Pasta Al Nero Di Seppia
This stuff takes a lot of squid ink - 1 tablespoon/1 sachet per egg. Allegedly. And the rest!
I wanted to make a tagliatelli version for a dinner party but I couldn't find a single source of pre-packaged squid ink in the whole of Edinburgh, so I tried squeezing my own from a half-dozen squids. Unfortunately none of them had anything in their body sacs, and there just wasn't anything like enough ink in their heads so the result was disappointingly anaemic.
I just followed my usual fettuccine recipe.
Bear in mind that a 1 egg mixture goes a looooong way when it's just being served as a side dish.
I had a go at using just egg yolks rather than whole eggs, but it turns out you need at least some egg whites to hold the dough together. If you're making a large enough quantity you could just use one egg and then add egg yolks as necessary.
Three egg yolks, 5oz semolina and about ½ a white worked quite well instead of the proportions in the recipe below, and the taste may have been slightly richer.
May have been.
I wanted to make a tagliatelli version for a dinner party but I couldn't find a single source of pre-packaged squid ink in the whole of Edinburgh, so I tried squeezing my own from a half-dozen squids. Unfortunately none of them had anything in their body sacs, and there just wasn't anything like enough ink in their heads so the result was disappointingly anaemic.
I just followed my usual fettuccine recipe.
Bear in mind that a 1 egg mixture goes a looooong way when it's just being served as a side dish.
I had a go at using just egg yolks rather than whole eggs, but it turns out you need at least some egg whites to hold the dough together. If you're making a large enough quantity you could just use one egg and then add egg yolks as necessary.
Three egg yolks, 5oz semolina and about ½ a white worked quite well instead of the proportions in the recipe below, and the taste may have been slightly richer.
May have been.
Tagliatelli Al Nero Di Seppia
ingredient pasta staple fish
Serves 4 as a side dish
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 1 level teaspoon/1 5g sachet squid ink
- 4oz semolina
- a drizzle of olive oil
- salt - be generous
Make a well in the semolina and beat in the egg, the squid ink and a little olive oil
(this gets pretty messy - everything the ink touches turns black so expect a lot of cleaning).
Roll out the pasta, slice into tagliatellies or linguinies and hang over a clothes horse or similar until you're ready for them.
It's easier to handle them if they are a little dried out.
Cook for about 4 minutes in oiled water til al dente.
Lift out into a colander using spaghetti forks rather than pouring if you want to avoid the strands tangling up too much.
Roll out the pasta, slice into tagliatellies or linguinies and hang over a clothes horse or similar until you're ready for them.
It's easier to handle them if they are a little dried out.
Cook for about 4 minutes in oiled water til al dente.
Lift out into a colander using spaghetti forks rather than pouring if you want to avoid the strands tangling up too much.
This pasta also seems to be very stretchy, so when you hang it up to dry after you've cut it, make the lengths a bit shorter.
I doubt if it would get much stronger, even with the addition of more squid ink, though you could try: some recipes I've seen suggest a Tablespoon (3 teaspoons) of squid ink. Which is an awful lot more - good luck trying to wash that off your hands!
I imagine this would work best with a delicate creamy sauce, say shrimp with cream and garlic, or crabmeat with a light creamy tomato sauce. Or this?
I quite like the sound of this zucchini with saffron too.