Nidi di rondine – Swallow's nests, a pasta dish I discovered in Emilia Romagna

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 160 g wheat flour type 405
• 40 g durum wheat flour (semolina di grano duro)
• 1 egg(s)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• some water, warm
• 200 g tomatoes, chopped from the can
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 small onion(s), finely chopped
• 1 small garlic clove(s), finely chopped
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• Herbs of your choice (e.g. oregano, marjoram, 1 sage leaf), fresh or dried, finely chopped
• 500 ml milk, cold
• 1 tbsp Flour, smooth
• 1 tbsp butter
• salt and pepper
• Nutmeg, freshly grated
• 10 slice(s) cooked ham, thinly sliced
• 1 ball of mozzarella, diced
• 10 mushrooms, sliced
• some Parmesan, freshly grated
• 5 tbsp Parmesan, freshly grated
• some butter flakes
• Fat for the mold

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 2 hours 15 minutes

Knead the dough ingredients into a smooth pasta dough. Put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Crack the egg into the well, along with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and slowly mix the eggs with your fingers. Gradually add more flour from the edges until all the flour is used up. Coat in semolina (so the dough doesn’t dry out) and let rest for about 1 hour (it doesn’t have to be refrigerated), covering with foil. Sauté the chopped onions and garlic in olive oil, briefly fry in the sugar and tomato paste, and pour in the chopped tomatoes. Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly. Add the spices (if using fresh spices, add them now, but dried ones right at the beginning) and season with salt and pepper. Prepare the béchamel sauce. Melt the butter and sauté the flour until light brown, remove from the heat, and pour in the cold (!) milk. Stir quickly and constantly with a whisk to avoid lumps. Return the pan to the heat, gradually add all the milk, and stir. Let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes, until it thickens slightly (but not too thick). Season with salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg. If you like, you can also stir in 2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese; it tastes delicious! Roll out the pasta dough thinly and boil it in lightly salted pasta water for about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and spread it out flat on a kitchen towel. Pat dry. Now spread a thin layer of béchamel sauce over the pasta sheet. Top with the ham slices and then the sliced ​​mushrooms. Spread the diced mozzarella evenly on top and sprinkle everything with a little Parmesan cheese. Roll the dough up like a Swiss roll (but not too tightly) (use the kitchen towel to help you do this) and cut into slices about 4-5 cm wide. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease a baking dish, spread some béchamel sauce on the bottom, and place the pasta rolls cut-side up in the dish. Spoon some tomato sauce onto each roll, scatter any leftovers around the rolls, and pour the béchamel sauce over everything. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and scatter the butter flakes on top. Bake in the preheated oven (I use the “browning” function on my oven, which is ideal for casseroles; otherwise, use top/bottom heat) on the bottom rack for about 20-30 minutes, until the crust turns light golden brown. Cover if necessary if it browns too quickly. This dish is certainly a bit time-consuming, but it’s worth it. You can certainly make some variations to suit your taste (perhaps with Bolognese sauce or even a spinach and ricotta filling); the sky’s the limit.