Here’s a recipe for an experimenting day, from Italian-cooking guru Marcella Hazan.
Adapted from “Marcella Says . . . ,” by Marcella Hazan (HarperCollins). You’ll need a hand-cranked pasta machine and a cast-iron griddle or skillet. Makes about 8 servings of pasta.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cornmeal, pulsed several times in food processor until the consistency of flour
3 extra-large eggs at room temperature
Directions
Combine the flour, cornmeal and eggs, working the mixture into a homogeneous mass of dough. You may do it entirely by hand, or use a food processor or a standing mixer. Even if you do start it in the processor or the mixer, knead it afterward by hand for 2 to 3 minutes on a wood or laminated smooth work surface.
Cut the dough into 8 equal slabs and run them one at a time through the pasta machine to thin them, narrowing down the thinning settings notch by notch until the dough is as thin as that of fine noodles. Cut the fully thinned-out strips of dough to a length that will fit comfortably on your griddle or cast-iron skillet and lay them flat on a counter covered with cloth dish towels. Make sure the strips do not touch or overlap or they will stick to each other.
Preheat the griddle or place skillet over medium-high heat.
Place one or more strips of dough — they must not overlap—on the hot griddle or skillet. Hold the dough down flat with a metal spatula to keep it from curling and toast it briefly first on one side, then on the other. It should take about 1 minute for the first side and a little less for the second, just long enough for the dough to stiffen and become lightly speckled with reddish-brown spots. Remove the dough as soon as it is done, replacing it with a fresh strip. After the strips are grilled they can be stacked.
Mlinci strips, once grilled, are cooked in salted boiling water like pasta. You can cook them immediately or store them in a box until you are ready to do so. They can last for weeks in a dry cupboard.
To cook: Break up the grilled mlinci into irregular pieces about 2 inches long. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil, add 1 1/2-2 tablespoons salt, and when the water returns to a fast boil, drop in the mlinci. Drain after about 1 minute and toss immediately with sauce. The robust taste of the mlinci naturally calls for a rich-tasting sauce.
