold together. If it looks too dry, add more ice water as needed. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic, then place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. (It freezes really well too.)
Filling
1 large, sweet onion (about two cups sliced thinly)
1 T. olive oil
1 cup freshly grated gruyere cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 dozen cherry tomatoes (more or less, depending on how big they are)
fresh thyme
fresh oregano
Cook the sliced onions in the olive oil - slowly - until they turn golden brown. This will take at least 1/2 hour, maybe 45 minutes. Let them cool slightly.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a thin round - about 1/8th inch thick and about 14 inches in diameter. If the dough is too thick, it won't cook all the way through. Transfer to a large cookie sheet or baking dish.
Spread the cheeses onto the dough, excluding about two inches all around the circumference. Place the caramelized onions over the cheese, then scatter bits of the fresh thyme and fresh oregano over that. Top with the cherry tomatoes, then bring the edges toward the center and crimp together as you go. Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 1/2 hour. If crust gets brown too quickly, lower the heat to 400, and cover the edges with strips of aluminum foil.
Sorry for the long absence in posting, but I've been traveling in Italy with little to no access to cooking -- until now. After a month of sightseeing in disparate places like the mountains of Val D'Aosta to the sparkling seas surrounding Sardinia, we are now settled in an apartment in the city of Como for a bit. While I love eating in restaurants, it can be difficult to control the calories and what's available, so I am looking forward to having a real kitchen. Except..... except... I guess I didn't read the fine print, because while we have a great range and a microwave, there is no oven in this apartment. I will be cooking everything on the stovetop for the next couple of months, (when we're not frequenting restaurants) which presents a bit of a challenge. But I'm up for it, and have made a few dinners already that passed the "husband approved" rating: spaghetti cacio e pepe, an onion and pepper frittata, potatoes and Romano beans with pancetta, and now trout in acqua pazza.
Legend has it that fish in acqua pazza (which means crazy water in Italian) was so named in the 19th century after fishermen in the Campania region of Italy cooked their catch on board in sea water, due to the high tax on salt. They noticed the water boiling violently and dubbed it "crazy water." Today's version adds a few more ingredients, including olive oil, cherry tomatoes, garlic and olives, and you can add more to call it your own.
Since I don't have a range for a while, I'll be making all my meals in pans available here in this apartment, so I hope you stay with me through this challenge. You can follow my daily doings on my Instagram page here:https://www.instagram.com/ciaochowlinda/. I also have no serving platters, so all my food will be served on the few dishes available to me in this kitchen. So while I love the aesthetics of presenting food on a beautiful platter, what really matters is the taste - and my husband declares this one passes the test in spades.
By the way, now that I'm grocery shopping here, I am finding prices in Italy are so much less than in the United States. This trout for instance, cost me the equivalent of about $8.00 at the local fish monger, (who trimmed off the head and cleaned the inside). At home, I'd probably pay close to $30.00. Who knew I could actually save money living in Italy for a few months?
Here's what inspired me: a version of branzino in acqua pazza we had at a restaurant in Milan on our first night in Italy, more than a month ago. That got me thinking I could easily duplicate it here in my rental apartment, and truly it was easy -- and delicious. I hope you try it.
Fish in Acqua Pazza
1 whole fish (about 2 or 2 1/2 lbs) or 4 fish fillets (I used trout, but sea bass, branzino, cod or snapper would be great too)
6-8 grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 large clove of garlic, or 2 small ones, sliced thinly
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used leftover prosecco)
1 cup water or fish broth
minced parsley, salt and pepper
a couple of slices of lemon
optional: a half dozen olives or a few capers
Procedure:
In a large, deep skillet, place the olive oil, garlic and tomatoes. Let it cook on a low flame for a few minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the white wine and water (or chicken broth), season with salt and pepper, and let everything simmer together for about 10 minutes. Season the fish with salt and pepper, both on the outside and inside. Place the fish in the pan with the tomatoes, garlic and liquid and add the lemon slices and parsley. Place a lid on the pan and simmer for 10-15 minutes until fish is cooked through. To serve, place the fish on a platter and remove the skin from both sides, then fillet it and remove it from the skeletal frame. Place the filleted pieces on a serving dish and pour the liquid juices on top, sprinkling with some freshly minced parsley.
According to the calendar, it's the first day of Spring, but it sure still feels like winter outside here in central New Jersey. Patches of snow are scattered across my lawn from the last storm and even more snow is forecast for our region today.
But if Mother Nature isn't cooperating, signs of Spring are abundant at the grocery store - from the first fava beans to these baby artichokes that I couldn't resist.
I've made stuffed artichokes and posted the recipe for them before, as my mother-in-law taught me years ago. But I'd never grilled artichokes the way my blogger buddy Marie does. Until now, that is.
They're a snap to make, but they do need to be boiled first before putting on the grill (or grill pan, in this case.)
