At this time of the year, markets, hedgerows and vegetable gardens are springing in to life. It is a hopeful time of the year and the kitchen is bursting with fresh flavours. This dish is a great weekend lunch if you are making the pasta from scratch, but of course you can cut a corner by buying freshly made tagliolini, in which case it comes together very quickly indeed. It works best with fine asparagus, but if you can only get hold of thicker stems, consider using tagliatelle as an alternative because they sit better together.
A fonduta is a silky rich sauce, which turns a plate of pasta in to an impressive meal that certainly should be accompanied by a good glass of wine. We highly recommend this dish with our new white wine. Enjoy!
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 large egg yolks
350g crème fraiche (which you can substitute with Kefir)
150g Freshly grated parmesan
1 garlic clove, finely grated
450g new season asparagus with the woody bottoms snapped off and sliced on the diagonal in to lengths
400g fresh egg pasta, tagliolini
Montecalvi Extra Virgin Olive Oil to serve
Seasoning to taste
Method to make the fresh egg pasta tagliolini
150g fine semolina flour
150g “00” flour
A pinch of salt
1 large egg
8 large egg yolks
Combine the flours and salt in a large bowl. Pour the mixture on to a clean work surface, making a mound and then use your fingers to create a deep well in the centre. Add the egg and yolks to the well.
Using a fork, holding it parallel to your work surface, stir in the eggs in a circular motion working from the centre outwards. After around 4-5 minutes, you should have a very wet dough surrounded by flour. Now use your hands to gradually incorporate the rest of the flour, folding and pressing until you have a firmer dough. Knead the dough until it is smooth (typically between 5-7 minutes). Wrap in kitchen wrap and leave to rest for at least 20 minutes, or up to an hour.
Cut your dough in half and roll out one at a time. Then working with a pasta roller begin on the widest setting and feed the dough through twice. Then narrow the setting and feed through again. Continue this process until the dough has been through each setting once (this process works the gluten to give your pasta a great texture).
Then fold the sheet of pasta onto itself several times to form a rough rectangle and feed it through the pasta roller again (twice on each setting) until your dough is about 15 x 90cm and about 1mm thick. Repeat with the second ball of dough.
To make tagliolini, cut the long sheets in to smaller sections (around 30 to 40cm long is good), dust with semolina flour and concertina the sheets neatly, cut the concertina lengthwise in to 0.5cm wide slices. Then gently feather the slices, separating them in to individual ribbons as you do.
Method
Bring a large pot of water to the boil.
Meanwhile, set up a bain-marie: a pan with a couple of centimetres of water in it and a heatproof bowl above that doesn’t touch the water. In to the bowl, whisk the egg yolks, crème fraiche, parmesan and garlic. Turn on the heat and whisk the egg mixture constantly, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Keep the cooking pace nice and slow (avoiding simmering) until you have a silky smooth mixture. The sauce will begin to slightly thicken after about 5-6 minutes. Set aside but keep warm.
Salt your large pan of boiling water and first the asparagus for just a minute and then the tagliolini (in the same pan). Cooking time should be around 3-4 minutes and both the pasta and asparagus should retain a slight bite.
Drain the pasta and asparagus in a colander and then turn them back in to the empty pot. Pour in half of the fonduta and toss gently, then add the rest of the fonduta and season to taste. Finish with a swirl of Montecalvi Extra Virgin Olive oil and serve immediately.
