FETTUCCINE WITH RICOTTA CHEESE AND WALNUTS

Entree - Vegetarian

For the dough:
300 gr. Italian semola rimacinata (milled twice)
300 gr. Italian 00 flour
6 extra large eggs

For the sauce:
18 whole walnuts, roughly chopped
8 oz. ricotta cheese
1/3 cup milk
Italian extra virgin olive oil
Chopped fresh sage (4-5 leaves)
Italian seas salt

To minimize cleaning arrange flour in a bowl, create a “well” in the middle and place eggs in it. Working with a fork, mix flour and eggs enough to be able to transfer “crumbles” on a lightly floured surface without messing your kitchen too much. Knead, until you obtain a smooth dough, at least 10 minutes: the time depends also on the quantity of pasta you're preparing. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Flour gets “stressed” when you knead it and if you don't allow it to rest, it will compromise the results.

While your dough rests, prepare the sauce.

On medium-high heat, warm olive oil in a non-stick skillet and sautee sage and walnuts for a couple of minutes. Dilute ricotta with milk, then stir it in the skillet and simmer for 5-10 more minutes. Set aside.

Cover your working surface (usually I work on my table) with an old but clean tablecloth, one of those you won't use anymore.

Cut a slice from the dough and flatten it so that it will fit through the rollers of a hand-cranked pasta machine. Set rollers at widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 2 or 3 times, folding and turning pasta until it's smooth. Arrange the pasta sheet on the cloth. Roll pasta sheets through the machine, decreasing the setting, one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), passing all sheets through the same notch before decreasing it, until you reach your desired thickness. Let pasta dry for about 10-15 minutes, flipping it once or twice.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Now feed your dough through the fettuccine attachment and spread them on the cloth, to allow a little more drying time.

When water boils, add salt then your handmade fettuccine and stir immediately.

Pasta will cook in about 2-3 minutes, depending on the thickness. Pull it out of the cooking water and transfer it directly into the skillet with sauce, toss to coat on medium heat, adding a few tbsp of cooking water, if needed.

This recipe serves 6

- In the photos you'll actually see pappardelle, you can easily obtain them by loosely rolling the sheets and cutting them wider than fettuccine (about 1" wide). Unroll immediately and set to dry.
- In a more humid climate you may need more than 10-15 minutes of drying time before you cut into fettuccine.
- Given the presence of ricotta, I would not use Parmigiano, but that's up to you.