This is the fifth post in a series on making fresh pasta. Using Oretta Zanini De Vita’s Encyclopedia of Pasta [2009] as our guide, we examined pappardelle, toppe, cavatelli and maccarones inferrettati. Each of these shapes introduced a different dough or pasta making technique. I planned on ending this series with agnolotti, the magnificent Piedmontese filled pasta. But, logically, we should first explore another Piedmontese pasta, tajarin. Many agnolotti recipes use tajarin’s rich dough. Making tajarin also allows us to reference a wonderful Italian regional cookbook by Luciano De Giacomi entitled Nonna Genia’s Classic Langhe Cookbook [2007].
It is unlikely that you will find this opulent ratio of yolks to flour in a Langhe farmhouse. The tajarin recipe in Nonna Genia’s Classic Langhe Cookbook calls for 4 eggs to 5 cups of flour. Many food experts, including Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food, regard Nonna Genia as “The Bible of Piedmontese Cooking”. So if you choose to make tajarin with only a handful of eggs, you are in good company.
So why make tajarin with copious amounts of egg yolks? Taste. Pasta rich in egg yolks has a luxurious taste and texture. Consider that the standard large egg weighing 50 grams has a yolk that contains approximately 4.5 grams of fat. Increasing the number of yolks adds a significant amount of flavor to your pasta dough.
Making tajarin is not appreciably more difficult to make than a whole egg pasta. Because yolks, like whole eggs, vary in size, you may need to adjust the amount of flour and water that you use to create your dough. I use a local “00” flour because the results taste great and its fineness (thus increased overall surface area) helps to absorb liquid. Here is a recipe to make a little over a pound of tajarin.
- 300 grams Giusto’s Organic “00” Flour
- 12 egg yolks from large eggs
- Water as necessary
- Salt
The steps to make tajarin are similar to those set out in our examination of pappardelle. Other than using egg yolks in place of whole eggs, the major differences are how long you knead the dough and how you cut the pasta. I knead tajarin dough for 20 to 30 minutes. This effort produces a noodle with a wonderful, firm bite.
Tajarin is as narrow was pappardelle is wide. After rolling the dough through your home pasta machine’s penultimate setting (No. 6 on an Atlas 150), cut your pasta sheet into three equal pieces. Feed each sheet through a thin (e.g., 2 mm) cutting attachment made for your pasta machine.
Tajarin is as narrow was pappardelle is wide. After rolling the dough through your home pasta machine’s penultimate setting (No. 6 on an Atlas 150), cut your pasta sheet into three equal pieces. Feed each sheet through a thin (e.g., 2 mm) cutting attachment made for your pasta machine.
Using a pasta machine’s cutting attachment makes quick and easy work of creating noodles. If you are up for a bit of fun (and have the time), you can hand cut your tajarin. After dividing the pasta sheets into three pieces as described above, lightly flour the front and back of a piece and roll it maintaining the sheet’s width. With a very sharp knife, slice this roll into very thin ribbons approximately 1/16” (2 mm) in width. Unfurl and fluff the cut pasta, flour lightly and place on a tea towel. Cover the tajarin with another towel to prevent the pasta from becoming dry and brittle. Producing uniform, hand-cut tajarin takes practice, but, for me, there is something exciting about practicing and trying to perfect this skill.