There fresh pasta is the queen of the Italian culinary tradition. Whether it’s ravioli, tagliolini, tagliatelle or lasagna, each format brings with it numerous delicious recipes, all mouth-watering. And if the pasta is made with your own hands, fresh and genuine, then it becomes the best in the world. Let’s see how to prepare a great classic of the various shapes of fresh homemade pasta: le noodles. Dressed with meat or fish sauce or with a classic tomato sauce, they are the dish you never say no to. Here we prepare them in a special version. Hands-on and let’s start the dances.

Preparation

1

In a bowl, place the semolina flour creating a central bowl (1) and insert the eggs (2).

2

Pour in the milk (3), the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and the salt (4).

3

With the help of a fork, mix the ingredients (5) until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the dough to a pastry board or kitchen worktop (6).

4

Work the dough vigorously with the palm of your hand for 10 minutes. (7), until a smooth and homogeneous paste is obtained. Transfer the dough to the bowl, covering it with cling film or a lid and let it rest for 30 minutes (8).

5

After 30 minutes, divide the dough into 3 loaves (9) and start kneading one by flattening it with your hands (10). In the meantime, leave the other two loaves covered in the bowl to prevent the dough from drying out.

6

Switch to the use of the dough sheeter machine. Set thickness 5 (11), lightly flour the dough that you flattened by hand and insert it into the machine twice. In this way the pasta will compact itself better (12).

7

Now go to the lower shim, n.3 of the machine (13), and repeat the same procedure two more times. You will get fine and smooth sheets (14).

8

Once all the sheets have been obtained, set the machine on the function for cutting the noodles and pass the sheets of pasta (15). Et voilà, your noodles to be seasoned as you prefer (16).

Accessories

• A bowl
• A fork
• A pastry board (alternatively you can use the kitchen worktop)
• A dough sheeter machine (if you don’t have one you can use a rolling pin and elbow grease!)

Tips and tricks

Prepare the homemade noodles it is very simple and affordable for everyone. You just need a little patience and attention to some small tricks for an optimal result of your fresh pasta. Here they are.

• The dough must be worked vigorously with the palms of the hands for at least 10 minutes. Every now and then beat the dough on the work surface so that it reaches more elasticity.
• The loaves that are not currently being processed must be covered with cling film or a cloth
• For all those who do not have a pasta machine: with a rolling pin flatten the dough ball until it reaches the desired thickness. For more rustic tagliatelle you can reach a thickness of 2 mm; for finer noodles flattened up to 1 mm.
• To work the dough better, avoiding it from getting holes or sticking to the machine, we advise you to lightly flour the surface of the dough every time you go to insert it between the rollers of the machine. If you use a rolling pin, flour the pastry board or work surface. Put some flour in the tray where you are going to lay the sheets of pasta and the noodles obtained.

storage

Prepare the fresh noodles at most 2-3 hours before cooking them, otherwise they will tend to get annoyed. We often ask ourselves if we can prepare them in advance, perhaps the night before for the next day. The answer is no. We do not recommend preparing them well in advance because the dough would dry out too much. Rather, it is more appropriate to freeze them in the freezer. How? Equip yourself with a tray and arrange small nests of tagliatelle spaced apart; put it in the freezer for at least two hours to make them harden well. Then, place the various frozen nests in an airtight bag to keep in the freezer.

And how to cook the noodles once they are frozen? Quite simply, boil them in boiling water directly from ice. It only takes a few minutes for them to rise to the surface well cooked.

History

With very ancient and romantic origins, tagliatelle have a history that is inevitably intertwined with that of other fresh pasta shapes. Although the first traces of tagliatelle date back to Roman times, a popular legend invented by the Bolognese illustrator and humorist remains known. Augusto Majani in 1931. According to this version, the tagliatelle were conceived in 1487 by the Bolognese master Zefirano, the personal chef of Giovanni II Bentivoglio. On the occasion of the wedding between the Duke of Ferrara and Lucrezia Borgiain 1487, the chef would have been inspired by Lucrezia’s shiny blond hair, recreating a new type of pasta.

Ban on legends, what remains certain is that in the old Emilia were operational the ‘let it out‘. These were ladies who worked the doughs and sheets, giving life to numerous fresh pasta shapes suitable for every recipe, including the timeless tagliatelle.