Pasta Margherita with Fiore di Cervia

Name: Pasta Margherita with Fiore di Cervia
Yield: serves 4
Ingredients: 2 small handfuls sel gris; 12 ounces small pasta, such as farfalle or conchiglie; 2 large ripe tomatoes (about 8 ounces each); 1 clove garlic, minced; 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves; 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 4 two-finger pinches Fiore di Cervia salt; Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to taste (optional)

December 14, 2011

Behind the jubilant liquid tomato smile of pasta margherita lies an intellect of herbs and garlic. The one covering for the other is a seduction of sorts, an invitation that propriety prevents you from accepting too eagerly. Sprinkle your margherita with the crystalline sweetness of Fiore di Cervia, the fine salt from the balmy Adriatic flats south of Ravenna, and marvel as the tart-sweet play of tomato and pasta asserts itself. Ennobled by the salt’s fruity warmth, the sauce is freed of its ties to the herbs that first defined it. Eyes open, head borne aloft, your margherita is as beautiful in body as in spirit.

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