Next up after making my Nigerian chin-chin was Fresh Pasta. I made my fresh pasta with the same machine I used for the chin-chin recipe, which is just awesome. The tagliatelle was my immediate choice, honestly because I was craving tagliatelle carbonara. If you want the good ole spaghetti carbonara, you can find that here.
I could pretend that I know the A-Z of pasta making, especially as I’m a chef by profession but I don’t. Being a chef is a continuous process of learning, experimenting and practising. I know the basics of pasta making but never have I made fresh pasta with semolina flour. Making pasta with semolina flour is quite common in regions of Italy and also outside Italy. However, my personal experience with semolina is that of “swallow”, popularly used in Nigeria, eaten with soups and sauces. One thing I can tell you is that Tagliatelle is commonly mistaken for Fettuccine. Fettuccine is only just a bit narrower than Tagliatelle but who measures their pasta when eating? Not me! So if you want to call it a fettuccine, I won’t judge you.
For this recipe, I used a mix of regular wheat flour and semolina flour. My reasoning here was to reduce the risk of messing it up or having to knead the dough longer than I would like to. Well, only the former was a success, but it was hard work of kneading getting the dough together. That’s not very obvious when you watch the video recipe on youtube but that is the magic of production. The written recipe that follows, however, is my conclusion after several trials.
How to make Fresh Pasta:
What you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Semolina flour
- Salt
- Eggs
- Olive oil
- A pasta machine and a rolling pin.
The Fresh Pasta making process:
- Pour all-purpose flour, semolina flour and salt unto a clean surface. Gently mix together and create a hole in the middle, just like a well.
- Pour olive oil into the well, also break the eggs into the same well.
- Knead with your hands until it all comes together, for about 10 to 20 minutes.
- After kneading you should have a smooth dough (but just like the video it’s ok if the dough doesn’t come out smooth at your first attempt).
- Wrap the dough in cling film (plastic wrap) and place it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Remove the dough from the fridge then cut it into small pieces and mould it into balls. Set one of the balls aside and cover with plastic wrap at all times.
- Taking each ball at a time, sprinkle some flour onto your work surface, then use a rolling pin to roll out into a thick sheet (flat enough to fit into the pasta machine).
- Sprinkle with a bit more flour, then transfer the sheet unto the base roller of the pasta machine.
- Now, start rolling (laminating) with the pasta machine, starting from the thickest setting ‘0’. Then repeat and change the roller setting each time from “0 to 5” at each roll. “0” is a thick paste and “5” is a really thin pasta.
- Now transfer the rolled pasta sheet to the cutting attachment. The medium cutting attachment is what you should be using, not the tiny spaghetti-like one.
- Repeat the 3 previous steps for the entire dough (you can also store it in the refrigerator for future use).
- Roll each sheet out completely and you now have your tagliatelle. Repeat the 5 previous steps, place the tagliatelle on a tray and sprinkle with some semolina flour (so they don’t stick together).
Fresh Pasta Tagliatelle Carbonara with Semolina Flour
Equipment
Ingredients
For the fresh pasta (Tagliatelle):
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup Semolina flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup olive oil
For the carbonara:
- 240 g Guanciale
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- black pepper
Instructions
- Pour all-purpose flour, semolina flour and salt unto a clean surface. Gently mix together and create a hole in the middle, just like a well.
- Pour olive oil into the well, also break the eggs into the same well, discarding the shells of course (you can add all 3 eggs at once, unlike as shown in the recipe video which was my first attempt).
- Knead with your hands until it all comes together (this is the only difficult process and you can add a few drops of water if it’s too difficult), this will take between 10 to 20 minutes depending on your own strength.
- After kneading you should have a smooth dough (but just like the video it’s ok if the dough doesn’t come out smooth at your first attempt).
- Wrap the dough in cling film (plastic wrap) and place it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (you can also leave it in overnight and make your pasta whenever you want).
- Remove the dough from the fridge then cut it into small pieces and mould it into balls. Set one of the balls aside and cover with plastic wrap at all times.
- Taking each ball at a time, sprinkle some flour onto your work surface, then use a rolling pin to roll out into a thick sheet (flat enough to fit into the pasta machine).
- Sprinkle with a bit more flour, then transfer the sheet unto the base roller of the pasta machine.
- Now, start rolling (laminating) with the pasta machine, starting from the thickest setting ‘0’. Then repeat and change the roller setting each time from “0 to 5” at each roll. “0” is a thick paste and “5” is a really thin pasta.
- Now transfer the rolled pasta sheet to the cutting attachment. The medium cutting attachment is what you should be using, not the tiny spaghetti-like one.
- Repeat the 3 previous steps for the entire dough (you can also store it in the refrigerator for future use).
- Roll each sheet out completely and you now have your tagliatelle.
- Repeat the 5 previous steps, place the tagliatelle on a tray and sprinkle with some semolina flour (so they don’t stick together).
For the carbonara:
- Break the eggs into a deep bowl, and add some black pepper and salt. Also, add the grated Parmesan cheese. whisk all together and set aside.
- Place a pan over medium heat and toss in the guanciale. Stir with a spoon, then turn the heat low and allow to fry in its fat.
- In the meantime, Put a deep pot filled with water over high heat, add salt and let the water start boil.
- Carefully place the tagliatelle into the hot water, give it a quick stir then allow to cook for 3 minutes or until al dente (Note that fresh pasta is delicate, it’s always best not to overcook it (even dry pasta) or it will just become a pile of mush)
- Turn the heat off from the pot and carefully transfer the pasta from the hot water into the pan of guanciale (which should now be caramelised.)
- Now also turn the heat off from the pan and carefully stir the pasta together with the guanciale.
- With a cooking tong or pasta ladle in one hand, use the other hand to pour in the egg and parmesan mixture and stir. Do not let the eggs settle, stir immediately so the eggs don’t scramble, but not roughly so the pasta doesn’t break.