Just square off the tops and plunk them into boiling water for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. Test with a knife and if they offer no resistance, they're done. Drain and cool, then cut in half and scoop out the small choke in the middle.
Drizzle them with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, some minced garlic, parmesan cheese (or Romano) and minced parsley. Toss in a bowl to coat.
Then place on a grill pan that's heated on high heat and brushed with olive oil.
After a few minutes, they should have nice grill marks, so flip on the other side and let them heat another few minutes until thoroughly heated through.
Serve as a side dish, or as a first course, or even as appetizers with drinks. Have a side dish ready for the inedible part of the leaves.
Join us for a writing retreat in one of the most beautiful places on Earth - along the shores of Italy's Lake Como. Click here for more information.
Trim the top of the artichokes and boil for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes, until tender. Remove and cool, then cut out the hairy choke in the middle. Place the artichoke halves in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. To the bowl, add salt and pepper to taste, minced garlic, minced parsley and some parmesan cheese (or Romano cheese). Toss everything together and grill on high heat for a few minutes on one side, then flip and grill the second side for a few minutes.
Who could resist a dish like the one on the cover ofDomenica Marchetti's latest cookbook, The Glorious Pasta of Italy? It's been out for about a year, but I am finally getting around to perusing it and making some of the recipes, including the two I chose for this blog post.
It's not easy to decide what to make from this book, since there are so many tempting choices. I'm just going to have to work my way through the entire book, from the chapter "Pasta in Soups" to "Pasta on the Run" to "Showstoppers." There's something in here for busy families looking for a quick dinner, to fancy dishes you'd serve to the boss. Domenica has included traditional pasta dishes, along with some contemporary dishes of her own invention.
One of the dishes that caught my eye was whole wheat orecchiette with a sauce made using broccoli rape (rapini) and regular broccoli. Instead of using regular broccoli, I made the dish using broccoli rape and some cauliflower, since that's what I had on hand.
Normally, I shy away from whole-wheat pasta. Anytime I've eaten it, cardboard comes to mind. But then again, I'd never eaten home-made whole wheat pasta. That is, until Domenica's dish gave me the impetus. Besides, my dad --who's 90 years old and loves to cook -- was visiting for the afternoon and I thought it would be fun to make pasta together.
After preparing the dough and kneading it, you roll it out into long "rope" like shapes, then cut off little pieces from the rope and press down, while pushing away from the center.
It's easy to do, but it takes a little practice and your technique will improve as you work your way through the batch of dough. Make sure your dough isn't too dry though, or will crumble apart when you try to shape the little ears. If you're working as a team, you'll have enough for a meal in no time.
Of course, there's no law that says you can't serve this sauce with dried, store-bought pasta. In the photo below, I served it with store-bought creste de gallo (rooster's crest). You may notice that the sauce here is also much less homogenized (and sparser) than in the other pasta dish (less time in the food processor). It's just as good either way.
Another recipe from the book I tried were these fluffy dumplings that reminded me a lot of the canederli I eat when I'm in the Trentino-Alto Adige region. But instead of being made with bread as canederli are, these dumplings are made with semolina. It's nearly the same recipe you'd use for gnocchi alla romana. The difference is these are shaped into ovals or quenelles, unlike round canederli. And rather than bake in the oven, you drop these little quenelles into hot broth.
After making the soup, I reserved some of the "dough," spread it in a small casserole and refrigerated it. The next day, I arranged it in a buttered casserole with a little grated parmesan on the top and baked it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes and had my gnocchi alla romana. That's what I call versatility.
Start by cooking semolina flour with milk, eggs and butter. I used semolina from Italy that was sent to me by Olio 2Go. It was perfect for this recipe and I'm looking forward to trying it in other things.
After mixing everything together, use two spoons to push the dough back and forth and make a compact "football" shape.
Then just drop the quenelles into the broth and simmer over the stove for about five to ten minutes.
One last thing - Take a minute to drop by my friend Christo's blog - Chez What?for a guest post by yours truly on halibut with cannellini beans.
1 batch Whole Wheat Pasta Dough or White Whole Wheat Pasta Dough (please see separate recipe), or 1 lb dried orecchiette
Semolina flour for dusting, if making orecchiette (optional)
Unbleached all-purpose/plain flour for dusting and for shaping the dough, if making the orecchiette (optional)
Whole Wheat Pasta Dough
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup 00 or unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 t. fine sea salt
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
2/3 cup tepid water
Put the two flours and the salt in a food processor. Pulse briefly to combine. Drizzle in the 1 T. olive oil and turn on the machine. Begin slowly pouring the water through the feed tube, adding only as much as you need for the dough to form crumbs that look like small curds. Pinch together a bit of the mixture and roll it around. It should form a soft ball. If the mixture seems dry, add a few more drops of oil and pulse briefly. If it seems too wet and sticky, add additional "00" flour, 1 T. at a time, and pulse briefly.
