Turkey is great – for a few days – but by the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it’s time for something different. Turkey soup, sandwiches, and egg rolls can only go so far…
Victor headed to the kitchen first, and whipped up a batch of fresh pasta. He has pasta-making down to a science. In about an hour – and that includes 30 minutes for the pasta dough to rest – he has it made, rolled, cut, and ready to cook. Gotta love it.
Years ago he bought me a pasta roller for Christmas – and I’ve used it maybe twice. He took to pasta-making immediately, and I’m definitely not stupid enough to argue. He says pasta and I say yes. I don’t even ask what kind. He’s making, I’m eating. Rather simple…
He has a few different recipes for pasta, but this is kinda the go-to…
Tagliatelle Fresche
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- Coarse sea salt
Instructions
On a clean work surface, mound flour and form a well in the center. Add eggs and egg yolks to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolks and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well. Continue until liquid is absorbed, then knead for 10 minutes. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 3 pieces. Cover 2 pieces with plastic wrap. Flatten remaining dough piece so that it will fit through the rollers of a pasta machine.
Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine.
Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting, one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until pasta sheet is scant 1/16 inch thick.
Cut sheet in half widthwise; dust both sides of sheets with flour. Layer sheets between floured pieces of parchment or wax paper. Cover with paper and repeat with remaining dough.
With the short end of 1 pasta sheet facing you, loosely fold up sheet, folding sheet over two or three times from short ends toward the center. With a large chefs knife, cut folded sheet into ribbons, a scant 1/4 inch wide. Unroll strips and lightly dust with flour; spread on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pasta sheets.
To cook the tagliatelle, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta, transfer to a large serving bowl and toss with sauce.
And here he is tossing it with sauce – his homemade sauce that I can a few times a year. Homemade sauce on the shelf is always a good thing…
And crunchy garlic toast is always a good thing, too. Perfect for sopping up every last bit of sauce…
It was all really good.