Pasta dishes brimming with New York can-do attitude

New York is a place I love. Thankfully, with work, I’ve been able to spend some time over there in the past two years, slowly dining my way through the mountains of quality and diverse food. What I love about the city is the melting pot ethos all around. A melange of cultures, backgrounds, flavours, opinions, looks, sounds, religions and passions. You can be who you want to be, in this city at least, free from judgment or hushed voices.
What always strikes me about the city is the unerring attitude of encouragement, it’s something I’ve tried to foster in my own day-to-day game. There’s a sense here that there’s a solution for every problem. People encourage ambition and celebrate success. There’s always a brighter day coming. In a challenging industry such as hospitality, this is refreshing to see, even if the positivity is sitting on sand.
Thankfully, I have some old friends who have made this city home, and who are always on the end of the phone to meet up or point me in the right direction.
One such man is Michael Brogan. Name any two- or three-Michelin-star restaurant in Dublin or New York and he has probably worked there at some point. He cooked for me and my wife on our honeymoon at David Chang’s lauded Momofuku Ko restaurant, where he worked for seven years.
Brogan is a fountain of knowledge. He can probably map out the entire streetscape of Manhattan in his head. I can’t remember ever having an underwhelming meal in his company or on his recommendation. So this particular evening, I’m trying to find somewhere for dinner with my mother and sister-in-law. The sister-in-law and I are absolutely wrecked; a combination of trying to keep pace with my crazy mother and the remnants of the previous night’s wrap party.
A quick look at the map and a text goes off to Brogan: “Nolita district, authentic Italian pasta, mid-range pricing, casual vibes, any thoughts?” Within two minutes the response is in, a list of three restaurants all within a 20-minute walk of our hotel.
The first two are fully booked, but I nab a table in the third. Walking in via a laneway, we are greeted by a smiling face and led to our table. The room is unlike anything I’ve seen. Imagine Hogwarts meets a rainforest, lit by thousands of flickering candles with large wooden tables, almost gothic in look and feel, a wood-fired oven flickering in the open kitchen at the end of the room.
What a meal: simple, wholesome Italian cooking with kisses of woodfire and perfect seasoning.
This week’s recipes take inspiration from our night in Nolita. The first is based on the main course. Rosetta pasta is basically the process of rolling meat or vegetables in large fresh pasta sheets before cutting them like roulade to create a rose shape. This is then covered in cheese sauce, topped with vegetables and baked in the oven (or a woodfire) in a dish. Here I’ve used short rib of beef and Parmesan.
The second is a more recent “Italian” classic using pork mince and a tomato sauce. The addition of vodka is very trendy, some claim it enhances the sweetness of the tomatoes in the sauce. I’m not completely convinced. In any case, it’s delicious and easy to make at home.
Recipe: Baked rosetta pasta with beef short rib, Parmesan and root vegetables
Recipe: Pork and tomato vodka penne pasta