Ingredients for tagliatelle for 6 people:
1 lb durum wheat flour
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
about 4 tbsps water
The late, great British cookery writer, Elizabeth David, describes the process of making the dough in her "Italian Food". Pour flour in a mound on a board, make a well in the center and break in eggs. Add the salt and water. She then devotes a paragraph to the process of kneading and stretching the dough, counselling a 10-minuter period of intense exercise. Joyous as this process can be, I tend to use my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook fitted, and sit back and watch it do all the work.
After 5-10 minutes you should have a really sleek, malleable dough. Cut the dough in half. You can do the next bit manually, with your rolling pin. Elizabeth David counsels rolling up the thinly stretched dough like a jelly roll and cutting through this multiple times to obtain the noodles, but it is much more fun and the results are more uniform if you use a little Italian pasta machine - hand cranked will do fine, though mine has 'il motore' attached. Either roll out each piece of dough thinly then cut into long, 1/3" wide strips, or put through the machine press side a few times, then through the tagliatelle cutter.
Note: after you've made the pasta a couple of times you will recognize the correct texture. If it's too dry it will be difficult to manipulate, but if it's too wet it will stick to itself. After you cut the ribbons have some polenta flour ready to dust over them to help keep the strands separate. If you are not cooking them immediately toss them up every now and then in the flour to keep them from sticking.
Cook the pasta in a very large pan full of salted water until it is 'al dente'. This will take just five minutes or so, less time than dried pasta. Watch the pan for the pasta rising to the surface and then it is cooked.
Coming soon...a couple of sauce recipes fit for your pasta fatta in casa.
