When cooking any dish which will be served with white truffle simplicity is key and this is a cleverly simple dish. Cream and mushrooms are a perfect accompaniment to the white truffle as they don’t challenge its strong aroma. The fresh tagliatelle is made with spinach from the garden. This adds an interesting flavour to the dish without being overpowering. Obviously you can use shop-bought tagliatelle if you don’t want to go to the trouble of making your own pasta. However you should not fear rolling your own – it’s fairly easy to get the hang of and will definitely make a difference. I think that the finished dish is a special one and as such merits using the best ingredients possible.
Tagliatelle Ingredients ( Serves four)
- 225 gr fresh spinach
- 3 free range eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 250 gr flour (tipo 00 is preferable)
Put spinach in a pan of boiling water, push down leaves till submerged. Boil for about 2 minutes until wilted and soft. Drain.
Cool spinach and squeeze well to extract as much moisture as possible. Put in a food processor with the eggs and salt. Pulse until finely chopped. Squeeze out more moisture if you can
Add the flour to the processor about a tablespoon at a time. Pulse three or four times after each addition. When you have added all the flour, pulse until the dough comes together in a ball.
Next knead the dough on a well floured surface for about 5 minutes. The finished dough should be soft but not sticky. If it does seem sticky add a little more flour as you knead.
Wrap the dough in cling film (seran wrap) and let it rest at room temperature for at least half an hour.
Prepare trays for the finished pasta, dusting them with flour. Split the dough into 4 balls, cover 3 of the balls with a damp cloth so they don’t dry out.
Take your pasta ball, flatten it out slightly, dust it with flour then pass it through the pasta roller on the widest setting about 4 times until it is smooth. If the pasta becomes at all sticky, flour it. Then set the machine to the smaller settings ans pass the paste sheet through once or twice. Repeat at each setting until you get to the thickness you prefer. Cut the sheet into tagliatelle either use the cutter attachment or a knife and place the finished taglietelle onto the prepared trays in a single layer. Cover with a damp cloth.
Once all the balls are rolled and cut, place handfuls at a time in well salted boiling water for around 2-3 minutes until al dente.
Mushroom cream sauce
- 30g butter
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 300g sliced mushrooms
- 2 finely chopped garlic cloves
- 125 ml white wine
- 125ml chicken stock
- 185ml cream
- 30g grated parmesan
- 1/2 tsp salt and pepper
Method
Melt butter and add oil to a large skillet over high heat.
Add mushrooms and cook, stirring regularly. When they start to sweat, add a pinch of salt and pepper.
When golden (about 4 – 5 minutes), add garlic and cook .
Add wine, stir, scraping the bottom of the skillet. Simmer rapidly until wine is mostly evaporated. Add broth, cream, parmesan, salt and pepper. Stir to dissolve parmesan and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
Add pasta to the sauce, tossing until sauce coats pasta. If sauce appears too thick, add a ladle of the pasta cooking water.
Plate and serve with shaved white truffle.
