serves
4
prep
1 hour
cook
20 minutes
difficulty
Mid
serves
4
people
preparation
1
hour
cooking
20
minutes
difficulty
Mid
level
Ingredients
- 330 g pasta flour
- 60 g semolina flour
- 6 g salt
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 12 g squid ink (see Note)
- coarse semolina for dusting
For the sauce
- 4 mandarins
- 420 ml mandarin juice
- fine zest of 2 mandarins
- 100 g butter
- 40 g small capers
- ¾ cup curry leaves
- river salt and white pepper
Resting time 30 minutes
Instructions
To make the pasta dough, sift the dry ingredients onto a bench top, making a well in the centre. Whisk together the eggs, yolks and squid ink and pour into the well. Slowly start incorporating the flour into the egg mixture until the dough comes together. Once together, knead for about another 5 minutes or until it starts looking smooth. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set aside to rest for 30 minutes. The dough can also be made the day before; just make sure you take it out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature before you begin rolling.
To roll the pasta sheets you first need to make sure you have a nice amount of bench space and a good spot to attach the pasta machine. Lightly flour your work space and divide the dough into 2–4 portions to make it easier to work with (make sure you re-wrap the waiting portions of dough). Use a rolling pin to flatten out the dough so it fits between the widest settings of the pasta machine. Roll it through once, dust off any excess flour and then place it on the bench with the long side towards you. Lift the right edge and fold the right-hand third of the dough inwards, over the centre, before folding the left-hand third across to cover it. Give the folded dough another flattening with the rolling pin and a ninety-degree turn, and then feed it through again. Repeat this step a couple of times until the dough has smooth edges and begins to look silky. Once you are satisfied, start rolling the dough through the machine without folding, narrowing the settings by 1 each time you roll it through. Continue until you reach the desired thickness. You don’t want the pasta too fine as it won’t stand up to the flavours of this dish. Cut the pasta sheet into appropriate tagliatelle–sized lengths, perhaps 8-12cm, and layer the lengths on a tray sprinkled with coarse semolina, throwing a little more semolina on top of each layer. Cover with a tea towel before repeating these steps with the remaining dough.
Once all the sheets are rolled, either pass them through a tagliatelle cutter on your pasta machine or fold each sheet in half and cut by hand. Be warned — this is a very soft dough and will need large amounts of coarse semolina strewn around to prevent sticking. Lay the cut tagliatelle out on semolina, too, until ready to cook.
To make your sauce, remove the zest from 2 mandarins. Use a knife to skin all of the mandarins and then, holding each in your hand one by one over a large mixing bowl and using a paring knife, cut out all the segments, squeezing any remaining juice from the mandarin frame. Strain, setting aside the segments and reserving the juice to use as part of the measured amount.
Put the mandarin juice and zest together in a saucepan and slowly reduce by half.
Put a large saucepan of salted water on a high heat and bring to a rolling boil.
Place a large frying pan over high heat. Add three quarters of the butter, the capers and a little seasoning. Swirl around gently and wait until the butter starts to foam and you can hear it sizzling. At this stage lower all your pasta gently into the boiling water. Make sure the strands don’t stick together. Use a pair of tongs to carefully jiggle the pasta around in the water.
Quickly turn back to your frying pan, add in the curry leaves and give the pan another swirl. Keep cooking until you see the curry leaves becoming completely crisp. Now add in the reduced juice. Hopefully at this stage the pasta will be ready. If not, take the frying pan off the heat for few moments to let the pasta finish cooking.
Once the pasta is ready, add it to the sauce along with a little of the cooking water. Give the pasta a few more minutes on the stove, stirring and adding in the remaining butter. Test for seasoning. Add the mandarin segments, stir and serve immediately.
Note
• Squid ink is available from fishmongers.
• The squid ink dough can be quite soft and sticky. Just be extra careful when handling it and use plenty of coarse semolina when storing it.
• I suggest using a large, firm juicy mandarin for this recipe, such as a daisy or phoenix.
Photography by Sharyn Cairns. Styling by Lee Blaylock. Food preparation by Tiffany Page.
Read our with Tama. This recipe is from our online column, . View previous .
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
