Mama Mia what do we have here?!?!?! This is a dish that I am still smiling about today. It was a huge achievement for me as I made the pasta from scratch. It was my birthday recently and my dear husband surprised me with some really expensive and gorgeous cooking equipment one of them being a pasta machine. So ofcourse I could not wait to use the machine and I am so glad that I did. I never realised how easy it is once you have a pasta machine, that it takes out all the hard work and effort of rolling and folding the dough. This is my homemade organic tagliatelle pasta and homemade organic sauce, which I am super excited to share with you all. This recipe is dedicated to my amazingly gorgeous and loving husband.
Ingredients: -
To make the pasta
It is all dependent on how many people you are intending on feeding so for each person it is a 100g of wheat flour and one egg. I was feeding 2 on the day so 200g flour and 2 eggs. If you do not want to use eggs you can use a glass of natural mineral water (1 glass of water to replace 1 egg). DO NOT ADD SALT TO THE DOUGH.
To make the pasta sauce
1 TBLS Olive Oil
3 tomato's (blitz in a food processor with the skin on)
1 med to large brown onion, finely chopped
1 handful of curly parsley, finely chopped
2 Cloves of garlic (crushed)
1 Tsp italian herbs
1/2 red chilli crushed
2 Tsp tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
250ml of thickened cream
1 Can of Tuna (optional)
Method: -
To make the pasta dough
Combine the flour and eggs in a food processor until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Tip the breadcrumbs onto a lightly floured board and combine together until you have a firm dough. I usually add about 1 Tablespoon of water to make the dough a little more pliable. This is the part that takes abit of elbow grease. So knead the dough until you have a silky textured dough, it will still be firm but you will feel it when it is silky. This takes time so be patient and stick with it. The reason for this is you want to get the gluten working in the dough to give you that al dente pasta otherwise you will end up with thick, chunky and not so tasty pasta.
Cling wrap the dough and place in the fridge for approx 30 minutes (make the sauce during this waiting time). Once you remove the dough, I usually give it a quick knead again to make sure no crusty parts have formed on the outside and then slice into smaller pieces. Now the fun part, use your pasta machine, follow the instructions on the pasta machine manual as they tend to vary in terms of settings.
If you do not have a pasta machine, you will have to roll your dough, dust with flour and fold. You will have to repeat this process quite a few times until you have achieved the correct thickness to make your tagliatelle pasta.
To make the sauce
During the waiting time while your dough is working hard at getting the gluten going, start with the sauce. Place a pan onto a medium heat. Add the olive oil, onions and parsley to the pan. Allow this to cook until the onions are translucent, add the crushed chilli and garlic and give it a stir. Add the tomato's, italian herbs, salt, pepper and allow to cook until the tomato's are completely cooked through. You will notice the tomato's turn slightly darker. Add your tomato sauce,(if you want to add tuna add it now. I used tuna for this recipe as I wanted a balance of carbohydrate and protein) and half a tin of the thickened cream. Allow this to simmer for about 5 minutes until your sauce appears to have a thicker consistency.
Once you have your sauce ready move it aside and get a pot of boiling water onto the stove to add your freshly made pasta. Don't forget to add a splash of olive oil to the boiling water and salt, this seasons your pasta and prevents the pasta from sticking together and becoming gluggy. Cook for approx 7 - 10 minutes until your pasta is al dente.
Place the pasta into a serving bowl. Top with sauce, grate some pamersan cheese and crack over some black pepper. Garnish with some parsley and serve straight away. :)
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