Most of us don’t bother making our own pasta – after all, buying the dried version from the supermarket is just so easy. However, Gennaro Contaldo wants this to change.
For Contaldo, making your own pasta dough is simple, cheap and tasty – and this dish is the perfect place to start.
Tonnarelli is basically spaghetti but square instead of round. It’s quick to whip up, and a ‘cacio e pepe’ (cheese and pepper) sauce to go on top will have this meal on the table in no time.
Fresh tonnarelli pasta with cheese and black pepper
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Pasta machine
- Large frying pan
- Pestle and mortar
- Bowl
- Large saucepan
- Ladle
- Tongs
Ingredients
For the pasta dough
- 200 g Italian '00' pasta flour sifted
- 2 large free-range organic eggs
For the tonnarelli with Pecorino Romano and black pepper:
- 2 tbsp black peppercorns
- 160 g Pecorino Romano very finely grated, plus extra for sprinkling
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Make the pasta dough. Put the flour into a large mixing bowl or heap on a clean work surface. Make a well in the centre, add the eggs and mix well together to form a dough. Wrap in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or until required.
- Roll the pasta dough out to a thickness of about 3mm or to setting number four of your pasta machine. Feed the dough through the thick spaghetti attachment for your pasta machine. Cover the pasta with a damp dish towel and set aside while you make the sauce.
- Heat a large dry frying pan over a high heat and briefly toast the peppercorns. Transfer the peppercorns to a pestle and mortar and crush until fine. Put the crushed pepper back into the frying pan, but keep off the heat.
- Put the Pecorino cheese into a bowl and set aside.
- Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the tonnarelli pasta and cook for just under two minutes, until al dente. As the pasta begins to cook, scoop out a ladleful of the pasta water and add to the frying pan with the pepper, set over a medium heat.
- Take another couple of ladlefuls of pasta water and add the bowl with the Pecorino, mixing well until you obtain a creamy mixture.
- When the pasta is cooked, use a pair of tongs to transfer it to the frying pan. Increase the heat to high and cook for one minute. Remove the frying pan from the heat, add the cheesy mixture to the pasta and mix until well combined. Serve immediately with a sprinkling of grated Pecorino and some more freshly ground black pepper.
Nutrition
Gennaro’s Pasta Perfecto! by Gennaro Contaldo, photography by David Loftus, is published by Pavilion Books.
How to make Gennaro Contaldo’s penne with Trapanese-style peppers
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