New Year's Day & Italian Pasta

This post is way overdue...too much has been happening and for some reason or other, I kept putting it aside, even though it was the highlight of our New Year celebrations!

My friend Hector Wong has appeared in this blog before, the first time was right after the 2nd Annual Mango Festival when I shared his Heavenly Rose Mango Cake in late July of last year and recently when I attended the 5th Annual Avocado Festival and he presented his Savory Avocado-Sweet Potato Tower

A week or so before the New Year I received an e-mail from Hector, who lives in Honolulu, saying he would flying to visit his friend Luca in Hilo and that Luca was inviting us to an Italian New Year Day pasta lunch.  Luca is from Italy and has been living in Hilo just a relatively short time, but his pasta and bread making feats are already legendary among his friends, so we jumped at the invitation.

 
Our menu consisted of a Peruvian Chicken dish made by Hector (he is of 100% Chinese descent but was born and grew up in Peru), handmade tortellini and handmade tagliatelli by Luca and an assortment of desserts made by Hector.  Luca left a few tortellini wrapers for me to learn and practice on.

 
The filling in the tortellini -  Mortadella, prosciutto, ground pork loin seared in wine, rosemary and sage.  Parmesan cheese, one egg, salt, pepper and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg - Typical dish of the Bologna area in the Emilia-Romagna region

 
Tortellini in Brodo di Pollo (Tortellini in Chicken Broth)

 
Fresh tagliatelli hanging on a clothes drying rack waiting to be cooked

 
Luca, checking the pasta

Tagliatelle -Smoked salmon lightly cooked in butter olive oil wine and vodka. Add a little cream and, once off the fire, some lemon juice - a dish more common in the north regions of Italy.

 

Tagliatelli Pasta al Salmone Affumicato (Tagliatelli with Smoked Salmon)

 

Hector made gingerbread cookies to go with the Ginger Cardamon Cheesecake.  He also had samples of a Pistachio Cake and Starfruit Charlotte. 

Hector's desserts are all 'takes' on Rose Levy Beranbaum's cookbook Rose's Heavenly Cakes (2010 IACP cookbook of the year)

 
Clockwise from bottom: gingerbread cookie, Ginger Cardamon Cheesecake and a slice of the Starfruit Charlotte. 

Fresh Hawaiian ginger and fresh cardamon from Malaysia (a gift from a friend) was used for the Ginger Cardamon Cheesecake, which was lighter than air....

 
Sicilian Pistachio Cake - pistachios from Sicily

 
The Starfuit Charlotte, inspired from the Apple Caramel Charlotte by Rose Levy Beranbaum

You can find the original recipes which inspired Hector's desserts in Rose's Heavenly Cakes cookbook

Needless to say, the whole meal was thoroughly enjoyed. 

Mahalo nui, Luca and Hector!

To read both of the posts about Hector in Gather.com click on the following:

Hector's Heavenly Rose Mango Cake

Hector Wong's Savory Avocado-Sweet Potato Tower

BTW, you can visit Hector's blog by clicking on My Yellow Kitchen