Main, Italian
Handmade Tagliatelle with Brown Butter & Sage
Fresh egg pasta made together, in the simplest, most luxurious sauce.
- Total
- 1 hr 30 min
- Hands-on
- 50 min
- Skill
- Advanced
- Serves
- 2
- Cost for two
- about $7
Making pasta together is the ultimate cook-together date. Flour and eggs become silky dough in ten minutes of kneading; after a rest, one of you feeds the sheets through the machine while the other catches them. The sauce is barely a recipe: butter browned until nutty with crisp sage leaves.
Video by Jamie Oliver (Gennaro Contaldo), embedded from YouTube. Their method may differ slightly from ours.
Ingredients
Method
Mound the flour on a clean counter, make a deep well and crack the eggs into it with the salt. Beat the eggs with a fork, gradually pulling in flour from the walls until a shaggy dough forms.
Knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and springy. If it sticks, dust with flour; if it cracks, wet your hands. Wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Cut the dough in two. Flatten one piece and roll it through a pasta machine from the widest setting down to the second-thinnest, folding and re-rolling twice on the widest setting first. By hand, roll to 1–1.5 mm, thin enough to see your hand through it.
Dust the sheets with flour, fold loosely into a flat roll and cut into 6–8 mm ribbons. Toss with semolina and form loose nests.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta for 2–3 minutes until tender.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When it foams, add the sage and cook 3–4 minutes until the butter is hazelnut brown and the leaves are crisp.
Move the pasta into the butter with 60 ml (¼ cup) pasta water and toss until glossy. Add the Parmesan, lemon zest and pepper and toss again.
Cook mode keeps your screen awake. Tap a step to mark your place.
Tips
- Make it a two-person job: one cranks, one feeds and catches the sheets.
- Fresh pasta cooks fast; taste after 90 seconds.
Make ahead
Dough keeps wrapped in the fridge for 24 hours. Cut nests can be frozen on a tray and cooked from frozen (add 1 minute).
Plating
Twist into a high nest, lay three crisp sage leaves on top, and finish with a final grating of cheese at the table.
What to drink
Wine: Soave or a soft Barbera.
Zero-proof: Sparkling apple juice with a sage leaf.
Serve it with
Questions
Do I need a pasta machine?
No. A rolling pin works; it just takes more muscle and patience.