The whole wheat tagliatelle with escarole and cheese fondue combines different textures and flavors… a must-try for any tagliatelle lover! Find this and many more recipes with pictures on the Giallozafferano App (in English) http://itunes.apple.com/app/giallozafferano-recipes/id384387249?mt=8
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First of all, make the pasta dough using only whole wheat flour: you don’t need to sift it or it will lose the fibre content! Make an indentation in the middle and add 3 eggs – I’m using medium eggs. Here we are, the ingredients have come together: now continue to knead on a work surface. Scrape the dough from your hands and knead until the dough is nice and smooth. Don’t worry if you find it hard to work with: after resting, it will soften up. That’s it, wrap in cling film and allow to rest for at least half an hour.
Soak the raisins in lukewarm water, wash the escarole and roughly cut into strips. If you don’t like the bitter taste of escarole, you can use chards for example, milder in flavour; on the contrary, if you love strong flavours, you can try it out with turnip greens.
Perfect, now sauté in oil with a clove of garlic. You can leave the garlic whole, I’ve cut it in half, or crush it; if whole, it can be removed when cooked. In the meantime, toast the almonds over a low heat, keeping a close eye on them so they don’t burn. The almonds should turn light golden brown. They are starting to brown, as you can see, it’s time to take them out of the pan. Once the garlic is golden brown, remove from the pan and add the escarole: cover with a lid, to speed up the cooking process. The escarole has softened: make sure there’s no liquid left. Add salt, pepper and the raisins, that have been drained. That’s it, turn off the heat and move on to the whole wheat tagliatelle.
Roll out the dough, not too thin, at least 1 millimetre or more, because the tagliatelle should be firm to the bite. Divide the dough into 4-5 portions, at least 3 ½-5 ⅓ oz (100-150 g) each, pat them flat and run through a pasta machine, gradually reducing the width of the rollers. So pat the dough flat and run it through the widest setting: dust the dough with flour each time, especially at the beginning.
Switch to the tagliatelle cutter and lay the noodles on a pasta drying rack, so that they dry and maintain their shape.
I’m making the cheese fondue: heat the milk, meanwhile make the roux, the thickening agent of the béchamel sauce, to which milk and taleggio cheese will be added. Start with the butter; once melted, add the flour; stir quickly to remove any lumps until the roux turns light brown, then pour in the milk. When it returns to a boil, cook over a low heat until thickened, stirring constantly, then add salt, pepper and grated nutmeg.
The béchamel sauce has thickened. Stir, turn off the heat and add the taleggio cheese; stir until the cheese has completely melted. Add the coarse salt to the boiling water; the pasta takes just 2 or 3 minutes to cook. Add a bit of the cheese fondue to the escarole and a ladleful of the pasta cooking water, that I reserved before draining; this is rich in starch, so it will make the sauce thicker. Toss gently, to avoid breaking up the tagliatelle, and add more cheese fondue. And while I’m plating up, let’s see together the ingredients needed for this recipe!
Ingredients
For 4 servings
For the whole wheat pasta dough
– 2 ½ cups (300 g) of whole wheat flour
– 3 medium eggs
For the escarole
– 1 lb (500 g) of escarole
– 2 ¼ tbsp (20 g) of raisins
– 1 clove of garlic
– a little extra virgin olive oil
– 1 pinch of salt
– pepper to taste
For the cheese fondue
– 1 ¼ cups (300 ml) of fresh whole milk
– ¼ stick (30 g) of butter
– ¼ cup (30 g) of flour
– 7 oz (200 g) of taleggio cheese
– 1 pinch of salt
– grated nutmeg, to taste
– pepper to taste
For garnishing
– 1/6 cup (20 g) of slivered almonds