Fruit
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My passion for pasta with fruit began while I was researching my first cookbook, Shakespeare’s Kitchen, when I discovered the many sweet-savory pasta dishes of the Renaissance. Now I’m always on the lookout for fruit and pasta pairings when in Italy and I constantly pester my Italian friends to send me recipes. In this chapter, you’ll find pasta paired with all sorts of fruit, both dried and fresh—berries, figs, prunes, dates, oranges, and lemons—each adding lovely color, brilliant acidity, and delicate sweetness to the sauces.
{ Pasta coi carciofi, prugne secche, e salvia }
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SERVES 4 | REGION: Central and southern Italy
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Artichokes, which are slightly bitter, are nicely balanced in this dish by the sweetness of the prunes and the touch of sage, which adds brightness with its balsamic notes. Plus, it’s ready in fifteen minutes or less: By the time the pasta is al dente, the sauce is ready. Ah, Italy’s version of “fast food”!
This dish is typically served with incannulate—gorgeously long, wide ribbons of pasta that are folded over and then twirled around themselves. This must-try specialty of Puglia is available dried here in the States or you can make your own. Of course, this delicious sauce is superb with any pasta shape!
8 baby artichokes
Olive oil
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 dried plums, or prunes, thinly sliced
12 fresh sage leaves
⅓ cup (75 ml) white wine
1 pound (455 g) incannulate or any long pasta, preferably Terre di Puglia brand
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Zest of 1 lemon, cut into long strips
Cut off the top ½ inch (12 mm) of each artichoke, discard, and slice the remainder paper thin. In a large frying pan, heat 6 tablespoons oil over high heat. Add the artichokes and fry until crisp. Remove them from the pan and drain on paper towels. Lower the heat, add the onion and garlic to the pan, and sauté until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the prunes, sage, and white wine. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Boil the pasta in salted water for 2 minutes less than the package directs. Drain and finish cooking in the sauce, adding a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking liquid as needed. Stir in the fried artichokes and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve topped with lemon zest.
{ Pasta all’arancia }
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SERVES 4 | REGION: Central and parts of northern Italy
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This dish, featuring orange juice and crisp Italian bacon, has a rich flavor with only a few ingredients. It’s like breakfast for dinner!
Oranges have an astonishingly savory-sweet quality when paired with pasta, so it’s no wonder that there are hundreds of variations of this combination throughout Italy. The trick is to add the orange juice a little at a time so it caramelizes into golden goodness.
3 ounces (90 g) pancetta, cut into matchsticks
Olive oil
2 medium leeks
1 cup (240 ml) freshly squeezed orange juice, plus grated zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pound (455 g) orecchiette or any short pasta, preferably Benedetto Cavalieri brand
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pecorino or other aged cheese, grated
In a skillet large enough to later toss the pasta, cook the pancetta in 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until crisp.
Wash and finely slice the leeks, including any of the tender green parts; you should have about 1 ½ cups (360 ml). Stir the leeks into the pancetta and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add about ½ cup (120 ml) of the juice, raise the heat to high, and boil until syrupy. Add the sugar and the rest of the juice, a few tablespoons at a time, until caramelized, syrupy, and thick, so the sauce adheres to the back of a spoon, with a nice dark golden color.
Meanwhile, boil the pasta in salted water for 2 minutes less than the package directs. Drain, toss into the sauce, and cook over high heat until it is al dente and coated in a thick glaze. Season with salt and serve topped with the zest, pepper, and some cheese.
{ Strozzapreti al pesto di limone e finocchio }
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SERVES 4 | REGION: Sicily
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Lemon’s tang plus fennel’s freshness make a light and superbly different pesto. This specialty of Sicily whirls up right in the food processor. If they don’t have wild fennel at your farmer’s market, just omit it. I’ve made this pesto here in the States with only normal supermarket fennel and it was still amazing.
