Recipes
Fresh Tagliatelle with Wild Mushrooms and Pecorino
Preparation
First make the pasta dough. Combine the eggs, egg yolks and olive oil in a bowl. Blend the flour for a minute in a food processor then, with the machine still running, slowly pour in the egg mix – the dough will come together quickly. As soon as it does, turn it out and shape it into a ball by hand. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for an hour before using.
Fill the sink with slightly tepid water, drop in the mushrooms and spin them around for a minute. Remove and drain in a colander placed over a bowl, then spread them out on a tea towel to dry them out slightly. Pick over the mushrooms, pulling off and discarding any stalks that are dirty.
Peel and finely slice the shallots and garlic. Pick the leaves from the thyme and parsley. Chop the parsley leaves.
Method
1 Roll the dough through a pasta machine, starting with the widest setting and finishing with the number 2 setting. For good strong pasta I recommend you do this several times to ensure the gluten is fully worked and the pasta is ready to cut. If the dough sticks at all, dust it lightly with flour.
2 Now cut the pasta into ribbons. (If not cooking immediately, sprinkle the ribbons with flour.)
3 Fill a large saucepan with water for the pasta. Season the water with a little salt and 20ml of the olive oil, and bring to the boil.
4 Meanwhile, heat the remaining 50ml olive oil with half of the butter in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the mushrooms, shallots and garlic, season well with salt and pepper, and stir with a wooden spoon until the moisture cooks out and the mushrooms begin to fry.
5 Now add the cold water, the remaining butter and the thyme leaves. Check the seasoning and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, and no more.
6 Drop the pasta into the boiling water, bring back to the boil and boil for just 3 minutes. Meanwhile, stir the parsley into the mushrooms.
7 Drain the pasta and divide equally between 6 bowls. Spoon over the mushrooms and top with a generous grating of Pecorino.