Fresh Tomato & Basil Tagliatelle Recipe

Tagliatelle

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the white 00 flour, semolina and salt. Place the flour onto a pasta board or clean surface and make a well in the middle of the flour with your fist or the bottom of your mixing bowl that is deep and wide enough to hold the eggs.
2. Place your eggs into the middle of the flour well and whisk together with a fork. When you’re whisking your eggs, slowly combine the flour from the edges of where the eggs are sitting and whisk through with the eggs until a thick, custard-like paste forms. When you can no longer whisk the flour and egg with a fork, bring the flour from the edges into the well with your hands or a pasta scraper and begin to knead the dough into a ball.
3. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until a firm smooth dough ball forms that is moist and not sticky. Every dough is different so you will need to go by feel. 
4. Place your dough into a bowl and cover well with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Leave to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes. 
5. Uncover your dough and cut it into quarters. Take one quarter of the dough and cover the remainder so it does not dry out. 
6. Place your dough onto a lightly floured pasta board or bench surface. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a rectangular shape that is 3mm thick.
7. Roll the dough through a pasta machine on the widest setting (number 7 on my pasta machine). Fold the dough in half and then flatten with your rolling pin. Repeat this step. 
8. Roll the dough through a narrower setting and fold the dough in half for the second time (number 4 or 5 on my pasta machine). Repeat this step twice. 
9. Finally, roll the dough on the second narrowest setting (number 2 on my pasta machine) until you have a long rectangular pasta sheet that is roughly 10cm wide and 1mm thick. Dust the pasta sheet with flour, lay out onto a floured surface and leave the dough to slightly cure for 5 - 10 minutes. Repeat this process with the remainder of the dough. 
10. Lightly flour your pasta sheet then gently fold it in half. Continue to fold the dough in half until you can’t fold it anymore. Using a knife, cut the sheet into ribbons roughly 8mm wide. Unravel the pasta sheet to release the ribbons. 
11. Curl the pasta into a nest and dust with semolina flour. 

Tomato and Basil Sauce

1. On a low heat in the Ninja ZeroStick deep dish pan, bring the olive oil to heat. Add the garlic cloves and cook for 2 - 3 minutes or until they begin to slightly brown. With a slotted spoon, remove the garlic from the olive oil and set to the side. 
2. In the same pan on the same heat, add the cherry tomatoes with ¾ of the basil leaves and a large pinch of salt and pepper and cook for 15 minutes on a low simmer. The cherry tomatoes will burst open and a sauce-like texture will form. Stir occasionally. 
3. While the sauce is cooking, fill the Ninja ZeroStick pot with heavily salted water and bring to the boil. If using fresh pasta, cook for 2 minutes or until very al dente. If using packet pasta, follow the instructions on the back of the pasta packet for al dente pasta and drain your pasta 2 minutes before the suggested cooking time as it will continue to cook when it’s stirred through the sauce. Reserve 1/2 - 1 cup pasta water. 
4. Add the pasta to the sauce and slowly incorporate the pecorino romano and pasta water until a glossy and silky texture forms. Finish off with an extra sprinkling of pecorino romano and fresh basil leaves.