I believe that this the first time, after testing recipes for many years, that I actually doubled a recipe so that there would be enough to feed the two of us.
I purchased fresh pappardelle at a local pasta shop where you can buy, fresh daily, pasta in bulk. I really appreciate that, because I can buy what I need, and not have small amounts of various leftovers from prepackaged pasta that usually come in one of 2 sizes, 10 ounce packages, or 1 pound packages. That being said, in the case of this recipe, having a little bit more, or less, pappardelle is not a problem, being that you can always adjust the sauce ingredients a bit.
There were 2 components in this recipe that I was unsure of, and actually wished that I could change. Being that it was a test recipe, I exercised some self-control, and forged ahead, limiting myself to the recipe as written.
When it comes to parsley, I have only used the leaves of the plant. With cilantro, I do use the stems as well as the leaves, but with parsley I always thought the stems to be tough, and have never chopped them up and used them as you do here. The stems were a nice addition to the sauce, and I liked the thought that I was using something that would have just ended up in the compost bin.
The other ingredient that I silently wanted to change was keeping the fennel seeds whole. I like fennel seeds quite a lot, but have always toasted them in a small cast iron pan, and then ground them. When leaving them whole, they were not something to get caught in your teeth, but ended up being little pops of flavor.
In both cases, I learned a new technique, liked the results of both, and will use both of them again.
We were serving a Napa Valley Zinfandel with this for dinner, so I actually used 1/3 C. of that dry Zinfandel for my red wine in the dish.
I went to 4 stores, looking for passata, strained tomatoes, including 2 places where I used to buy jars of them. I couldn’t find them, but they are very easy to make, no need to even seek them out. I drained cans of diced tomatoes placed the drained tomatoes in the food processor, and pulsed them till I had a nice chunky sauce.
The finished dish made for a comforting, bistro-style bowl of pasta. It was very easy to throw together, and something I can see making again, especially if I have a bunch of parsley that I would like to find a use for. We enjoyed a green salad with thin slices of purple onion and cubed beets with this dish.