Here I suggest using the whimsically named “priest stranglers” pasta, which have a delightfully dense chewiness. The name, perhaps a secret wish, dates to the days when farmers dreaded a visit from the village priest, who’d greedily devour the poor parishioners’ food.
⅓ cup (50 g) blanched almonds
1 lemon
1 fennel bulb, including fronds, chopped
1 small wild fennel bulb, including fronds, chopped
About 30 fresh mint leaves
About 25 large fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed
Olive oil
Salt
1 pound (455 g) strozzapreti or any pasta
Finely grind the almonds in a mortar and pestle, clean coffee grinder, or small food processor.
Using a very sharp knife, and working over a plate to collect the juices, cut off the skin and white pith of the lemon and discard. Separate the lemon sections, cutting or peeling off the membranes between the sections.
Put the fennel, lemon pieces, and any collected lemon juice into a food processor and grind into a paste. Add the almonds, wild fennel, if using, mint, basil, capers, and 3 tablespoons oil and process until the mixture resembles cooked oatmeal, adding more oil if it is too thick. Season with salt.
Boil the pasta in salted water until it is al dente. Drain and toss with the pesto.
{ Campanelle in crema di frutti di bosco }
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SERVES 4 | REGION: Sicily
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Berries, tingly mint, and aromatic basil combine with ricotta to create a highly unusual but crowd-pleasing pasta dish. Staggeringly simple to make, the sauce is ready before the water boils. Here it’s paired with pretty bell-shaped campanelle pasta, but it’s fantastic with any shape.
1 pound (455 g) campanelle or any short pasta
Salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup (170 g) fresh blueberries
1 cup (170 g) fresh raspberries
1 cup (250 g) ricotta
About 15 small fresh mint leaves
About 12 small fresh basil leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
Boil the pasta in salted water until it is al dente. Drain.
Meanwhile, in a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add three fourths of the berries, reserving the rest for garnish, and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Transfer the fruit to a large serving bowl along with the ricotta, mint, and basil leaves and stir the mixture with a fork to combine.
Toss the pasta with the ricotta mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve topped with the reserved berries.
{ Pasta mele rosse Cuneo }
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SERVES 4 | REGION: Piedmont, especially the province of Cuneo
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Crunchy bits of pancetta sautéed with caramelized red onions, apples, and a hint of rosemary—incredible! The smoky bacon harmonizes with the apple’s sweet acidity and the barely perceptible touch of black pepper that lingers on the tongue. The delicate sweetness of the caramelized onions and the wonderful woodsy aroma of rosemary add another level of flavor.
In Italy, apples star in enough recipes for pasta, ravioli, lasagna, and risotto to fill an entire cookbook! Grated apples can even be added to tomato sauce, as cooks do in the Trentino–Alto Adige region.
Olive oil
2 ounces (60 g) pancetta or bacon, minced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 Red Delicious apples, peeled and thinly sliced
¾ cup (180 ml) dry white wine
1 small fresh rosemary branch
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound (455 g) rigatoni or any pasta
Parmesan or other aged cheese
In a skillet large enough to later toss the pasta, heat 2 tablespoons oil, then add the pancetta and onions. Cook over medium heat until the onions are softened, about 8 minutes, then raise the heat to high and continue cooking until they are golden, another 3 or 4 minutes. Add the apples, wine, and rosemary, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan, and cook on high until the wine evaporates, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper and remove the rosemary.
Boil the pasta in salted water until it is al dente. Drain and toss into the sauce for 1 minute, along with a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking liquid. Serve topped with shaved or grated cheese.
{ Fusilli al figo moro con salciccia }
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SERVES 4 | REGION: Friuli–Venezia Giulia
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Figs, with their jamlike sweetness, add pizzazz to sausage in this dish, building a smoky and deeply satisfying pasta that’s ready in minutes. If fresh aren’t available, substitute dried figs that have been simmered in a little wine until soft.
