Taglolini alla Carbonara

 

Taglolini alla Carbonara

Friends, comrades, lovers... I am so sorry for my blog hiatus! My dog ate my homework. I mean my dog ate my cookbooks... all 32 of them. Wait, I don't have a dog. OK, my cat has just been a huge distraction for me and I just haven't been able to cook recently. I have no excuse. Sorry, y'all..

ANYWAYS. One of the best Christmas presents I received this year was a homemade pasta maker. I have been wanting one for so long, and I finally have one to call my own (name suggestions?) I received the Marcato Atlas Wellness 150, which is pretty baller. It's... so...shiny! It is made in Italy, and apparently the most widely used in the world.

The greatest things in life are the small pleasures. For me, those small pleasures are star gazing, giggling, popping bubble wrap, putting my hands in big bags of flour or dry beans, and apparently, now on that list is making pasta. It is so simple! I proclaimed tonight that I had invented something amazing... I guess pasta has been made for hundreds and hundreds of years, but when you make your own pasta for the first time, you think you have just invented the greatest thing on this planet. It isn't like making gnocchi - the pasta maker is its own beast. You may not have your own pasta maker, but I want this to be my very own promotion for you getting your own. It's too good to miss out on.

The pasta recipe is from Max and Eli Sussman's, This is Not a Cookbook, and the recipe is from the BBC website, and you can find the recipe here.

Enjoy!

Basic Pasta Dough Ingredients:

1 cup Semolina flour
2 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
4 large egg yolks
3 large whole eggs

Basic Pasta Dough Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flours. Make a well in the center and add the egg yolks, whole eggs, and 2 tablespoons water

2. With a fork, whisk the eggs lightly to blend, then begin mixing all the ingredients together with your hands, drawing in flour gradually from the sides and tossing and folding until you form a cohesive ball of dough. If necessary, add another tablespoon or two of water to bring it together, but note, the finished dough will still feel somewhat dry. As long as it forms a ball, you can move to the next step

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough by using the heel of your hand to stretch it away from you to a thickness of about 1 inch. Fold it back upon itself, push again, then rotate 90 degrees and knead a few times. Rotate 90 degrees again. Continue kneading this way for at least 10 minutes, until the dough becomes stretchy and elastic. If it springs back when you poke it, it's ready

4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours before moving on to shaping

Carbonara Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 packet of pancetta, cubed (I use the packet from Trader Joe's because it's easiest)

Half a stick of butter (3 1/2 oz)

5 ounces white wine

6 egg yolks

2 oz Parmesan, freshly grated, plus extra for serving

2 oz aged Pecorino, freshly grated

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

12 oz egg pasta

Carbonara Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan. Add two-thirds of the prosciutto and fry for one minute

2. Add the butter to the pan and allow to melt, then add the wine and simmer for 2-3 minutes, just to combine with the butter and the prosciutto juices

3. Place the egg yolks, parmesan and pecorino into a bowl and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper

4. Cook the tagliatelle according to the packet instructions, or until al dente, then drain, reserving a few tablespoons of the cooking water

5. Immediately add the pasta to the prosciutto mixture, then stir in the egg mixture - the heat of the pasta will cook the egg

6. Add the reserved cooking water if the sauce seems too thick, then stir in the remaining prosciutto and reserved butter

7. To serve, spoon into warmed bowls and sprinkle with a little extra Parmesan