Basic Egg Pasta

This is my basic pasta dough recipe; I use it consistently in all of our pasta recipes. Here at La Fortezza, rolling out pasta by hand takes about 10 to 15 minutes and is a great workout, plus it’s meditative and very satisfying. You can, of course, use a machine; this recipe shares both techniques. Check out my hand made Pasta video here

Serves 4

Recipe for fresh pasta, this is used for all types of pasta including Tagliatelle.

- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

- ½ teaspoon salt

- 2 eggs

- 4 egg yolks

- All-purpose flour for dusting

Preparation: Sift the flour add salt, mix in a 2-quart mixing bowl. Add the eggs to the bowl and mix them into the flour to form a dough. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth, about 5 to 10 minutes. Wrap in plastic wrap, and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes to 4 hours before rolling out. Any longer and your risk the dough oxidizing and turning a dark color Dust a wooden board with 1 tbsp of flour. Unwrap the dough and flatten it with a rolling pin. Roll out the dough into a thin pasta sheet, to less than 1/8 inch thickness. To cut the pasta sheets into tagliatelle, You can cut the pasta sheet into strips making Tagliatelle, by rolling the sheet like a jelly roll into a 3 inch roll. Cut into ¼ inch strips, starting on the right side of the log, cut 6 cuts then toss the strips unfurling them into pasta nests. In salted water in a 5 quart pasta pot at a rolling boil add the pasta, cook until pasta rises to the top of the pot, pull one out to sample, it should have a bite or al dente. Serve with your favorite sauce or topping.