Taglietelle Bolognes
The problem with starting your own business and keeping a blog is that there’s never enough time! Happily though, there’s always time to try new recipes, cook and indulge in new bottles of wine. The joy about testing recipes (and new equipment) is that I’m usually reminded how much fun and easy cooking delicious food can be.
The last time I made homemade pasta was in South Africa, under the watchful eye of the chefs who were training me. I had forgotten how simple it could be – provided, of course, you have a pasta machine. Well, thanks to my Sous Chef, I acquired my first pasta maker, and it wasn’t long before I was in my kitchen kneading dough and rolling silky sheets of pasta.
For the test, I wanted to keep things simple. I was more interested in the quality of the pasta, not so much the sauce. I went to my library and settled on what has become one of my most trusted resources for quality food techniques: Alfred Portale’s Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook. The pasta was luxurious. Silky in texture; al dente took on a new meaning. A toothy bite that was cooked through. I was reminded why pasta is so luxuriously comforting. For my sauce, I chose a simple Bolognese, and came courtesy of Mario Batali’s The Babbo Cookbook.
The icing on the cake came with a luscious bottle of red – a Cabernet I picked up at a local auction: Corley Reserve, 1997. Aged beautifully, and showing well, this full-bodied wine has a solid structure and just oozing with flavors of chocolate, leather and black fruit. The sweetness of blackberries and dark cherries were singing in the glass through the entire bottle, but the solid backbone of tannin and the earthiness that supported the fruit was extraordinary.
Perhaps not the ideal selection for the dish, but when enjoying luxurious rich food, opening a fine bottle of wine is always a welcome addition at my table.
Semolina Pasta Dough
adapted from Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook, by Alfred Portale (Doubleday, 1997)
© Copyright 1997 by Alfred Portale
Makes about 1/14 pounds
1 ¼ cups unbleached flour, plus additional for dusting the pasta dough
1 ¼ cups duram semolina (also called pasta flour)
4 large eggs, at room temperature
½ teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons water, or as needed
In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the flour and semolina about 40 seconds to combine. In a small bowl, mix the eggs and olive oil. With the machine running, pour the egg mixture through the feed tube, then add water just until the dough comes together into a mass. Check the consistency of the dough and adjust with water or flour as necessary.
Remove the dough and knead it on a lightly floured surface until smooth and resilient, about 10 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set aside.
Set up your pasta machine; have flour close by.
Cut a small piece of dough off and shape it into an oblong piece. Run it through the pasta rollers several times on each of the settings to clean the machine.
Divide the remaining dough into four equal portions and work with one portion at a time. Shape the dough into an oblong shape and run it through the pasta machine according to manufacturer instructions, dusting with flour as needed. Lay the pasta sheets on lightly floured work surfaces and let the sheets dry, turning occasionally, until they are slightly leathery but still pliable. Depending on the temperature and humidity, this will take anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes (it was cold and damp and rainy the night I made my pasta, and it held about 45 minutes before the edges of the pasta sheets were becoming dried and cracked).
Roll the pasta sheets through the cutters, twisting the pasta into spirals and place each spiral on a lightly floured baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until ready to cook.
Taglietelle Bolognese
adapted from The Babbo Cookbook, by Mario Batali (Clarkson Potter, 2002)
Copyright © 2002 by Mario Batali
Serves 6 to 8
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 small onions, finely chopped
4 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1 pound ground veal
1 pound ground pork
¼ pound pancetta (you can substitute slab bacon, but choose the leanest cut possible to minimize too much additional oil in the sauce).
1 can tomato paste
1 cup whole milk
1 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parmigiano-Reggiano, for serving
1. In a 6 to 8 quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic and sweat over medium heat until the vegetables are translucent but not browned, about 7 minutes. Add the veal, pork and bacon and stir into the vegetables. Brown over medium high heat, stirring to keep the meat from sticking. Add the tomato paste, milk, wine, and thyme, bring just to a boil, and then simmer over medium-low heat for about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Season with salt and pepper (this is a must!!!).
2. Prepare pasta (6 quarts of boiling salted water; cook pasta until al dente. Drain the pasta. Do not rinse.).
3. Transfer 2 cups of the Bolognese sauce to a 12 inch sauté pan and heat gently over medium heat. Add the pasta to the pan with the sauce and toss until it is coated and the sauce is dispersed.
4. Divide evenly among warmed serving bowls. Grate Parmigano-Reggiano over each bowl. Serve immediately.
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