I love New Orleans!  My husband and I have spent the week after Christmas there 3 times and New Year’s Eve was awesome.  I do not think I want to go for Mardi Gras, but who knows.  With the celebration approaching, I was in the mood to try a recipe from John Besh’s My New Orleans: The Cookbook.  A bit time consuming, so maybe save for the weekend.  Make the creole spice and mudrica before you start on the sauce to save frustration.  Be sure to follow all the steps, it is worth it!

Enjoy.

Pasta Milanese

• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 bulb fennel, diced
• 2 onions, diced
• 4 anchovy filets ( I omitted this as I didn’t have any)
• 3 12-ounce cans diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted and ground
• Leaves from 4 large sprigs fresh basil, chopped
• Leaves from 2 large sprigs fresh oregano, chopped (I used 1 tsp dried oregano)
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon Basic Creole Spices*
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Salt

 

• 2 pounds Basic Homemade Pasta or dried fettuccine (I used 1 lb of pasta that my stepdaughter sent from Italy) this is the best pasta I have ever had and I threw away the box! ☹)

 

• 1 recipe Mudrica**

(I added freshly grated parmesan cheese to the finished dish)

Directions:

1. Heat a large saucepan over moderate heat. Add the olive oil, then the fresh fennel and onions, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and caramelized, 10 – 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook very briefly, then stir in the anchovies. Add the diced tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, ground fennel, basil, oregano, pepper flakes, Creole Spices, and black pepper to the pan. Simmer the sauce for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender. Drain the pasta. Serve the pasta in a serving dish with the tomato sauce ladled on top. Sprinkle the Mudrica over the sauce.

Notes:

*Basic Creole Spice Recipe

1 tablespoon each of sweet paprika, coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder / 2 tablespoons of celery salt / 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper / and ½ teaspoon of allspice.

**Mudrica Recipe (don’t skip this)

½ cup white bread crumbs from day-old bread, ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts, 2 tablespoons dried currants, 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 pinch chopped fresh oregano leaves, 1 pinch of salt.

Put all the ingredients into the work bowl of a food processor and pulse 4 or 5 times or until the mixture is well combined. Serve over pasta.