The @no_mise_en_plastic Instagram account is an unbelievable useful resource of sensible ideas to assist cooks create waste-free kitchens, and infrequently showcases cooks from world wide. The sourdough pasta made by one in every of them, Albert Franch Sunyer from the restaurant Nolla in Helsinki, actually caught my eye.
In truth, Albert thinks leftover bread is likely one of the most versatile components within the kitchen, and says his pasta recipe got here from the necessity to deplete stale leftovers after service: “We’ve been taking part in with leftover bread recipes because the starting of Nolla, making every little thing – cheese crackers, ice-cream, crumbles, you identify it. And we thought that, if bread is made out of flour, we will in all probability make flour once more.”
Sourdough pasta made with stale bread
“Usually, to make use of the least vitality, we let the bread dry on cabinets within the kitchen,” Albert tells me, as a result of at Nolla they like to not use the oven once they don’t need to. “I name this invisible waste,” he says, describing pointless vitality utilization that we regularly don’t see. Nolla has plenty of vegan prospects, in order that they make this pasta with water, so it’s a bit like conventional semolina pasta. I’ve used eggs, nonetheless, to create a extra elastic pasta that holds as much as my wholemeal bread, however have included water as a substitute. In the event you made this pasta with white bread, I’m certain it could create a finer powder that’s simpler to work with. That mentioned, my wholemeal bread pasta was nutty and really flavourful, and nicely value the additional work concerned in passing it by way of the pasta machine a couple of further instances.
Nolla serves a four-course menu through which the second dish is often sourdough pasta. Albert says they’ve served it in a whole bunch of various variations, most lately with a smoked mushroom cream (which is itself made out of mushrooms left over from making mushroom inventory) layered with sourdough pasta sheets and served with fried lion’s mane mushroom, pickled shiitakes and shiitake oil. What an umami bomb!
In the event you don’t have a pasta machine, don’t fret – there are nonetheless a number of shapes you may make merely together with your fingers and a rolling pin, similar to orecchiette (“little ears”) or pici (“hand-rolled spaghetti). Right here’s the recipe for pici from my cookbook: “Roll out the dough right into a rectangle in regards to the thickness of a £1 coin (3mm). Brush with a bit olive oil. One by one, lower into 5mm strips, then roll beneath your fingers into lengthy worm shapes. Mud with flour or semolina and prepare dinner in loads of salted boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes, or till it floats.”
Makes 2 servings
100g stale bread – ensure that it’s fully dried out in a heat a part of the kitchen, or utilizing the residual warmth of the oven after you’ve cooked one other dish and turned it off
100g pasta flour
2 giant eggs, or 100g water
Reduce or break the bread into items, then mix to a advantageous flour (I used a jug blender). Add the pasta flour, pulse mix once more to mix, then add the eggs (or water) and pulse till the combination comes collectively right into a ball – add extra flour or water as essential, to assist it alongside. The dough must be moist however not sticky. End up on to a piece floor, knead for 5 minutes, till clean and elastic, then put in a bath and chill for at the very least half-hour. The dough might take longer than standard to turn out to be clean and elastic, particularly should you’ve used wholewheat bread.
Roll the dough into sheets, ideally utilizing a pasta machine, then lower into your required form (or use to make lasagne).
To prepare dinner the pasta, boil a big pot of salted water to a rolling boil, drop within the pasta and prepare dinner for 2 minutes, or till the pasta floats. Drain, gown together with your sauce of alternative and serve.
