Two Kinds of Pasta for A Farewell Party

A friend of mine will leave for Hiroshima next week. Had a farewell party at my place.

Made 2 pastas from scratch!

One is " Stracci" with Spinach and Mushroom Cream .Stracci means rag in Italian. The shape is like a lozenge. Not only flour but also potatos in it. Without a pasta machine, you can make it. (A rolling pin is required to make it though.)

The taste is similar to "gnocchi" but the texture is more pasta.

Even if you don't have a chance to make fresh pasta from scratch, this cream sauce is matching with any dried pasta.

Here's the recipe of the sauce. Using a food processor will help you to make it easily.

~Mushroom and Spinach Cream Sauce Recipe~

Ingredients

A half bunch of spinach (100g)

1 /2 pack of "Maitake" (any mushroom you like would be fine.)

1 garlic clove

5 table spoons of unsalted butter( around 60g) ( if you want to taste more healthy, you may use olive oil instead.)

1 pack of fresh cream (200cc)

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese as you need

Method

1 Cut two vegetables and crush a garlic. no need to chop them.

2 Heat butter in a fried pan. Add a garlic and sauté until beginning to soften. Add spinach and mashrooms and fried until soften.

3 Take the garlic out. Put spinach and mashrooms into a food processor. Add some salt(around 1/2 tablespoon) and pepper. Mince them.

4 Put minced stuff back into the fried pan. Add fresh cream, stir gently and simmer until boil.

Serves 8

You can keep the sauce into a freezer. It can keep the taste around 1 month. Matching with short pasta.

The other one is called "Strangozzi" which is made from egg white and flour. When I make some sweets such as a "mousse", lots of egg white are left. I always keep them into a freezer. One of the solutions of consuming egg whites, I used to make a baked cake before, however, the calories are horrible. For our family's health, I am making "strangozzi". 4 eggs whites and 320g flours(Italian 00 flour) are for 4 persons.

The texture is a little bit chewy. You may meet a new taste of pasta!