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I had planned to make this with sardines - I mean, what is more Italian than pasta with sardines and olive oil? - but what I thought was a can of sardines turned out to be a can of smoked eels. It actually turned out even better than I could have imagined.
The oven dried tomatoes have had a near-permanent residence in my refrigerator; they're significantly cheaper than buying sun-dried tomatoes, even if they're not exactly the same. I decided to season this batch with sumac and truffle salt.
I had considered using more parsley in the pasta itself; visually, I could have had a Gorgonzola-type effect if I had doubled the quantity. But, I didn't want to overpower the dish for the sake of a pretty face. I think the balance is just right here.
Ingredients
2 cups flour, 00 grade Italian
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon dry parsley
1/4 cup oven dried tomatoes, or more to taste
6 ounces smoked eels, reserving oil
Directions
1. Using a blender equipped with dough hooks, mix the flour and salt together. Add eggs one at a time, breaking the yolks in the bowl as you do. Add olive oil. Blend until dough starts to pull away from the sides.
2. Knead dough and whatever dry components remain together by hand until fully combined. Roll into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rest for 15 minutes. If storing overnight in the refrigerator, allow to warm on the counter for 30 minutes before proceeding.
3. Start boiling a large pot of water and keep at boiling temperature.
4. Cut dough into 4 pieces, then wrap 3 of the pieces in the plastic wrap to keep them from drying out. Cut that portion in half, and form into a rectangle. Roll out as flat as possible using a rolling pin.
5. Using a pasta roller that's been dusted with flour, roll out the pasta into long sheets. Roll through at least 3 times, starting with the widest setting and gradually making it smaller. Add flour to pasta and pasta roller as needed to prevent sticking.
6. Form pasta into the desired shape. Ideally, use a pasta drying rack to hang the pasta (see photo for example). By the time you fill all the racks with pasta, the first rack will be dry enough to start cooking. If you don't have a pasta drying rack, lay pasta out on a baking sheet so the strands don't have a chance to stick together.
NOTE: do not add salt to the water! The pasta contains enough salt already.
7. Add pasta to the water one rack at a time. Give the pasta a swirl with the tongs to make sure it doesn't stick together while cooking. If not using a pasta rack, just make sure not to crowd the pot.
8. Cook for about 90 seconds, and extract pasta using tongs. NOTE: this technique is used to keep hot water in the pot, as opposed to the dry box method of pouring the pasta into a colander to drain.
9. Place pasta on a strainer to drip off excess water. I used cooling racks with a baking sheet underneath to catch the water. The prefect time to remove the pasta from the strainer is when the next batch of pasta is done cooking.
10. Repeat steps 6-9 until all the pasta is cooked.
11. Stir in oven dried tomatoes, drizzling some of the oil from the smoked eel can. If this is not available, use olive oil. Top with smoked eel filet. Top with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
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