I had wanted to make a few Italian recipes that we had made in our Tuscan cooking class since coming back home a couple of weeks ago. Everything just came together this for past Friday night’s dinner.  We were trying to get together with some of our local friends, our VT friends contacted me to come and stay the night and the final piece de resistance was the red wine I sent home from Italy arrived Friday morning oh and I had the day off.  Italian night was just meant to be!

I made my shopping list out in the morning, I had planned on making it a little easier on me since I was cooking for 9+ people and I don’t have staff to help me with prep or clean up per say; my son and friends helped with clean up. I was going with Bruschetta, homemade; handmade pasta with a Bolognese sauce and tiramisu for dessert.  I know that was not going to be a truly “authentic” Tuscan meal but I live in NH and I am not Italian nor can I get the same ingredients locally, trust me I tried, I thought I would make it as close as possible. I had to find a substitute for Italian 00 flour; 1 part pastry flour to 3 parts AP flour was the answer.

Homemade Tagliatelle Pasta – Flat cut pasta

1 cup pastry flour

3 cups all-purpose flour

4-5 large eggs

extra virgin olive oil

Combine flours in a bowl, on a clean work surface make a pile of the flour; make a well in the middle large enough for the eggs but make sure the edges are big enough to hold in the eggs. With a fork; start to scramble the eggs being careful not to break the sides of the flour ring. Once scrambled you can start to incorporate a little flour at a time; again being careful not to let the eggs escape. This process can take just a couple of minutes. Once you are able to use your hands; get in there and make your dough ball, scrape up the bits on your work area and re-flour lightly so you have a place to knead the dough. Before you start put a small amount of evoo on both sides of your dough ball; if the dough starts getting too yellow add a little more flour. Knead until the dough is soft and pliable but not sticky. Cut into 2 or 4 equal parts and work with 1 at a time.

Roll the dough on a clean lightly floured surface, this will probably take you the longest part of the process, you need to get the dough very thin and into a rectangle of sorts. Once thin enough fold into thirds or even fourths; depending on how long your dough is. Cut off the uneven ends and then decide what kind (size) pasta you want for dinner. I tried to make mine the same width as my pinkie. slice folded pasta and unfold once cut and either hang or lay out on a lightly floured surface till ready to cook.

Ragu Bolognese

5 tbs extra virgin olive oil

3 tbs butter

1-2 carrots finely diced

1 onion finely diced

1 stalk celery finely diced

1-2 garlic pressed

1 lb ground veal or pork

1 lb ground beef

¼ lb pancetta or slab bacon

28 oz. can San Marzano tomato – crushed

1 cup milk

1 cup of red or white wine – I use what I have left over – if there is such a thing!

Kosher salt, freshly crack black pepper

Parmigiano-Reggiano grated

In a 6-8 quart heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter till melted. Add onion, celery, carrot and garlic and sweat over medium heat until the vegetables are translucent and soft but not browned. Add all the meat and combine with the vegetables on high heat stir continuously till the meat is browned. Add the tomatoes, milk and wine and simmer over medium-low heat for 1-2 hours. Season with salt and pepper; to taste; and remove from the heat.

Cook pasta in cold salted water until al dente and the pasta has risen to the top. Add cooked pasta to warmed Bolognese sauce toss till all pasta is coated and serve. Sorry I don’t have a picture of the final dish, we ate it immediately as it should be

Mangia Mangia!