Ingredients
PASTA
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 egg
4 tbsp ; water
CHAMPAGNE CREAM SAUCE
6 egg yolk
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup champagne
Directions
Mix flour and cocoa well. Mound on your work surface or in a large
bowl. Make a deep well in the center of the mound and break the eggs
into it. Beat the eggs in there with a fork, adding about 2 Tbsp
water. Using a circular motion, draw the flour and cocoa into the
center. Toss in another Tbsp of Water. Stir with your fork until all
the flour is moistened. Add a little more water as needed. You're
gonna have to finish mixing by hand. Pat the dough into a ball. Clean
off your work surface, and flour it. Knead the dough for about 10
minutes, or until the dough becomes silky and elastic. Cover the
dough and let it rest for half an hour so the gluten can activate in
the flour. Roll out 1/4 of the dough at a time, the same way you
would any pasta. A machine makes this really easy. I prefer to let
the pasta dry (at least a little!) before cooking. This will make 4
to 5 cups of cooked pasta---plenty for dessert. Serve in wine glasses
with a warm raspberry sauce and chilled whipped cream. Combine yolks
and sugar over a double-boiler. Whisk constantly for about 10
minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken. Before it turns to a
thick custard, pour in the room-temperature champagne all at once. As
it foams up, whisk lightly, and continue to stir as it thickens.
Remove from heat. Serve warm over chilled berries, or over
Cinnamon-nutmeg pasta & top with berries. Variation: Use 2 cups
flour, omit the cocoa. Instead, add 1 tsp each cinnamon and
freshly-ground nutmeg. I served this one with a Champagne Cream
sauce and fresh raspberries and blueberries.
Servings: 8 servings
Chocolate Pasta Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Chocolate; Dessert; Italian; Pasta
The History of Recipes
It is quite feasible to follow the history of transcribed cooking instructions far back into history, in fact as far back as pharonic Egypt, and maybe further still. Interesting though that is, mostly, these early cookbooks were just simple pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for meal preparation.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe discovered so far, according to experts in ancient history is a collection of tablets in Sumerian which describe the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who tried it feel `blissful`. Moving on, we find some interesting books which were published in the 14th Century ; a book entitled `Forme of Cury`, and another named `Curye on Inglish`. The titles are somewhat misleading tho`, these have no connection with the indian food that appears on menues today, but rather recipes for the types of meals on the menus of the upper classes of that period. Later, in the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought back a variety of foods and spices from middle-east cuisine, including basil and coriander. These new foods and tastes prompted an outbreak in recipe publications, some of which still exist in private collections. During the next few hundred years, the powerful and rich houses strove to offer the most extravagent banquests, and because of this the best cooks and their recipe collections increased in prestige. However, it wasn`t until the 1800s that haute cuisine and recipe publications became really popular. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated the best years of their lives to collecting, verifying, and publishing recipes of the day. By the time we get to the twentieth century, cook books were greatly in demand as a result of higher levels of literacy, more leisure time and a general increase in wealth. Like it or not, the introduction of TV gave us TV chefs and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. Which brings us neatly up to date and the internet revolution, permitting everybody to search through massive numbers of recipes such as those found on our web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Chocolate Pasta recipe.
