the duck that laid the golden egg

Thanks to a fellow food-obsessed friend, we were introduced early this year to the winter joys of Hillsdale Market. After a recent Oregonian article, apparently so did everyone else. While small in comparison to the Portland State market during the summer, Hillsdale offers more face-to-face time with growers and certainly enough produce to make it easier to eat locally during this season. Two weeks prior, we showed up to the Sunday market at a leisurely hour and, while certain covet-able foods were sold out, we managed to go home with a bounty of heirloom produce. With this in mind, we decided to get there early for the most recent market day only to find a packed parking lot and crowds of people where only fog and a handful of shoppers had been two weeks before.

"Eggs!" we both exclaimed, and immediately split up to make sure we'd get some fresh from a local farm. Our usual go-to stand was sold out so A ran to the Kookoolan stall (our chicken and rabbit supplier) only to find they, too were out of chicken eggs. In their place, she returned with a carton of duck eggs and I don't know if we've ever been so thrilled to take home the also-ran. We went for chicken eggs and left with duck eggs - that seems like a pretty good consolation prize, right?

Now, as soon as I get home from a typical grocery outing, I set about opening everything we bought at the store, skimming little samples off the top of each food. A usually mocks me mercilessly for this, but with the duck eggs, she was on board. We both knew we had to see what they were like.

Duck eggs are pretty much the ugly duckling of the egg world: blueish-brown, splotchy, and mammothly-proportioned. Ours were so overgrown that the carton tabs were strained a full inch away from closing. Upon cracking through the dense shell, though, there before us was the most beautifully orange (and huge) yolk we'd seen. (Not to keep this metaphor running, but I wonder how swan eggs taste....?) Into the pan it went and soon we were enjoying duck eggs over-easy, jostling to sop up all of the just-cooked yolks with our toast. With a higher fat content than chicken eggs and an amazingly savory flavor, this egg was really exceptional.
We knew then that we would have to make something to showcase their flavor that night.

Though it had been a while since we'd made fresh pasta, we figured there could be no better occasion to pull down the pasta maker than for a rich egg dough. Wanting to keep our meal simple, we decided to tweak the classic Roman dish cacio e pepe (pasta with sheep's cheese and black pepper) to use black pepper-flecked pasta in place of the pepper in the sauce. If you've overlooked black pepper in the past as just a seasoning afterthought, this is the dish to reintroduce yourself to its sharp, slightly sour-hot taste.

And, if homemade pasta isn't in your plans, the classic cacio e pepe is a flavorful and easy dish to knock out. We've included the directions for both versions; if you go the pre-made pasta direction, check around to see if you can find fresh pasta at a market in your area.
__________________

Black Pepper Pasta
Adapted from Chez Panisse Pasta, Pizza & Calzone

The basic proportions:
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
[we did 2 cups flour, 2 duck eggs, 2 tablespoons pepper and it was just enough for four servings]

By hand: Scoop the flour into a mixing bowl, make a well in the center of the flour and crack the eggs and pepper into the well. Whisk the eggs with a fork, slowly incorporating more and more of the flour from the sides into the mixture until is beginning to come together. Knead it until it balls up in the bowl, then turn it out onto a floured work surface and knead for five minutes. Add a little olive or water if it feels too tight, a little more flour if the dough seems wet. Rub with olive oil, cover with plastic and let rest for 15 - 45 minutes.

Alternately, by food processor: Throw all of the ingredients into the food processor and pulse until it balls together. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and continue as above.

Rolling out the pasta: After the dough has had a chance to rest, break off a golf ball-sized piece and flatten it slightly. Run it through a pasta maker starting at the widest setting (1) and continuing until about the number 6 setting. Flour both sides of the sheet lightly and run it through the tagliatelle/fettucine (wide) blades of the cutter. Set the pasta aside on a sheet until you are ready to boil it and continue with the rest of the dough.

Making the sauce: Bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Meanwhile, grate 1/2 pound pecorino romano cheese or other hard, sheep's milk cheese and chop up about 3 tablespoons of Italian (flat-leaf) parsley. If you use black-pepper pasta, you can go ahead and skip this next step with the pepper. If you are using plain pasta, toast 1-2 tablespoons of whole black peppercorns in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, until they become fragrant. Transfer them to a mortar and pestle or wrap them in a kitchen towel and coarsely bash them open.

When the water has come to a boil, throw in the noodles and cook about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Before you drain the pasta, scoop out 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and set it aside. As you drain the noodles, toss the cheese (and, if using plain pasta, the crushed black pepper) into the still-warm pot with the cooking liquid and quickly mix it together. Throw the pasta back in the pot along with the parsley and toss everything to coat!