Pasta Salvi

If you read my blog much at all, you may gather that I don’t like to use a lot of other people’s recipes. I like other recipes for ideas, but I often like to play around with them on my own. One exception, though, is a version of Pappadeaux’s Fondeaux. I did, however, use the grill to prep the seafood for that, and, actually, cooked everything on the Big Green Egg.

Whenever we’re leaving Columbus on I70 West, my wife wants to stop at a place near Hilliard called Salvi’s, which has a pasta appetizer that she loves. It’s called Pasta Salvi (at least by us), which is basically pasta croquettes. She wanted some a while back, and we weren’t going to be anywhere near the restaurant, so she searched online until she found a recipe to try. She doesn’t really cook often, but she likes to try something now and then. I will say that, when she does, it always turns out great!

So she found this recipe that was posted by an ex-manager of Salvi’s, hoping it would work out well. The worst thing about the recipe is that you need time to let the first steps in the dish refrigerate before getting to actually eat. The flip side of that is that this can be prepped in advanced and just finished in time to eat.

The recipe calls for a simplified bechamel sauce that’s not difficult to make. This gets added to a bag of egg noodles, then packed down into a 9X9 pan tightly, then refrigerated. After cooled, the pasta is cut into sections, floured, dipped in beaten egg, and then coated in panko breadcrumbs. It’s deep-fried for 3 minutes or so at 375F, until the panko is nice and golden. As soon as the croquettes come out of the oil, a slice of provolone cheese is put on top to melt over it a touch, then we like to serve it with a mushroom tomato sauce (I made some up prior, using San Marzano tomatoes with basil and oregano, garlic, salt & pepper and onion, to which was added sauteed crimini mushrooms).

Keep in mind that my wife did everything in this dish except the mushroom sauce! I did help with the frying, but that was all!

This is a great side dish or main course if you’re feeling up to it! It’s expecially great on colder days, as something this rib-sticking might be a bit heavy on a hot summer day! But it’s definitely worth a try! For our next Hallowine Party, I’m making this in 1″ cubes to serve.

We did two pans last time, and one is in the freezer; we’re hoping it freezes well, as we may be getting cravings for Pasta Salvi again soon!