MING: This week on Simply Ming, we welcome the fantastic chef Sarah Grueneberg.

She's a James Beard Award-winning chef, she's the chef-owner of a restaurant called Monteverde in Chi-Town, Chicago.

She's going to be making one of her signature dishes: tortelli verdi with a miso sauce.

To kind of, like, pull it a little bit, so that that filling becomes, like, a little bed in there.

MING: And I'm going to do the same type of riff, but using a wonton wrapper and fill it with garlic chives in a double chicken stock.

The reason I love pasta is, every culture has a comfort food, and it's usually a noodle.

MING: We're cooking at home, right here, right now, on Simply Ming.

♪ ♪ MING: Sarah, welcome.

Hello!

MING: So great to have you here.

Oh, my gosh.

MING: Can't wait to cook.

With you.

I'm so excited.

MING: Awesome, so we're going to start with a cocktail.

And we're drinking.

MING: And we're drinking.

Yeah, well, how else do you cook at home?

All right, so this is the Maiden Voyage.

Can you do me a favor?

Give me enough crushed ice to fill these two tikis to the top.

Ah... MING: We have rum, this rum's from Guatemala.

I love rum, it's perfect for summer, the pool...

Cooking.

MING: Breakfast.

(both laugh) Do you want it full, all the way?

MING: Yeah, actually over the top.

Over the top.

MING: Like a snow cone.

So equal parts of orange juice and rum, so three ounces each, and then just one-and-a-half of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Then we have-- and I love this-- we have house-made orgeat.

Oh, my gosh.

MING: So almond-free because Blue Dragon is a nut-free restaurant.

So we do one ounce of that.

So what is it, is it a milk?

MING: We use soy milk.

Ah.

MING: And this is an Italian liqueur, just use a half an ounce.

It's an aperitivo.

And then just a couple of bar spoons of simple syrup.

That's it.

And last but not least, a couple of dashes of bitter.

I love bitters.

MING: Right?

That's it.

Will you go and do me a couple flags of oranges?

Of course.

MING: Very nice.

So then nice and tight.

And there's only two or three cubes, right?

So the idea is not to waterize it.

Okay.

MING: But just to have a couple of cubes to chill it and give it some friction to mix.

You're just, like, forcing them together.

MING: Exactly.

Just to get a nice little... foaminess to it.

Mmm.

MING: And then this, pour right on top.

It smells so delicious.

Super-fresh.

MING: And I love...

So that's what those cubes help, make it foamy like this.

That... oh, yeah... Yep, you got it.

Give it a little twist like this.

All right.

MING: Boom.

Paper straws.

I'm very proud to say at Blue Dragon, we've gone plastic-less, no more plastic, because we only have one ocean.

We go to paper straws.

All right.

MING: To you, cin-cin.

Thank you!

MING: To you.

Mmm.

MING: How's that?

That's delicious!

MING: You like it?

I like it.

MING: Let's cook.

All right, can I take it with me?

MING: Of course!

(laughing): Okay.

MING: All right, Sarah, what's the dish?

Tortelli verdi, so greens-filled pasta with miso.

MING: All right, can I do something?

Can I slice and dice for you?

Can you mince that onion for me?

MING: Okay.

And kind of fine, right?

'Cause I want it to cook quickly, along with this Swiss chard.

And I love Swiss chard, they have so much flavor.

You know, in Italy they use spinach.

Baby spinach, it doesn't have a lot of flavor, so I use Swiss chard in this, or sometimes the beet greens are good, too.

So a nice way to use up some greens you have when you buy turnips, mustard greens, collard greens.

I think a lot of times, people throw the stems away in the garbage.

MING: So silly, right?

And they have a really nice sweetness, which I really love.

So I would say probably about, you know, a cup of onion.

And I love the flavor of onion that just kind of lightly sweats.

I don't want it to caramelize at all.

So it'll kind of be a quick go-around.

MING: Do you want these onions yet?

Yeah.

MING: Too much?

No, that's good.

All right.

So onion, Swiss chard, stems.

Kind of smells yummy already.

A little pinch of salt just to get that water to kind of... MING: Do you want black pepper?

