Mushroom XO linguini, Cantabrian anchovies, 36-month-aged parmesan velouté, crispy leeks
Pasta dough
Ingredients:
250g durum wheat 00 pasta flour
2 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
5g olive oil
1g fine salt
Method:
Place the flour on a board or in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it. Beat the eggs with a fork until smooth.
Using the tips of your fingers, mix the eggs with the flour, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined.
Knead the pieces of dough together– with a bit of work and some love and attention they’ll all bind together to give you one big, smooth lump of dough!
Once you’ve made your dough you need to knead and work it with your hands to develop the gluten in the flour, otherwise your pasta will be flabby and soft when you cook it, instead of springy and al dente. There’s no secret to kneading. You just have to bash the dough about a bit with your hands, squashing it into the table, reshaping it, pulling it, stretching it, squashing it again. Stop when your pasta starts to feel smooth and silky instead of rough and floury.
Wrap the dough in clingfilm and put it in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes– make sure the clingfilm covers it well or it will dry out.
To roll your pasta: first of all, if you haven't got a pasta machine it's not the end of the world! All the Nonna’s in Italy roll pasta with their trusty rolling pins and they wouldn't even consider having a pasta machine in the house! The main problem you'll have is getting the pasta thin enough to work with. The way around this is to roll lots of small pieces of pasta rather than a few big ones. You'll be rolling your pasta into a more circular shape than the long rectangular shapes you'll get from a machine.
If using a machine to roll your pasta, make sure it's clamped firmly to a clean work surface before you start (use the longest available work surface you have).
Dust your work surface with some Tipo 00 flour, take a lump of pasta dough the size of a large orange and press it out flat with your fingertips. Set the pasta machine at its widest setting and roll the lump of pasta dough through it. Lightly dust the pasta with flour if it sticks at all.
Click the machine down a setting and roll the pasta dough through again. Fold the pasta in half, click the pasta machine back up to the widest setting and roll the dough through again. Repeat this process five or six times. It might seem like you're getting nowhere, but in fact you're working the dough, and once you've folded it and fed it through the rollers a few times, you'll feel the difference. It'll be smooth as silk and this means you're making really good pasta.
Now it's time to roll the dough out properly, working it through all the settings on the machine, from the widest down to around the narrowest. Lightly dust both sides of the pasta with a little flour every time you run it through.
When you've got down to the narrowest setting, to give yourself a tidy sheet of pasta, fold the pasta in half lengthways, then in half again, then in half again once more until you've got a square-ish piece of dough. Turn it 90 degrees and feed it through the machine at the widest setting. As you roll it down through the settings for the last time, you should end up with a lovely rectangular silky sheet of dough with straight sides.
Whether you're rolling by hand or by machine you'll need to know when to stop. If you're making pasta like tagliatelle, lasagne or linguini you'll need to roll the pasta down to between the thickness of a beer mat and a playing card; if you're making a stuffed pasta like ravioli or tortellini, you'll need to roll it down slightly thinner or to the point where you can clearly see your hand or lines of newsprint through it.
Once you've rolled your pasta the way you want it, you need to shape or cut it straight away. Pasta dries much quicker than you think, so whatever recipe you're doing, don't leave it more than a minute or two before cutting or shaping it. You can lay over a damp clean tea towel which will stop it from drying.
Crispy Leeks
Ingredients:
250g leeks, whites only
4% table salt
Neutral oil for frying
Method:
Finely slice the leek long ways into what chefs call fine julienne.
Add salt to 4% of the total weight of sliced leeks.
Leavefor 30 minutes then wash off all the salt and squeeze dry using a dish cloth
No liquid should come out when you twist the towel round and squeeze as tightly as you can.
Once dry, deep fry the leeks at 180C in neutral oil until light golden brown. Stir the leeks continuously to help the colouration be even.
The leeks will continue to colour for a few seconds after they have been removed from the oil.
Mushroom XO sauce
Ingredients:
100ml water brought to the boil
10g dried shiitake
100g king oyster mushrooms
100g neutral oil (vegetable or light olive oil)
250g button mushrooms
50g garlic peeled and chopped
50g ginger peeled and chopped
50g red chilli deseeded & chopped
50g sherry vinegar
50g soy sauce
50g truffle paste (optional)
Method:
Finely dice the king oyster mushrooms then add oil to a large frying pan and cook until golden brown. It's important to get a bit of umami rich colour on the mushrooms at this point.
Strain off using a sieve but reserve the oil and the pan as we’ll be using it again shortly.
Place the chopped garlic, ginger and chillies in a food processor and blend on the pulse setting until it resembles a paste. You can finely chop everything but this makes life a little easier. Reserve this chilli paste.
Using the same food processor (there is no need to clean it as everything is going in together) blend the button mushrooms to create a mushroom paste. Reserve this too.
Add the oil back into the pan and add the chilli paste and a pinch of salt. Cook this on a medium heat for a few minutes allowing the paste to soften and the flavour to mellow.
Add the blended button mushrooms and the golden brown king oyster dice to the pan. Cook this for a few more minutes.
Meanwhile dice the shiitake mushrooms which have been rehydrating in the water. You can add the diced shiitake back into the shiitake stock as both will be added at the same time a little later.
Once the mushroom and chilli mix in the pan has been simmering for a few minutes, deglaze the bottom of the pan with sherry vinegar.
Add the shiitake stock, diced shiitake and soy sauce. Cook for around an hour on a low heat. Finish with optional black truffle paste.
36-month-aged parmesan velouté
Mushroom & Leek Stock
100g Dried mushroom trim
200g Leek trimmings-washed
Cover with water and bring to boil then simmer for 10 minutes
Veloute Ingredients
Parmesan rind trim
50g sliced shallots
50ml dry vermouth
250ml mushroom stock
250ml double cream
100g finely micro-planed parmesan
Method
Sweat shallots with a pinch of salt in a small amount of oil until very soft. This is bringing out the sweetness of the shallot and taking away the harsh raw onion flavour.
Add the parmesan rind and cook a little longer but not so long that the parmesan rind starts to colour as this will add the flavour of toasted cheese to the sauce which we don’t want.
Add the vermouth and reduce to compot where there is almost no liquid left at all.
Add the mushroom and leek stock then reduce this by half.
Add cream and bring back to the boil boil; simmer for 2 minutes.
Pass through a fine sieve.
Blend in the finely grated parmesan
Add more parmesan as necessary and adjust the seasoning with salt if necessary.
If you question if it needs more parmesan- it definitely does!