- Here in Charleston, we are surrounded by sparkling waters and lots of sunshine.

Today I'm at Crosby's Fish and Shrimp Company and I'm so excited to pick up some fresh seafood to cook up later tonight.

I'm Lauren Furey, "Now We're Cooking."

(upbeat music) My mom is the hardest working lady I know.

Thank you for being here.

- Thank you for having me.

- Yes.

- This is gonna be a lot of fun.

- Today we're making pasta.

So my mom's Sicilian, right?

- Yes, ma'am.

I spent a lot of time visiting with my grandmom and grandpa.

The little yellow recipe box here on the counter is what... Now I'm gonna cry, but that's what I used to cook with my grandmom.

And they're all her handwritten recipes.

- So let's talk about the ingredients for this country ham and crab pasta, because I know you love crab.

- I do.

- So this is actually North Carolina lump crab.

Our country ham is also a superstar in this dish.

And so I cut it into little strips so that they'll be well incorporated into the pasta.

So just to add a little bit of saltiness and smokiness.

I'm getting hungry just looking at this Mom.

- [Mom] I love that stuff.

- I think we need a little snack.

I got something up my sleeve.

- Oh no.

- So my favorite cooking snack is Honey with Parmesan.

- The best.

- [Lauren] You can tell how it breaks.

You can see all the salt crystals.

- I love those crystals in there.

- Right?

Little bit of local honey here for that sweet and salty flavor.

- Should I eat that?

- Yeah!

We'll kind of get our appetite going.

- That's delicious.

- Isn't it so good?

And then we have parsley, chives, fresh cavatelli pasta.

I'm so excited about this dish.

I'm also already thinking about dessert.

And just so you know, we'll be having to save a little room for our cannolis later on.

- What are we putting in those cannolis?

The filling?

- So we're doing ricotta, which is super creamy.

Little bit of orange, and then mini chocolate chips.

- Oh, the mini chips are the best.

- The mini chips are the best.

- Yeah, they spread out more.

- Should we get cooking?

- Yes, ma'am.

- All right, let's do this thing.

- Let's roll.

- All right, so we're back at the stove and we're gonna get our country ham and crab pasta going.

So we have a little bit of olive oil.

Half of that butter please.

Alright, now add the country ham.

Oh yeah.

That smells so good.

- It smells wonderful.

- It smells like a little bit like bacon, but even better, honestly.

And add a little bit of pepper too, Ma.

It's getting crispy.

- It is.

- You can see that the ham bits are gathering on the bottom of the pans.

Once we add that white wine, it'll bring up all those bits and help make a smooth, velvety sauce that will hug onto each pasta piece.

And so you'll get that flavor in every bite.

We're gonna add our shallots.

- When you were about 12 or 13, I came down the kitchen, I found you with swimming goggles on chopping onions in a hooded sweatshirt.

And I thought, "What the heck is this kid doing?"

(Lauren giggling) And it was because the onions are making your eyes tear.

It was really precious.

- Let's add some of that thinly sliced garlic.

And let's add a pinch of salt as well.

So we're adding a little salt now, because the salt helps soften and sweat out the shallots and the garlic.

And let's do a little pepper as well, Mom.

- [Mom] Okay.

- So I love to season each layer of the dish as we go because it transforms the dish into something with a lot of dimension.

When you just season something at the end, you're really only seasoning the final product - If you put the spices in and they cook, it brings more out of the flavor of the spice out, rather than just sprinkle it in last.

- Well, you must have just read my mind, 'cause we're gonna add the little pinch of red pepper flakes right now.

Lower the heat a little bit, Mom.

And let's add the white wine real quick.

Let's take a note here.

So the outside of the pan, the liquid in there boils first.

And so we're gonna reduce this slightly until, you know, some of that white wine is reduced, which means it's evaporated and not in the pan anymore.

Mom, that looks really good.

- It looks very, very good.

- The sauce is now dark because it has the little bits from the bottom of the pan that are incorporated into the sauce.

And so we will not let those go to waste.

- It smells wonderful.

- Let's add our lump crab, Mom.

Oh yeah.

And so when we fold it in, it means that you take the spoon and you fold it over.

You fold ingredients over one another because you have to be real delicate.

- Okay, sweetheart.

So I've not ever used one of these, so just do this?

- [Lauren] So we we're gonna do this side down.

- For real?

- [Lauren] For real.

Watch this thing go.

Wow.

- Wow.

I would've done the opposite.

Man, this is good, like workout.

- It is.

Oh yeah.

Look at her go.

You wanna add four cups of water per pound of pasta.

And so as a ratio, that's important because we're going to retain some pasta water.

I'm gonna stir the pot.

Just gonna make sure that the pasta is not sticking together.

And you can either use a colander or this tool called a spider.

Bzz!

- That doesn't make a spider noise, actually.

- Oh, no.

And so the pasta is starting to float to the surface.