Sure.

MING: Okay.

Get that water start coming out of the Swiss chard.

The enemy of pasta fillings is water.

And I don't like it roasted, because then it just has, like, a more... Kind of, like, more sweet flavor.

I want it to stay really green.

So I'm going to put the top on this, so that we can really, you know, try to get it to start sweating quickly.

MING: All right, we're going to sweat these down and make some verdi filling.

Yeah.

MING: Nice.

So that looks good, so it's almost dry now, right?

Yeah, so you don't want any liquid.

You want to just kind of tilt your pan.

MING: Right.

Move everything up, and then if there's like a lot of liquid that comes down, then you need to cook it longer.

MING: Keep going.

So that took about eight to ten minutes.

Okay, next step.

Yes-- so now I'm going to put it in this strainer real quick just to get... to just... if there's any little liquid left.

And then we're going to go right into the food processor.

And you know, I like to take a spoon and just kind of push it down.

All right.

For just a little bit.

All right, Swiss chard, onion goes in.

And we're going to just put it on high and let it rip.

(food processor whirring) There we go.

And so what I do is, I take the Parmesan cheese and I make kind of, like, an emulsion.

So the idea is that the little bit of the heat from the mixture is going to melt the cheese and whip it all together.

MING: Oh, wow.

And then when you cook the pasta, the filling should be super-creamy and delicious.

MING: That's so cool.

So you just need a little bit of that liquid left into the...

So see how it looks, like, really, like, creamy and yummy?

MING: Yeah.

Like you could shmear that right on bread and be done.

MING: Perfect.

All right, so nutmeg.

MING: Nutmeg's here.

And a little bit of lemon zest.

MING: In this?

Yes.

MING: Very nice.

Nutmeg is, like, the secret weapon of Italy, I feel like.

MING: I love nutmeg.

They put a lot of it in a little bit of filling, and it gives you that little bit of, "I don't know what that is in there."

Really yummy.

MING: That je ne sais quoi.

Keep going?

That's it, yeah, perfect.

MING: Okay.

All right.

And then we'll go... oh, that look so beautiful.

MING: That looks awesome-- okay.

All right, now we want to chill this down.

Because if we add this right to the ricotta mixture, it's just going to become really watery.

MING: Okay, which is why you put a sheet tray in the fridge.

Mmm, the lemon zest smells awesome.

MING: It looks awesome.

It already smells, you're right, I'm ready to eat that now.

Needs a little bit of white truffle, and it would be amazing.

MING: All right, so then, this will take, what, five, ten minutes, maybe, chill it?

Just until it's chilled completely.

MING: Okay, all right.

All right.

MING: So we're going to let this chill.

We come back, and then we make some pasta.

That's right.

MING: Awesome.

All right, pasta time.

All right, the magic-- the dough.

So we have zero-zero flour.

MING: Okay.

Which is the finest mill of flour.

MING: Right, 'cause A.P.

is zero.

Yes.

MING: And this is twice as fine, maybe?

Twice as fine.

So seven egg yolks, because we're making a Northern Italian pasta dough.

So we want to have a really rich, beautiful dough.

And you want to start with the egg yolks, and then I'm going to add in the whole eggs.

And I like to use a mix of whole egg and egg yolk, because I think the protein in the egg white helps the structure of the pasta.

MING: Okay.

And the other thing is, is that the dough really hydrates after it rests.

So that's the most important part of making dough.

So I can kind of see how it's going.

The best way to check, I like to turn it off... (mixer speeds up) Oh, the other way.

And just, I'm going to stick my hand in there real quick and just see how it comes together.

So if it starts to look like it wants to come together... MING: Yep.

Then it's pretty close.

MING: Okay.

It's just to see if it needs that other egg or not.

MING: Oh, got it, okay.

Which I think it might.

MING: And I love, I love this, Sarah, because a lot of people think, "I can never make pasta at home."

And then, if you have a standing mixer, it's that easy.

Exactly, exactly.

MING: Just two ingredients.

That's looking pretty good.

MING: Yeah.

It's all going to come together.

So should we finish up the filling?

MING: Okay, yeah, let me grab the filling.

