A special pasta for special occasions. Last year I prepared it for Christmas day lunch
ingredients for 4 servings (cost about 7€ pp)
- 320 g spaghetti
- 40 g black truffle
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 litre hot water
- Salt
- 60 g butter
- 60 g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- 20 roasted hazelnuts, roughly crushed
- Coarse black pepper
As we have already seen, the risottata technique is the luxurious way to cook some pasta dishes. I think you understand that we prepare the pasta, just like the risotto. The only difference is that we do not toast the pasta, as this elaboration would destroy pasta’s starches.
So, in a cold pan we put half the amount of the butter with the garlic clove, whole, crushed and with the skin. We bring to heat. We don´t start with hot pan in order to protect the garlic and the butter´s proteins from burning.
When the garlic starts to become golden, we add a ladle of very hot and slightly salted water. Usually pasta risottata is made with stock, but the star ingredient of today’s dish (truffle) is so prime that we don´t want to cover it with stock aromas.
We continue the cooking of the pasta till the al dente point, adding very hot water, when needed and stirring frequently. It’s crucial not to let the pasta dry and to add boiling water before the drying point in order to preserve pasta starches.
When the pasta is ready, we add the rest of butter and we remove the pan from the heat. We add half the amount of the truffle, the crushed hazelnuts and the cheese and we start the procedure of “mantecare”, which means an intensive stirring, in order to create a creamy sauce.
We put in plates and we add on top the rest of the truffle, some tarragon leaves and coarse black pepper.
