Tagliatelle with Ragu

I have wanted to learn how to make fresh pasta for a very long time and although I know I could have learnt in Sydney from friends or chefs I know, but once I booked my tickets to Italy I decided, no, I will learn from a true Italian, I wanted to learn the proper way.

My friend Manuela was more than happy to show me, so today, since it was raining we decided to do the deed and make tagliatelle which is a wider style of pasta, not quite papardelle but wider than linguine. As this is a heavy type of pasta it demands  a heavy rich sauce, so what other option is there than a ragu sugo.

We went to the supermarket to buy the ingredients, which I might add is so much better than any supermarket in Sydney, but I might be biased as I like that there are so many things we do not have back home. There was one particular ingredient I wanted to know what the Italian use for pasta, and that is which flour? You read so man variations ‘00′ flour, ‘000′ flour, but Manuela actually uses Grano Duro (hard wheat) pasta. It is not white like normal plain or all purpose flour, it has a yellow hue but it still a ver fine grain.

The other key element I thought would be the meat, does she use pork, rabbit, beef or a combination of them? She told me that tradtionally you also use pork, but she only uses beef as otherwise it is too heavy, however she was quite specific and said that the mince she bought was particularly meat from the leg, not the stomach.

That sorted we started the process. We first prepared the sugo (sauce). Sautéed the onion, browned the meat then added Vino Bianco, not Rosso, another thing kep component I have heard different variations with. Once the meat absorbed all the wine the tomato sauce was added and it was left to simmer while we prepared the pasta.

We decided to make enough for 4 people, so applied the rule 100g for each egg and one egg for each person. A pit is made and the oil eggs and salt are added. The mixutre is kneeded for at least 15 minutes until it is no longer sticky and when a cut is made, the dough does not recombine.

We then got the pasta maker out and ‘cleaned’ it. You must never wash them as they will rust, so instead you use a little dough and roll it through so it takes out all the dust and then it is ready. Once we seperated the dough into small balls, we flattened them into thin discs and put them through on a widish setting. This is the initial stretch. After coating them in a little more flour, they are put through again on a thinner setting. Now for tagliatelle we put them through the middle mechanism and then, in their small lumps, let them rest on a bench to dry out. If you had the time, it would be best to dry them fo 24 hours, but this requires constant checking and separating the pasta otherwise they will stick together, of course if you had the pasta racks you could leave them for the whole time without them sticking. We however did not have this time so we let it rest for around 30 minutes and then cooked it.

Another tip I was told was that you must boil the water first before adding SEA salt, not regular salt, then add the pasta. It only took 5 minutes and then the pasta was drained. It was still quite stiff when it was drained but bear in mind it will continue to cook slightly due to the heat and also when it is tossed through the sauce. It was plated, grated parmagiano was sprinkled on top and the wine was poured. We drank white wine with such a dish, something I am not used to, but it was too light for the dish and I don’t feel the dish demanded red either.

The flavour? Well the pasta was hard in texture, more so than anything I have ever had in Sydney, but with such a heavy sauce I felt it soaked it up perfectly and it tasted amazing. I think the type of flour we used really added to the dish, as it wasn’t flavourless like if plain white flour was used, it did have a heavier wheat flavour. The sugo was rich and the tomato did not overpower the dish at all. I enjoyed this meal so much and can say that it is, without a doubt, the best pasta I have ever had, and only took 1 hour to prepare. I know that when I get back home it will be something I do a lot more often as it was a lot of fun and so satisfying.

Tagged as: Main, Meat, Pasta