All right.

Oh, it looks awesome.

MING: Good.

So the fresh-milk cheese being ricotta, which means "to recook" in Italian, so strain the ricotta to get some of that liquid out.

And traditionally, they would make ricotta by just cooking the whey after making mozzarella di bufala or parmigiana.

MING: That looks so good.

Now, to tighten it up, if you feel like it's a little wet, this is just a trick for at home.

MING: Okay.

A little pinch of breadcrumb.

MING: Oh, interesting.

And that will seize it up.

Okay, now we're going to go right into a pastry bag, and it'll be ready to make some pasta.

MING: Awesome.

And that's looking great right there.

MING: Yeah, it's coming together nicely.

If you don't have a pastry bag, don't despair.

Any plastic bag you can use, fill it, close it, twist it, and then you can cut the end.

Which is basically what a pastry bag is.

Absolutely.

MING: A home cook, you don't have to go out and buy a pastry bag.

And you know, even at the restaurant, some fillings, we use an ice cream scoop and scoop them ahead of time, so it's just easier.

MING: Oh, yeah, then boom-boom-boom-boom-boom.

Exactly, you're ready to go.

MING: Interesting.

All right.

MING: Okay.

Looking good.

MING: So just how much longer does this have to go?

That's ready-- I think we can turn it off.

MING: This ready?

Okay.

And that little bit of dough there will definitely come together with just a little kneading.

So I'm going to put this in the fridge so when we're ready to make the pasta.

MING: All right, you want...

I'll let you knead.

This is your dough-- looks good, feels good.

You were doing great.

MING: I know, but it's your dough.

The flour will continue to absorb the egg.

MING: Right.

And just a little bit of kneading like this will really bring it together.

And I also like to say, don't worry about that stuff in there, right?

Like, that's not going to break the bank over here.

MING: No, and you actually don't want it, because that looks perfect moisture content.

I think it looks pretty awesome.

All right.

MING: I do, too.

So believe it or not, even though it looks bumpy now, after its rests, it's going to be completely soft and beautiful.

MING: I believe you.

So in plastic, I presume?

Yeah, plastic wrap on there.

MING: And how long, and you rest how long?

So at least an hour, but overnight would be totally appropriate, also.

MING: Well, we have one that's been an hour.

Oh, it's so soft and pillowy-- I love it.

MING: Oh, my God, it looks awesome.

It is, it gets super-smooth, like you said.

And depending on how wet your dough is, depends if you need water when you shape the pasta.

So that's why I like to make the doughs a little, a little softer, like this.

MING: Awesome, love it.

All right.

Now, I'm not going to try to be a hero here and roll this whole thing out, because I feel like that would be kind of challenging.

And at home, you want to work in small amounts.

You don't want to roll out one big thing, because chances are you don't have a countertop big enough for like, the whole... MING: Correct.

Sheet of dough.

All right.

So see how soft it is?

I can really just move it with my hands.

MING: That is so pliable, it's unbelievable.

Wow, so soft.

All right, and then a little bit of bench flour.

So I like to control the amount of flour I add into the pasta.

MING: So it doesn't get too dry.

Exactly.

And it's like a light dusting.

Not like... MING: Right.

Going to town.

MING: So you want it widest?

One good?

Yes, so one.

MING: How fast do you want it?

Not too fast to start, because I don't want it to tear.

(mixer whirring) All right.

MING: Too fast?

No, that great.

All right, look at that.

MING: Beautiful.

And those bubbles, too, don't despair, right?

No.

MING: Because they're going, they're going to come out through the rolling.

Well, you know what I think is so cool is that, and the reason I love pasta is, every culture has a comfort food, and it's usually a noodle.

MING: Okay.

And that's my love.

All right, so I'm going to do the dusting.

MING: So that went to five.

That was five, right?

MING: Perfect.

And so you can kind of look and see.

Do you see your hands underneath it?

MING: Exactly.

That's good.

MING: Looks beautiful.

All right.

I like to say, it should kind of be like, like material.

It feels like kind of a cloth.

MING: Right.

And then the other thing with pasta-- and this is probably the most important-- it knows when you're scared.

