Tagliatella Fatta A Mano Al Ragù Di Carne Recipes

Steps:

• Tagliatelle.
• The process of making fresh tagliatella is simple but at the same time it needs attention and much love. Put 200g of "00" flour on a wooden board, make a hole in the centre and break the eggs in, add a drop of olive oil and a pinch of salt and with a fork then break up the eggs slowly pulling down the flour a bit at a time. Once this step is complete we move on to the "massage" phase. Knead the dough with your hands until it becomes soft and compact and stretches when pulled, once it reaches the right consistency leave it to rest for around 30 min in a cool place.
• Now comes the most delicate phase of the making of the pasta (in the local "Cossignanese" dialect this is called the "pannella") it is made by rolling using a long wooden pasta rolling-pin to stretch out the dough until it becomes 2mm thin. Use a little four to prevent the dough sticking to the board or rolling pin. It is important to keep all parts of the dough at a similar thickness as it thins out. Start with your hands near the centre of the rolling pin and move them to the ends of the pin as you roll so as to keep an even pressure over the whole area of the dough. Occasionally lift the dough and dust with flour underneath to ensure it does not stick. A special long thin rolling-pin is required to avoid creating flat spots on the pasta as the area of the dough increases.
• At this point the dough can lightly rolled up and cut with a knife to create thin strips 3/4m for "maccheroncino" and 7/8mm for "tagliatella" strips. The pasta is ready to use and since it is fresh it takes only a couple of minutes in boiling water to reach the "al dente" (to the tooth) stage. It can be topped with any suitable sauce: perfect is a "ragu" meat sauce but equally good is a mushroom or fish sauce.
• Ragu.
• In Cossignano the ragu is made with ground beef and pork. This is not "mince" that you might buy in a supermarket. In Italy we buy a piece of meat and ask the butcher to grind it for us so we know exactly what we are eating. Fry a finely chopped onion in a little olive oil, when it becomes soft and translucent add a diced carrot and a chopped stick of celery and cook together for a few minutes. Add 200 grams ground beef and 100 grams of minced pork, brown it with the addition of a glass of red wine. As soon as the meat is browned add salt and pepper to taste pop in a parmesan rind and pour about a quart of passata di pomodoro - pureed tomatoes. Cook for about two hours covered over low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom.

Steps:

• Place flour on a marble or wooden work surface. Make a well in the center and crack in eggs; add salt. Gently beat eggs using a fork, incorporating the surrounding flour, until mixture is runny. Pull remaining flour into the center using a bench scraper, incorporating it until dough forms a ball.
• Knead dough with your hands by flattening the ball, stretching it, and folding the top towards the center. Turn 45 degrees and repeat until dough is soft and smooth, about 10 minutes.
• Shape dough into a ball. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Flatten the first portion and pass through the thickest setting of the pasta machine. Dust with more flour, fold in half like a book and repeat 3 to 4 times, flouring, folding, and passing through the thickest setting,until the dough is smooth in texture, even in size, and no longer sticky.
• Move the pasta machine to a middle setting and pass each sheet through once. Move to the next-to-last setting and pass through once. Cut in half. Repeat with remaining 2 portions.
• Add the tagliatelle attachment to the pasta machine and pass each piece through. Roll the machine handle with one hand and collect the pasta with the other.
• Gently toss pasta with some more flour. Air dry for 30 minutes.
• Cook tagliatelle in plenty of salted, boiling water until tender yet firm to the bite, 3 to 5 minutes.

Steps:

• Prepping makes the whole experience more enjoyable.
• Finely chop pancetta.
• Finely dice carrots, onions and celery.
• Wash livers carefully, then flatten livers and chop.
• Warm milk and chicken stock.
• Peel Garlic.
• In a Dutch oven over medium heat add 2 tbsp oil with 2 tbsp butter. Add the onions and sauté until the onions are soft, 8 - 10 minute. Do not brown.
• Add the remaining butter and olive oil.
• Add carrots and celery, increase heat to med-high, sauté until they start to brown.
• Add pancetta, prosciutto, mortadella or your choice of any combo of meats and sauté one to two minutes.
• Remove mixture from pan to a bowl and reserve.
• Add chicken liver and stir frequently 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add ground beef or meat blend and brown (do not stew meat, if you need to, do so in stages)
• Return vegetable mix to Dutch oven.
• Add tomato paste to meat and vegetable mix and brown paste for about 10-15 minute important step, develops deep flavor.
• Add wine to deglaze, allow it to evaporate 4 - 7 minutes.
• Add 1 cup warm milk and pinch nutmeg, allow it to come to a boil, carefully reduce milk for 3 - 5 minutes.
• Add passata or whole tomatoes crushed my hand or potato masher.
• Add chicken stock and whole garlic cloves stir. Cover and continue to cook for 3 to 4 hours over very low heat or place into oven at 275 for 3 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Several minutes before serving mash garlic cloves against wall of Dutch oven and add remaining milk continue to cook 10 minutes.

Steps:

• Place a 12" skillet over medium heat and melt butter in the oil. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic with some salt and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Add the pancetta or bacon and cook for 10 minutes, until vegetables are soft.
• Increase the heat to high and add meat a third at a time. Make sure to add meat gradually as this allows the water to evaporate and the meat will brown.
• Cook until meat is no longer pink. Once this happens, set timer for 15 minutes and allow meat to caramelize stirring occasionally. It is okay for meat to stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Over medium heat, pour the white wine into pan to deglaze. Scrape all the brown bits at the bottom of the pan.
• Add milk, diced tomatoes with liquid, beef stock, 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp ground pepper to the pan. Bring to boil and then put on low and simmer slowly half covered for 4 hours. Stir occasionally.
• Do not allow meat to stick again. If starts to stick lower heat and add a small amount of beef stock.
• The sauce should be thick at the end.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Finish with stirring in parmigiano cheese and butter to ragu.