Brotherly Love and Linguine alle Noce for #FoodNFlix

Elizabeth, of The Lawyer's Cookbook, is hosting this month's Food'N'Flix event. We watched, or rewatched as the case may be, Lady and the Tramp. Click to see Elizabeth's invitation.

This post contains an affiliate link for the DVD at the bottom. 

On the Screen...
Four words: this is a classic. I had no idea that this movie was originally made in 1955. "It's almost as old as Nonna," noted my little one. True! She's a classic, too.

If you haven't seen this, here's the gist - it's a love story where Lady, a pampered cocker spaniel, meets and falls for Tramp, a roguish mutt from the wrong side of the tracks. There are, as with all good love stories, complications. But, in the end, Lady's humans - Dear and Darling - invite Tramp to stay. That's all I'll say. If you haven't seen it, do!

On the Plate...
How could I not make pasta? I mean, it's even on the cover of the DVD, right?? So, I had one of my pasta-making Kitchen Elves help me while I made the sauce. The other one was busy working on a school project.

They were moderately good sports about the photo shoot. I had to do it, right?

"Mom," complained the bigger one, "do I have to?" Yes. C'mon, you love your brother. "Not like that," he objected. Still, he obliged, grudgingly. I know he isn't going to humor me forever, so I'll take it when I can get it.

A quick note about the title: noce typically refers to walnuts in Italian. But since it really just means 'nuts' I went with it. I used almonds and pecans since walnuts are not a favorite in my household.

Ingredients 
Pasta

• 1 C flour (we used semolina)
• 1 egg
• water as needed

Sauce

• 1 C milk
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 C raw almonds, chopped
• 1 C raw pecans, chopped
• 1 C shredded parmesan
• 1 C chopped parsley
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• olive oil

Procedure

Pasta
Place the flour in a heap on a piece of wax paper. Create a deep well in the middle of the flour with the egg. Crack the egg into the hole. If you're adding anything in, do it at the bottom of your well...before adding the egg.

Whisk the egg into the flour with the fork.

Add water one tablespoon at a time. Once the dough comes together in a ball, begin gently folding the dough on itself, flattening, and folding again. Once it's firm enough to knead, knead the dough, incorporating more flour, as needed, to prevent the dough from sticking to your workspace.

When you have a cohesive dough ball, set your pasta machine to the thickest setting, usually marked "1". Flatten a piece of dough into a thick disk between your hands and feed it through the pasta roller. Repeat two more times. Fold this piece of dough into thirds, like folding a letter, and press it between your hands again. Now run the pasta through the machine 1 time on each of the settings 2-6.

Finally, run the pasta through the cutter.Toss the noodles with a little flour to keep them from sticking together.

Sauce
Place the milk, crushed garlic cloves, and nuts in a medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil. then remove from heat and let steep for 10 minutes. Place the ingredients in a blender. Add 3/4 C cheese, 3/4 C parsley, and a splash of olive oil. Blend till smooth.

To cook the pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt the water, and cook the pasta until al dente, 2 to 3 minutes.

To serve: drain the pasta in a colander and pour the pasta into large mixing bowl. Add in the nut mixture - one tablespoon at a time - until you get the coverage you want. Toss with a bit of the cooking water and a splash more olive oil. Garnish with a pinch of cheese, a sprinkle of parsley, and some salt and pepper. Pronto al tavolo!

What a fun viewing. Thanks for hosting, Elizabeth. We'll be back in March when Joanne at What's on the List? is hosting. We'll be watching The Quiet Man. Stay tuned for her invitation.