MING: I'm not scared.

So let's have a little drink real quick.

Before we, uh... ...start to shape.

So then we're going to cut squares.

MING: I love that cutter.

What's that cutter called?

I don't know, like, a pastry wheel cutter?

MING: Yeah, a pastry wheel, I guess.

The fancy Italian ones are made with brass, and they're super-nice, but this one is pretty awesome.

MING: We're not that fancy here at Simply Ming.

I think this is pretty cool.

All right.

So then we're going to just straighten out the edges.

MING: So pretty.

And I always like to say, you know, if you miss one edge, it's still going to taste just delicious.

This is just the decorative part.

MING: And do you gather your... your leftover pasta, and you can use them for... For different pastas.

So if I'm making, like, a spaghetti alla chitarra, which is where you cut it with the guitar strings?

MING: Right.

That one, yes.

You could definitely reuse the dough.

But for ravioli or sfoglia, which is the sheet, you definitely... MING: That's what sfoglia means?

Yes, sheet.

MING: Because, there's a restaurant, used to be, right?

Nantucket, it was called Sfoglia.

I never knew what that meant.

Ah.

I like to do a little stretch.

All right, so put one in your hand.

And I like to kind of, like, pull it a little bit, so that that filling becomes like a little bed in there.

MING: Right.

And I'm going to take one... MING: Right.

And combined it to the top.

MING: Right, yeah.

And press hard.

Like, that's the beauty of pasta dough, is, it wants to be pressed.

MING: Right.

It's firm, it has all those egg yolks and all of that zero-zero flour, which is really tender.

Now fold it.

MING: Okay.

And that thumb is kind of getting pushed in.

MING: Yep.

And then wrap it around your finger.

And so there's many shapes of tortelli.

But tortelli, cappellacci.

MING: Yours looks better-- I'll try it again.

But this dough is so soft and supple.

Could you use this for, for dumplings, do you think?

MING: Oh, absolutely.

That's it.

MING: Fantastic.

All right.

MING: Good, so we have our tortellos.

Tortelli.

MING: Tortellis.

Yeah, they're ready to go.

MING: Tortellis done.

All right, so next up is sauce.

Yeah.

MING: Okay, so we're going to finish making these up, and then we're going to make the sauce, and then we're going to eat.

I love it.

MING: Love it.

All right.

MING: I'm psyched to see you have miso.

I love miso.

It's kind of, you know, so delicious, has a nice umami flavor.

MING: Yep.

I use white miso.

MING: I love it.

Scallions.

MING: Scallion whites, you...

I want to get those, the white part, or you can use ramps.

I like to use ramps, too, in the spring.

MING: Oh, my God, ramps are the best thing ever.

The best.

MING: But they have, like, a two-week season.

For sure.

Chicken stock.

And then we can go ahead and put our pasta right in.

MING: Okay.

Because the idea is, you want to have your sauce ready when your pastas are.

MING: Big handful of salt there?

Yeah, big handful of salt.

Perfect.

MING: So obviously, don't dump, right?

Because you have all this flour on your tray.

Yeah, you want to kind of shake them up a little bit.

MING: Right, you want to get that flour off.

And when they float, they're ready.

And when they float, they're ready.

And then we're going to do a marriage ceremony, is what I like to call it.

MING (chuckling): Nice.

Mirin, sweet wine.

MING: Okay.

Which I love.

MING: Most Italian restaurants don't use miso and mirin.

No, and traditionally, this pasta is just served with butter and sage.

So they're looking good.

MING: So you're waiting.

Once they float, they go in there.

Soon as they float, they come in.

MING: Oh, one's up.

See, okay, all right.

MING: Love that.

It's like the auto-timer.

Okay, it looks like we're good.

MING: Awesome.

And this is the marriage ceremony.

So in Italy...

I like to say that pastas like to get married, just like an Italian wedding, for several days.

So traditionally, a dry pasta, I would marry it halfway in the cooking, for the cooking time, in the sauce.

But for fresh pasta, we want to just do it briefly.

I think a lot of people think that fresh pasta should be al dente.

MING: Right.

And fresh pasta should be tender.

MING: Right, I agree with that.

