Towards the end of the first lockdown I was asked if I wanted to run the kitchen at Clay in Auckland. I was going to be by myself cooking whatever I liked for a month before going back down to Wellington to Rita. I said yes, then no, then yes – I was unsure I could do it.
The dishes needed to come together relatively quickly during service. Like this super-simple spaghetti – the key is getting the balance right between sweet, fat, salt and the acid, so be sure to taste and adjust as you need. It’s worth making the pasta if you can – but does also work well with dried pasta.
Store-bought fried shallots work great here too – just blitz them into a crumb first.
Spaghetti with shallots
Egg pasta:
125g 00 or pastry flour
50g fine semolina
165g yolks (about 12 eggs)
Sauce:
10 shallots, plus fried shallots to serve
1 glug extra virgin olive oil
200ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp red-wine vinegar
handful parsley
parmesan
What to do
1. To make the pasta dough, combine the flour and fine semolina in a large bowl. Create a well in the centre, add the yolks and mix to combine. Knead the dough for about 5-6 minutes until it becomes smooth. It may need some additional flour if it is too sticky or soft. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until required.
2. To roll the pasta in a pasta maker, divide dough into manageable pieces and roll from the biggest setting working down. You’ll need to fold the dough onto itself a few times until you get nice even edges. Continue to roll until you get to about 2 on most domestic machines. If your pasta maker has a cutter attachment, use the spaghetti setting. If not, cut from dough sheets to about 20cm long and to preferred width – to do this roll up sheets and cut with a sharp knife. The thinner the better. Hang noodles to dry a little while you cook the shallots.
3. Peel and finely slice shallots (use a mandolin if you have one) and add to a pan with olive oil on medium low heat. Once shallots begin to soften (7-8 minutes) add chicken stock (or vegetable stock), butter and reduce. Once it starts to thicken, taste and season with salt and pepper. Keep adding salt to suit your taste, then add vinegar and taste again. When you’re happy with the flavour, remove from the heat and drop the spaghetti into a large pot of boiling salted water. Fresh pasta cooks quickly, around 2 minutes, so keep an eye on it.
4. Remove pasta and add to the shallots, with the addition of a small ladle of pasta water. Stir to combine, add grated parmesan and chopped parsley. Once the sauce is nicely emulsified, transfer to a warm plate with some more parsley, parmesan and sprinkle with fried shallots.
Rita
89 Aro Street
Aro Valley, Wellington
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