Pappardelle in Red-Wine Substitute Carbone Sauce with Sausage

| By: Nina Vijayvargiya |

Home-made pappardelle is an experience of itself. You are drawn in by the magnificent softness and fluffiness of the pasta, brought together by this recipe’s unique integration of fine semolina into the dough mixture. This experience will bring your family closer together as you together knead and hand-roll the fine yellow colored dough, enjoy music, and together cut out the individual pappardelle to a beautiful shape. The rich and flavorful ingredients of onion, wine, and calabrian chiles combine together with a creamy tomato mixture to create the perfect personalized, elegant carbone sauce to enjoy with your family during quarantine. The sauce was based off a recipe, however, modifications to this recipe were made to personalize the taste.

Ingredients

Yield: 4 servings

For the Homemade Pappardelle:

• all-purpose flour - 2 cups + 2 tablespoons +

• Fine semolina - ⅓ cup

• 6 eggs: 3 full eggs + 3 egg yolks (keep at room temperature)

For the Carbone Spicy Rigatoni Vodka Sauce:

• 1 ½ Sliced onions

• Water, ¼ cup

• Hand-crushed fresh tomatoes, 14 ounces

• Salt, ½ tablespoon + a little more for seasoning

• Sugar, 1 tablespoon

• Olive oil, 1 ½ tablespoon

• Calabrian chili paste, 1 tablespoon

• Red wine, 1 ½ tablespoon

• Butter, 3 ½ tablespoons

• Heavy cream, 1 cup

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Cooking Instructions

For the Homemade Pappardelle:

1. Add the fine semolina and 1 ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour into a food processor and process the two ingredients together

2. In a separate bowl, blend the 6 eggs together

3. Add the egg mixture into the food processor containing the flour, and combine using the machine

4. Add a bit of flour to a kitchen countertop, then place the dough from the food processor onto the countertop

5. Turn out and knead the dough for 3 minutes, until the dough is even and silken

6. Tightly wrap the dough in saran wrap and leave it for on the counter top for 30 minutes

7. Cut the dough into four sections: leave three sections in the saran wrap.

8. Sprinkle a little bit of flour onto one piece of dough, roll out the dough, and once thin, fold the flattened dough into a square-cylinder like structure

9. Cut the dough into ⅘ inch wide pieces and unfold the pappardelle strands

10. Dust the pappardelle strands with flour and repeat steps 8-10 for the other two sections of the dough

11. Cook the pasta in a water-filled pot for 2-3 minutes, until the pasta becomes al-dente

For the Carbone Spicy Rigatoni Vodka Sauce:

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter over low heat, and subsequently add the water, salt to taste for seasoning, garlic, and the onions

2. Stir this mixture over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Make sure the onions are soft but not brown

3. During step 2, start step 3 in a separate frying pan: simmer the tomatoes, heavy cream, 1 ½ tablespoon butter, red wine, Calabrian chilli paste, olive oil, ½ tablespoon salt, sugar, collectively for 15 minutes

4. Add and stir the onion mixture from step 1-2 to the tomato based sauce prepared in step 3

5. Add the sauce to the pappardelle pasta in increments

Notes

1. Use of fine semolina to make the pappardelle pasta was an adjustment to more common recipes, which use semolina flour (the recipe was adjusted to be accessible during the pandemic, as semolina flour was unavailable at the local grocery store)

2. Use of red-wine in the carbone sauce instead of vodka was a modification showing creativity to fit the needs of my family, who do not have hard-liquor in the house. This modification was also a form of culinary preference for a family who enjoys the flavor of red wine in pasta sauces.

3. Optional: Sausage as an addition to the original carbone recipe; hence, it can be left out if vegetarian. This addition will make the sauce heartier and heavier.

4. Garlic was added as a culinary preference of my family

5. Calabrian chilli peppers can be found at Whole Foods, a local Italian grocery store, or Amazon

6. Substitute for Calabrian Chilli Peppers: 1 tablespoon red chilli flakes

7. One can substitute extra virgin olive oil for chilli olive oil, or can increase the amount of Calabrian Chilli Peppers if an extra spicy sauce is desired

8. The pappardelle pasta tastes the best when prepared fresh. However, the pasta can be prepared earlier in the day and left at room temperature, uncovered. The pasta dough can be refrigerated for 2 days or frozen for 4 weeks if kept in air-tight plastic bag in saran wrap

9. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-5 days