Olive oil
1 large leek, finely sliced
2 sweet sausages
1 cup (240 ml) red wine
5 large fresh black figs
1 pound (455 g) fusilli lunghi or any pasta
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Grana padano or other aged cheese, shaved
In a large frying pan, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add the leeks and fry until soft, about 3 minutes. Remove the sausage meat from the casings and add it to the leeks. Cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until it is well browned, about 5 minutes. Add the wine, scraping up any brown bits. Slice three of the figs and stir them into the mixture; quarter and reserve the other two figs for garnish. Simmer the sausage-fig mixture until it is thick, about 20 minutes.
Boil the pasta in salted water until it is al dente. Drain and toss in the sauce, along with several tablespoons of the cooking water, until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with cheese and the reserved fig quarters.
{ Pantacce con fichi e melanzane }
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SERVES 4 | REGION: Southern and parts of central Italy
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A play between sweet and bitter, eggplant and figs are extraordinary together. The eggplant is baked whole, then mashed with garlic, oregano, olive oil, and figs. The resulting smoky, sweet, creamy mix is tossed with pasta and garnished with more figs.
You can enjoy this dazzling dish all year long by substituting dried figs, if fresh aren’t available. Just steep them in hot wine until tender, drain, then follow the directions as with fresh. I especially like this dish with pantacce, which look like miniature curly-edged lasagna sheets, but it’s terrific with any shape.
2 eggplants, about 1 pound (455 g) each
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound (455 g) pantacce or any pasta, preferably Rustichella d’Abruzzo brand
2 garlic cloves, minced
Sprigs fresh oregano
Olive oil
8 fresh figs
Aged pecorino cheese, grated
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Bake the whole unpeeled eggplants on a baking sheet for about 1 hour, until very soft and collapsed. Scoop out the flesh, removing any seeds, and press it through a food mill or puree it in a food processor until very smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Boil the pasta in salted water until it is al dente. Drain.
Meanwhile, in a skillet large enough to later toss the pasta, warm the garlic and 4 oregano sprigs in ¼ cup (60 ml) oil for a few minutes, until fragrant, then discard the oregano. Stir in the eggplant. Thinly slice four of the figs and add them to the eggplant. Cut the remaining figs into quarters and reserve for garnish.
Toss the pasta into the eggplant along with some pecorino to taste. Top with a drizzle of oil, the reserved fig sections, and additional sprigs of oregano. Garnish with more shaved pecorino, if you like.
{ Spaghetti con arance, datteri e acciughe }
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SERVES 4 | REGION: Northern and central Italy
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One forkful was all it took to catapult this fabulous mix of sweet and savory to the top of my favorite fruit and pasta list. The unusual combination of dates and anchovies was inspired by Michelin star–winner Chef Carlo Cracco, whose virtuosic appetizers of anchovy-stuffed dates are fried in a batter made with panettone, an Italian sweet yeast cake with a fruity aroma of raisins and candied oranges. That dish has inspired many Italian home cooks to convert the ingredient mix into this remarkable pasta dish.
½ cup (56 g) homemade coarsely ground breadcrumbs, toasted
Olive oil
1 pound (455 g) spaghetti or other long pasta, preferably Benedetto Cavalieri brand
4 oil-packed anchovy filets
1 ½ cups (360 ml) white wine
5 tablespoons tomato paste
12 dried dates, thinly sliced
Zest of 1 orange, cut into long strips
Put the breadcrumbs in a small frying pan over medium-high heat, drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil, and re-toast, stirring often, until crunchy. Set them aside on a paper towel.
Boil the pasta in salted water for 2 minutes less than the package directs. Drain.
Meanwhile, in a large frying pan over very low heat, slowly heat ¼ cup (60 ml) oil with the anchovies, pressing the anchovies with a wooden spoon until they dissolve. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half. Add the tomato paste and dates and simmer for a few minutes.
Toss the pasta in the sauce to finish cooking it, adding a little cooking liquid as needed. Serve the pasta topped with the breadcrumbs and long strips of orange zest.