All right.

So this is looking great.

MING: So I have some scallion greens, we have orange.

Yes, please.

MING: Honey and hazelnuts.

Okay, and then we're going to plate them up.

Just put a few of them right down in there.

They're like little hats.

MING: Yeah, a pope's cap.

They're saying hello.

MING: They just got married.

They did, they got married, and they're ready to mingle here.

All right.

And, you know, that's what Italians do.

They name their pastas after belly buttons, this is the pope's hat-- little bit of sauce.

Not a ton, because the miso makes it, you know, a little salty, so... MING: Right.

And then a little drizzle of honey, please.

MING: Okay.

Great.

And then some hazelnuts.

I love hazelnuts, have such a great flavor.

Really nutty, kind of balanced with that miso.

And when I created this dish, I was really inspired by the spinach.

MING: Scallions?

Yes.

So that's how I got to the miso.

MING: Wait, you got to the miso from spinach?

Yeah, because the spinach is always in miso soup, right?

MING: True...

This was how my brain works.

MING: Okay-- that is true.

That's my line.

MING: I like it, I like it.

All right, tortelli verdi, Monteverde-style.

MING: That looks so good.

Good job, chef.

Thank you.

MING: Can you cook with me, though?

Then we'll sit down at the table.

Yes, absolutely.

MING: One more dish.

Wontons.

Mmm.

MING: Maybe as good, we'll see.

♪ ♪ Your dish looks so good, chef, I can't wait to try it.

Thank you.

MING: Mine's a really quick one, it's a ginger-garlic chive stuffing in a wonton with a double chicken stock.

Okay.

MING: So you just give me, just mince through that.

I'll do a couple garlic and ginger.

We're going to sauté the garlic chives.

So a very similar kind of technique to what you were doing.

Cook everything and then chill it, right?

Mmm.

Just garlic chives?

MING: Just garlic chives, garlic, and a lot of ginger.

So it's very simple.

I love these.

MING: In Chinese guotie jiao is a... Is a traditional Chinese garlic chive dumpling.

That, of course, has pork and/or shrimp.

But we're going to keep to your theme, verdi-- keep it green.

So garlic.

Do a little bit of ginger here.

Do you use a lot of ginger at all?

You know, not too much, but I do love it.

MING: All right, that's perfect.

And let me get this, get it nice and hot.

All right.

Mmm, smells so good.

MING: Love that-- all right, I'll do a little ginger here.

Oh, my gosh.

MING: If you want to whisk that egg right there, because we're going to use a little.

And just add just a dab, you know, about half a tablespoon of water.

So it's going to be our egg wash.

Unlike your fresh pasta-- which was awesome, it was so tender, it stuck together-- I need to use a little egg wash...

Okay.

MING: To stick together.

Because when egg cooks, as you know, it's your glue.

It's, like, one of the strongest glues, natural glues, in the world.

Yeah, you know, that's why that pasta dough kind of sticks and stays so, you know, solid.

Is that good?

MING: Awesome, that's perfect.

Okay.

So now we can get just a little bit of grape-seed oil in the pan.

Please-- dump.

I would have never thought of making a filling just of the garlic chives.

MING: And a little bit of garlic and ginger, too.

It's going to be very flavorful.

Mmm.

MING: Aromatic.

Perfect.

A little salt.

That's really the basis of Chinese cooking, do you think, is the aromatics?

MING: Uh, yeah.

Oh, I think garlic...

I think garlic, ginger, scallion's kind of, like...

The trinity.

MING: Yeah, it is our trinity, exactly.

Mmm.

MING: All right, so we're going to cook this.

You want to get... You obviously have to cook it nice and soft.

So let's talk about this double... Have you ever done double chicken stocks before?

Oh, yeah, I love it.

MING: So we took store-bought, unsalted chicken stock, and I made chicken stock with chicken stock, hence it's called a double chicken stock.

In Chinese, we've seen it called royal stock or suprème.

Okay.

MING: So here has mirepoix-- carrots, celery, onions.

We have our bouquet garni, which is thyme... Oh, my gosh, it smells so good.

MING: Right, and you can see how dark that is?

