Homemade Tagliatelle

Homemade Tagliatelle con il sugo di Robin

For those of you who did or didn't know, I spent the fall semester of 2017 studying abroad in Bologna, Italy (also known as the foodie capital of the world). However, even before I studied abroad, I first learned to make pasta from scratch during my freshman year of college through my college's Italian department. I was selected to participate on the Italian Pasta team, given that I am an Italian minor, against the East Asian Studies Noodle team. Needless to say, it was an exciting competition and if you truly care enough there is YouTube evidence, but sadly the outcome was Pasta: 29, Noodles: 30 (obviously, I am still mourning the lost 3 years later). The more important outcome of the competition was that I had my first experience making pasta. This experience only introduced me to making pasta, which I continued to practice while abroad and ultimately prompted a Christmas gift I received in December of 2017, a pasta maker. Therefore, while I was back home in Indiana last weekend for an interview, I thought I might as well make some tagliatelle for the blog!

The Ingredients:
(This makes one entree serving or two side servings of pasta)
  • 1 cup of all-purpose flour
  • 1 egg
  • Olive oil
  • Cup of water (to help with kneading the pasta, used similarly like "slip" when working with clay to add moisture and also reduce cracking)
  • 1 can tomato sauce (I just use the generic brand, normally from Costco)
  • 1/4 of an onion
  • Sugar
  • Crushed red pepper flakes
  • Garlic Powder
  • Oregano
  • Salt 
  • Pepper
  • Parmesan cheese (preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano, which only comes from Parma, Italy)
Time to cook:
  1. The key thing to remember when making pasta is that it is a 1:1 ratio. That is for every cup of flour used, there should be that many eggs as well. Then create a halo with the flour and break the egg into the center.
  2. Use a fork to break the yolk and then start circling the flour and egg together keeping the shape of the circle.
  3. Once the egg is starting to dissolve into the flour start to knead. (This is when you maybe want to add a bit of olive oil and some water to add some moisture into the dough)
  4. Continue to knead the pasta, folding the dough over using pressure from your palm (this is why Italian Nonne "grandmas" have strong arms!) until it is moisture without cracks but not a sticky ball either. 
  5. Then you will want to flatten out the ball using your hands till it is thin enough to go through the pasta maker. 
  6. **Alternative: If you don't have a pasta maker, use a rolling pin to roll the dough extremely flat and cover with flour like direction #8.**
  7. Then feed through the pasta maker starting with knob 6 and sending it through twice and then repeat on 5 and on 4. After sending it through the second time on knob 5 or on knob 4, you will probably want to cut the pasta in half (no one wants to try and eat lady and the tramp style long pasta).
  8. Once cutting the pasta, you will want to cover the pasta with a dusting of flour on both sides to help the pasta dry before cutting it into its final form.
  9. After the pasta has set aside for 20 minutes or so (making sure it is slightly firm now) it's time to cut. 
  10. **Alternative: you can take a knife and cut straight lines through your pasta, to create tagliatelle, similar to that which you can make with a pasta maker.
  11. Similar to beforehand, send the pasta through the pasta maker, but now with the cutter attachment. 
  12. Guide the pasta through the pasta maker to catch once cut and wrap around hand to make a circle with the pasta. 
  13. Again dust the pasta with flour and toss with hands gently to help the pasta dry before going into the boiling water. 
  14. While the pasta is drying for 30 minutes or so, make your tomato sauce and bring a large pot to boil with some salt sprinkled into the water.
  15. My sauce is a simple recipe of tomato sauce, a bit of onion, and some spices. 
  16. First dice only a 1/4 of an onion (something I learned while abroad is that most Italians don't put more than 1/8 or less of an onion into a sauce, that could feed a whole family. However, I grew up with the smell of sauteed onions, so I always push for a little more. 
  17. Then sauteed the onion with a bit of olive oil, until slightly golden brown. 
  18. Add tomato sauce, along with a sprinkle of sugar, some garlic powder, oregano, and pepper, plus optional crushed red pepper flakes. Then keep the heat on low to allow the sauce to simmer while waiting for pasta to dry and water to boil.
  19. Once the pasta is ready, place the pasta in the boiling water for 3-5 minutes, until the pasta rises to the top of the water to indicate that the pasta is cooked. Additionally, you can also feel the pasta for a denser texture, since the egg should be cooked through by this point. 
  20. Once the pasta is drained, stir pasta into the sauce and move to plate to enjoy with garnished crushed red pepper flakes or parmesan cheese.

Buon Appetito, 


Robin

Comments

Post a Comment