Saffron Tagliatelle with Spiced Butter

This recipe really surprised me. I was not at all sure what it was going to taste like - I mean, come on, cinnamon and pasta? But it was fantastic. And quick - if you use pre-made pasta and just make the sauce, everything comes together in about 15 minutes. I do eventually want to make the pasta from scratch, but that requires buying a pasta machine which will have to wait until I find one. If you have a pasta machine already and feel up to making the pasta, please drop me a note and let me know how it went if you are so inclined?

My dinner guest last night is a very meat-and-potatoes eater and gave this Moroccan-influenced recipe a hearty two thumbs up. For the record. ^_^

As usual, the ingredient list is from the book and the observations and alterations are my own.

Saffron Tagliatelle with Spiced Butter
(p. 260, Plenty)

Serves 4

For the Pasta
2 tsp saffron threads
4 tbsp boiling water
4 medium eggs
4 tbsp olive oil
15 1/2 oz (3 1/2 cups) "00" pasta flour, plus extra for rolling
1 tsp ground turmeric

Spiced Butter
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4 tbsp olive oil
8 shallots, finely chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp chile flakes
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
black pepper

Garnish
2/3 cup pine nuts, toasted and roughly chopped
4 tbsp roughly chopped mint
4 tbsp roughly chopped parsley

Yotam's instructions to make the pasta:

"Place the saffron in a small bowl with the boiling water and leave to infuse for at least 10 minutes. Then add the eggs and oil and beat to mix. Place the flour and the turmeric in the bowl of a food processor and add the saffron mix. Blend until a crumbly dough is formed. You may need a little more oil or flour to adjust the dough to the required consistency - neither sticky nor very dry.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour, tip out the dough and knead into a ball. Work for a few minutes, adding more flour if you need until it becomes silky and soft. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes, or up to a day.

Divide the dough into two pieces. Keep one well covered. Using a rolling pin, flatten the other piece into a thin rectangle. Set the pasta machine to its widest setting and pass the dough through. Continue rolling the pasta, narrowing the setting by a notch every time, until you get to the lowest setting.

Fold up the pasta sheet twice along its length, sprinkling some flour between the layers. Use a large knife to cut long strips that are 3/4 inch wide. Hang them on the back of a chair to dry for 10 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough."

To make the sauce and finish the dish:

Assemble the ingredients:

A few alterations: I chose to work with the pre-made pasta option, and so had to amend my pasta cooking time to what the packaging said, rather than Yotam's instructions for the fresh pasta. I guessed on the amount required as there wasn't really a weight of dried pasta listed in the recipe and went with 8 of the little bird's nests that were in my package of tagliatelle - in hindsight that probably should have been 10, I think, as there was a generous amount of sauce sitting at the bottom of the bowl when I was done combining everything and I was taught that well-presented pasta should be dressed but not sitting in a wealth of unused sauce. Use your best judgement and preferences to decide how much pasta you want to make. I was out of shallots and so substituted half a small Spanish (white) onion, figuring its mild flavour would work well in the dish. I also chose to substitute the pine nuts for pecans as I had the pecans on hand.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. If you are using pre-made pasta, add a generous pinch of saffron to the water in the pot, and enjoy watching the colour stream off the saffron threads for a moment. It's really cool.

Once the water is boiling, add your pasta and cook - fresh pasta requires 2-3 minutes, and pre-made pasta should be cooked according to the package directions. My pre-made pasta took 8-10 minutes to reach al dente, which was perfectly timed for making the butter, so I put it on and then got to work making the sauce.

To make the spiced butter, place the butter and oil in a frying pan and melt the butter over medium to medium-high heat.

While the butter is melting, chop your herbs for the garnish if you haven't done that already.

Once the butter has melted, add the diced shallots and cook gently for roughly 10 minutes, until the shallots start to soften and the butter starts to brown.

Foamy with a chance of onions...

Browning butter requires some patience and vigilance towards the end, as it's easy to go from browned to burnt and you can't go back once it's burnt. When the foaming starts to subside, start paying closer attention and stir more frequently - things will start to turn a golden colour and smell nutty. That is what you are going for. Once you have achieved that, add the spices, the salt, and some pepper and give everything a thorough stir. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Once the pasta has finished cooking, drain in a colander and then put into a large-ish bowl. Pour the spiced butter over the hot pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the chopped nuts and the herbs and toss again to combine.

Serve out and enjoy.

I found that the pasta was spicy enough that I appreciated the cucumber and red pepper I had served as a side as a palate cleanser between bites. If you are cooking this for people who don't like spice, I'd omit the chile flakes and maybe dial the cayenne down to 1/2 tsp. I don't think I'd eliminate the cayenne completely though.

Unexpected, but tasty!