So again, we made chicken stock with chicken stock, right?

Which is why it's so delicious.

Like that.

And this we'll turn on high, 'cause we're actually going to boil the wontons in the chicken stock.

So that, it kind of, it's, like, a natural...

Thank you, chef.

Yeah.

MING: Kind of a natural way of thickening the chicken stock, if you will, all right?

Okay.

So the starch from the... MING: The starch from the wontons will thicken it a little bit.

Kind of like a, kind of like a tortellini en brodo.

MING: Exactly.

We'll use the chilled sheet tray technique.

Because, like you, you can't put something hot in a dough, right?

Because all you're going to get is mush.

So now you have to spread this out and let this chill, all right?

So we're going to put this in the fridge for about ten minutes.

When we come back, we're going to make some wontons.

Stick around.

So like your filling, right, you want it cool.

You can smell it, right?

Mmm.

MING: Garlic with garlic chive and ginger, oh, my God.

Help me.

Wonton skins.

Okay.

MING: Which are one of the easiest pastas to work with.

So you're going to take a little bit in the center.

I take egg wash, this is egg with a little bit of water.

Okay.

MING: On two sides.

Two sides.

MING: Fold up a triangle, like you just did.

Okay.

MING: Same thing, you want to squeeze the air out.

Mmm.

MING: Because if water or broth gets in here, they can explode, right?

Oh, that's not good.

MING: And then I go underneath, and boom.

Oh, my God.

MING: So it's very similar.

I mean, quite similar.

Not quite a pope's cap, more like a chairman's cap.

All right, so let's make a few of these.

Get this in this-- I'm going to... Like I said, we're going to actually cook this in boiling double chicken stock.

Right in the broth.

MING: Yep.

I tried to make my own wontons when I first opened Blue Ginger.

I'm, like, "I want to make my own soy sauce, my own miso, my own wontons."

Totally not worth it, right?

MING: Oh, my God.

Like, at 69 cents a package?

No.

Compared to 400 man-hours, yeah, it was totally not worth it.

(laughs) MING: All right, so there we go.

So now we have our chicken stock.

And we can put these in.

And same thing.

Okay.

MING: All right, guys, we'll be back in two minutes.

Mmm.

MING: We get to have wonton garlic chive soup.

Boom, baby.

So once they're floating, done.

That was about two-and-a-half, three minutes.

I love how they get a little translucent, right?

Yeah.

MING: Because the wonton skin is so thin.

They really are little wonton verdis.

MING: Right, look at that.

Like this.

Oh, yeah, baby.

Just like that.

Yeah, please put a little cilantro on top.

And you can tell, there's a little bit of green in the soup, so that means that someone's wonton broke.

(laughing) MING: Mm-hmm.

I wonder whose that was.

MING: Oh, I don't know.

Wow.

MING: I think it was mine.

No, it was definitely one of mine.

MING: So psyched-- let's go eat.

All right.

MING: Time to eat.

All right, Sarah, a little Napa chardonnay.

Thank you.

MING: Cheers to you.

Cheers.

MING: So excited to try your dish.

Oh, my gosh.

MING: All right, I'm going in.

This is, like, my ultimate comfort food right here.

I love soups.

MING: Oh, my God.

Mmm, mmm.

MING: That is so tender, right?

Now, what I love, the addition of the hazelnuts and the orange zest, right?

Mmm.

MING: And, and the miso.

I mean, I would never have... Do you like the miso?

MING: I love the miso.

It works, I hope?

MING: It works so well, and the...

It still feels Italian, right?

MING: Yeah, oh, totally.

It doesn't feel Japanese, hopefully.

MING: The sweetness of the mirin, too.

Mmm.

MING: How'd this come out?

Amazing.

MING: Hmm.

(laughing) MING: Gingery, right?

I love the ginger, the cilantro.

I would have never thought of just using vegetables like that, for a filling.

MING: I can see why you're a James Beard Award-winning chef, and all the Chicago chefs love you, and I do, too.

Thanks, chef.

MING: Sarah, so nice to have you here.

And I love you out there, as well.

As always, thanks for watching.

Peace and good eating.

Cheers.