CorzettiWe decided to write our Twice is Nice Column as a Food for Thought this week, instead of as our usual blog.  The recipe we made, Corzetti con Maggiorana e Pinoli, came from The Geometry of Pasta by Jacob Kenedy and Caz Hildebrand.  The dish is a simple combination of "corzetti", which resemble embossed coins, with butter, pine nuts, and marjoram leaves. According to the book, this Ligurian pasta shape dates back to the 14th Century, and was shaped with hand-carved wood stamps, usually of the family coat of arms.  I must be honest and admit that I outsourced this recipe to my grandmother, as I had too many things on my plate (pun intended), and needed some help last week.  We had some whole wheat penne in our cupboard, and so that is what we used instead of the corzetti.  I later learned that Emma put me to shame (see below).  My grandmother followed the recipe exactly, and the results were delicious.  Marjoram is a particularly strong herb.  It is not something subtle that merely enhances a dish, but rather dominates whatever it seasons.  Though it can be combined with thyme, oregano, and a few other Mediterranean herbs, I usually see marjoram on its own.  The pinenuts were a good match for the herb, and though the sauce was light and simple, the flavors were strong and forthright.  

Emma's Notes (pictured): We decided to make a night out of this recipe and make the pasta at home.  My boyfriend came over iwth some wood-carving tools and carved a stamp out of a piece of firewood so that I could emboss the pasta discs.  It worked amazingly well, though we only embossed the pasta on one side and not two.  The pasta turned out a bit hearty, but it was a hit nonetheless. . . we ate it with Caesar Salad and beets from our friend's garden.