Fresh tagliatelle with homemade ragu and peppered mascapone
The missus and I have been on a fresh pasta kick lately, culminating in nearly innumerable weekend dinners beginning with little more than a pile of fresh raviolis and ending in two heavily sated diners. The night in question above was slightly different, instead of stuffing my pasta, I opted for tagliatelle.
The switch is simple. I made my pasta sheets as per usual for ravioli, but instead of laying them out for stuffing, I gently folded them over themselves, almost like rolling them up. Then all I had to do was slice them across the front so that when the slices unrolled, they were long strands. Tagliatelle is a nice, thick noodle so close, mincing slices were not necessary. I must advise you to flour the pasta sheets as you fold them up, other wise the noodles will stay stuck on themselves and peeling them apart will be… frustrating.
I paired a nice, hearty tomato ragu with the pasta. I removed the casings from about a 1/4 lb of fresh sausage from Romeo’s, crumbled and browned it in olive oil. Next I added some garlic and two cans of my favorite petite cut tomatoes and just reduced, reduced, reduced. After 30 minutes I added the basil leaves and mixed in the tagliatelle and let it cook in the sauce for a minute or two. The cream on top is just fresh black pepper mixed into mascapone cheese, meant to be mixed into the pasta right before consumption. I found this preparation to be unbelievably satisfying and just a little easier than ravioli because you don’t need to make all the stuffings and egg-wash the little guys shut.
If you were toying with the idea of trying fresh pasta, but were perhaps still a little intimidated, these tagliatelle might be a good stepping stone before tackling raviolis or tortellini. Ciao!