(note, mine was too dry and I needed to add more water.)
Turn the mixture out onto a clean work surface sprinkled lightly with flour and press it together with your hands to form a rough ball. Knead the dough: Using the palm of your hand, push the dough gently but firmly away from you, and then fold it over toward you. Rotate the dough a quarter turn, and repeat the pushing and folding motion. Continue kneading for several minutes until the dough is smooth. Form it into a ball and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap/cling film. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before using.
For the sauce
1 head broccoli, about 1 lb, stalks trimmed and reserved for another use or discarded and head separated into florets (I used cauliflower here)
1 bunch rapini, about 1 lb, tough stalks discarded
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp kosher or fine sea salt, or to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup homemade vegetable broth, homemade chicken broth, or best-quality low-sodium, fat-free commercial vegetable or chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy/double cream
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino romano cheese for serving
Directions
Mix the pasta dough as directed and let it rest. Lightly dust a work surface with semolina. Place a small bowl of all-purpose/plain flour nearby. Dust a rimmed baking sheet/tray or clean tablecloth with semolina or all-purpose flour. Pinch off a golf ball–sized piece of dough and rerwrap the rest so it does not dry out. Using your palms, roll the piece of dough on the dusted surface into a rope the thickness of a pinkie finger. Cut the rope crosswise into small pieces, each about the size of a hazelnut (1/4 to 1/2 in thick). Working with 1 piece at a time, roll it between your palms to form a ball. With the thumb of one hand, press the ball into the middle of the palm of your other hand to form a deep depression in the dough. Rotate the dough and repeat the pressing once or twice, rotating the dough after each impression. You want to create a small, deep saucer. If the dough sticks, dip your thumb into the bowl of flour. Place the finished shape on the flour-dusted baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough until you have shaped it all.
(If you plan to cook the orecchiette within a day of shaping, you can leave them out until it is time to cook them.)
To make the sauce: Bring water to a depth of about 1/2 in to a boil in a steamer pan placed over medium-high heat. Arrange the broccoli florets on the steamer rack, place the rack in the pan, cover, and steam the broccoli for 4 to 5 minutes, or until bright green. Transfer the florets to a bowl and set aside.
Check the water in the steamer pan, and add more as needed until it is 1/2 in deep. Bring to a boil, put the rapini on the steamer rack, cover, and steam for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the leaves and florets are wilted. Transfer to the bowl holding the broccoli.
Transfer the vegetables and their cooking liquid to a blender or food processor, add the remaining 1/4 cup oil, and puree until smooth. Gradually add the broth, about 1/4 cup at a time, and process until the puree is the consistency of a thick sauce. You should have about 3 cups sauce.
While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and salt generously. Add the orecchiette and stir to separate. If using fresh pasta, cover the pot until the water comes back to a boil, then uncover and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until al dente. If using dried pasta, cook according to the manufacturer's instructions until al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander set in the sink, reserving about 1 cup of the cooking water.
Transfer the pasta to a warmed serving bowl and spoon about two-thrids of the sauce over it. Toss gently to combine the pasta and sauce thoroughly, adding a splash or two of the cooking water if necessary to loosen the sauce. Spoon the remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle with the cheese. Serve immediately.
Simplify: The orecchiette may be made in advance and frozen (uncooked). Arrange them in a single layer on rimmed baking sheets/trays dusted with semolina and freeze for 1 hour, or until firm. Transfer them to a zipper-lock freezer bag or a tightly lidded container and freeze for up to 1 month, then cook directly from the freezer.
Makes 4 servings 2 cups whole milk or half-and-half 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (didn't use it due to allergies) 2/3 cup semolina flour 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 6 cups homemade chicken broth (I used homemade vegetable broth) Combine the milk, butter, salt, and nutmeg in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then very slowly add the semolina in a constant stream, whisking all the while as you pour. Cook, stirring constantly, until the semolina is thickened and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. This should take about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour the mixture into a bowl, using a spatula to scrape the sides of the pan. Stir in the 1/2 cup of Parmigiano and parsley. Working slowly and stirring as you go, carefully pour in the eggs, taking care to incorporate them immediately so they don’t begin to “cook” and curdle. Set aside while you prepare the broth. Bring the broth to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Using two standard-size coffee spoons or dessert spoons, scoop up about 1 tablespoon of the semolina mixture and form it into an oval. This is easier than it sounds: you will see the oval naturally take shape as you transfer the mixture from one spoon to the other a few times. As you shape each dumpling, gently drop it into the boiling broth. You should have 20 to 24 dumplings in all. Reduce the heat to medium to allow the dumplings to simmer without the broth boiling over. Simmer gently for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the dumplings have floated to the surface and puffed up considerably. Spoon the dumplings into warmed shallow, rimmed bowls, dividing them evenly, and ladle some broth over them. Sprinkle with additional Parmigiano and serve immediately.
