Black Truffle Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. cooked veal tongue
• 1 black truffle
• 2/3 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1 egg
• 7 1/2 cups meat broth
• salt and pepper

Directions:

• Cut the tongue and truffle into julienne strips.
• Make a dough with the flour and egg and roll into a thin sheet  -- see note.
• Cut into tagliatelle and leave to dry
• Boil the broth, add the tagiatelle and cook until al dente.
• Add the tongue and truffle, seaon and remove from the heat and serve.

Note -- Homemade Pasta:

In Italy, fresh pasta is made at home with plain (all-purpose) flour and eggs.  Water and oil are never added.  Semolina flour is used only in commercial dry pasta.

Because flour reacts in different ways depending not only on its quality but on the climate where it is being used, it would be misleading to give exact measurements for pasta dough recipes.  I hav given the amounts that work for me my in my kitchen in Chianti, using the type of lour we have in Toscana.  You will have to adjust these to your particular situation.

In general, 1 large egg should be used for every 3 1/4 oz / 100 grams of flour.  Because the specific weight of ingredients varies, it is better to calculate by weight rather than by cups.

Making fresh pata is not as complicated as it may sound.  IT does require a certain skill and that will come esaily with practice.  Here I have tried to describe the process in a simple, accessible and workable way.

Heap the flour onto the work surface.  Make a well in the center and break the egss in to it.  With a fork, begin to mix the ggs with the flour, little by little absorbing the surrounding flour.

When the eggs have been absorbed, begin to work the meixture with your finger tips until it forms a paste,  Then knead with the heel of your hands, working in this way for about 10 minutes until the dough has formed a ball that is smooth, elastic and not too hard.

Sprinkle a light veil of flour ove the work surface and flatten the ball of dough with a rolling pin, beginning from the center and rolling out into the shape of a circle.  Reapeat the rolling-out operation until the sheet of dough is paper-thin.  During this operation it is important to keep the work surface floured in order that the pasta does not stick.  To do this, lift the dough off the work surface by rolling it around the pin, so that you can lightly dust the surface beneath with flour.

When the pasta sheet has been rolled out to the desired thinness, cut into the the shape required by the recipe, i.e. tagliatelle, ravioli, etc.

The Renaissance of Italian Cooking
Lorenza De' Medici
Page 122