Tajarin Noodles with Bra Sausage Sauce

Tajarin noodles with Bra sausage sauce

Persons: Difficulty: Cooking time: 6/8 hard 1 hour and half

The fine-cut “tajarin” are the piedmontese version of tagliatelle. They are made with tender wheat bread flour and egg yolks. Usually there are 18-20 yolks per kilo, but in this recipe there can be as many as 40, according to an old bourgeois custom. The noodles must traditionally be made by hand only, although they can also be machine-cut. The art of cutting them is especially important because tajarin must be very fine, almost like angel hair pasta. Usually they are served with a meat sauce. In this case, in the place of the meat we use Bra sausage, which is made from fresh beef and pork lard and to be eaten within two days’ time. This sausage is excellent eaten raw, as an appetizer. It is the only Italian sausage made with beef.

INGREDIENTS:

For the pasta: For the sauce:

 300g 00-grade wheat flour 200g Bra sausage  12 egg yolks ½ onion, ½ celery stalk 1 carrot

500g fresh tomatoes, peeled and strained 1 sprig rosemary extra virgin olive oil, salt

PREPARATION:

For the pasta: On a bread board, mound the flour in a cone shape with an indentation at the top. Pour the egg yolks into this cavity and start mixing with your hands, slowly at first and then more energetically until the flour has absorbed all egg. When the dough is firm, smooth and elastic, roll out as thin as possible using a rolling pin, or the machine. The dough is then left to dry; the time is determined by the amount of humidity present in the air. When it has dried but is still elastic, roll it up and cut into very narrow strips with a knife. The tajarin are ready at this point; separate them and scatter them around the board to dry further. They are then ready to be cooked in a large pot of salted boiling water. As soon as the water comes to a second boil, drain the pasta. Serve with the meat sauce.

For Bra sausage meat sauce: Finely chop the onion, celery, carrot and rosemary; sauté in a pan with extra virgin olive oil. When the onion is golden, add the crumbled sausage meat, mix and continue breaking it up, let the liquid evaporate. When the sausage starts to sizzle and brown, add the strained tomatoes. Cook for an hour and a half over low heat.