We're going for the al dente, which means still firm to the bite.

I use the spider because it's one less dish for me to clean.

- Yeah.

- And my least favorite dish to clean is a colander.

- [Mom] They're hard to clean.

- And so, as you can see, I added some pasta water to this dish and it made it creamy.

And I know it looks like a lot at first, but that pasta drinks it up.

- [Mom] Right.

- And so let's add about all that chopped parsley.

Mix that right up.

And about half of those chives.

Mom, you always find a way to make everything look so beautiful.

And this dish is very aesthetically pleasing.

- It's very pretty.

- Yeah.

- I love it, I love all the textures, and I love all the colors and then the shapes, everything.

- And so you can actually use the Parmesan rind in your tomato sauces.

It adds a little bit of saltiness and umami and- (both laughing) - Not me, mommy.

- Umami.

Umami is an earthy flavor.

- Oh, okay.

Thank you.

- Like a mushroom has umami flavor.

- Okay.

- [Lauren] And that's great, Mom.

- Okay.

Mix it up?

- Mix it up.

Well, that looks so good.

And it looks so creamy too.

We didn't even add any cream.

- [Mom] We did not.

- Let's bring it over and plate it up, Mom.

- Okay.

- All right.

- Got it.

- You're so strong.

- [Mom] Here we go.

- Wow.

That is nice and heavy.

So the pasta is glistening from all of the cheese and the butter.

Let's taste this.

You wanna give it a shot?

- Sure.

- In the pan?

- Absolutely.

I'm gonna get some ham, some crab.

- Oh yeah.

A little bit of everything.

Mmm.

- I think it's a five star.

- Five star.

All, yeah.

(hands clapping) Boom.

Well, let's serve it up, a little bit of everything.

I love how that crab, you see, how it kind of latches on to the cavatelli?

- Mm-hm.

- They're like magnets.

- They're like magnets.

Because the crab is slightly sweet, the country ham is salty.

Would you like to do the honors?

- Yeah.

- And we can add some chives.

- And you would like some parsley on here?

- Absolutely.

Mom, this is so good.

I can't wait to eat some more of this.

And I'm sure we'll have to go back for a second serving.

- I will have a second helping.

But first- - Time to make cannolis.

- Yes.

I don't know about you, but I need a little treat.

- I'm ready for some cannoli.

- So we have our whole milk ricotta.

And, Mama, will you add a pinch of ground cinnamon into this bowl?

- Sure.

- So just a pinch.

Fabulous.

So we're gonna add all this granulated sugar.

I'm gonna add the zest of half an orange, which will add some floral notes to this dish.

And when I was in Sicily, I had a lot of cannolis, like holy cannoli, I had a lot.

And so- - They made this way?

- They were made this way.

And when I was at a cooking school, they taught me to add the orange to brighten up the rich ricotta.

We're gonna add a little bit of vanilla extract.

And the vanilla makes this dish so you can just smell.

Smells vanilla.

- Oh, that smells so good.

- You wanna add some mini chocolate chips?

- I sure do.

- We're using mini chocolate chips because they are easy to eat in the cannoli, and they don't just get stuck.

- [Mom] It smells very, very good.

- So now we're gonna get a little fancy today.

We're gonna put this ricotta mixture into the piping bag.

So we're gonna drop it in.

So this piping bag, you could also use a gallon size plastic bag and just cut the end off.

So we wanna lift this up and you wanna take the air out.

And twist, twist, twist.

- Okay.

- Fill this up.

- Oh, that's not very hard.

Okay.

- [Lauren] And then we'll do it through the other side.

- [Mom] Okay.

- Okay?

- Uh-huh.

- All right, so we filled the cannoli shell being careful not to overfill it, because we still need to dip it into our pistachios and chocolate chips.

And so the only way to really do this with ease is to do it with somebody.

So I figured that's fun for us.

- Okay.

- All right?

- So what do we do first?

- Now we're gonna dip it.

- Okay.

- Right.

And then one side with the chocolate chips.

Oh yeah.

Well, I think it's about time to give it a try.

- Take a taste?

- All right.

- [Both] Cheers.

- [Lauren] It's creamy, it's crunchy.

- [Mom] It's citrusy.

- [Lauren] It's citrusy.

And that chocolate, I love how the chocolate chips are in the cannoli filling because you get a bite of that chocolate, for sure.

- [Mom] And I love the mini chips.

- [Lauren] And the mini chips.

- [Mom] Yeah.

- And this is a great gift to make somebody.

And if you were to make the filling ahead, that's totally fine.

That way as a part of your party, everybody could fill their own cannolis.

- Oh, that's a fun idea.

- Yeah.

Cannoli party.

- Yeah.

I like it.

- Thank you so much for coming, Mom.

- Thank you for having me here.

- Love you so much.

I'm Lauren.

This is my Mom.

Until next time, "Now We're Cooking."

(upbeat music)