flipTajarin al burro e salvia — fine tagliatelle with 30 egg yolks, butter and sage
Tajarin al burro e salvia — fine tagliatelle with 30 egg yolks, butter and sage
Why this dish? Rita ate little but always prioritized quality, and every time she returned to Turin she rediscovered "the Piedmontese flavors of her childhood." Tajarin, pasta made with egg yolks, is THE primo of her native Piedmont — and the egg, which she dissected in the lab to track nerve growth factor, was also the food at her table.
Extremely fine tagliatelle, kneaded with a shower of egg yolks that make them golden and silky, barely coated with brown butter and sage. Absolute simplicity where everything depends on the freshness of the eggs.
You see, in the Piedmont of my childhood, a housewife was judged by the number of yolks she dared put in her pasta — and we were not stingy. I spent my life bent over eggs, under the microscope as at the table; nothing moves me as much as that golden color the yolk gives to flour. Roll the dough so thin you can read a newspaper through it, cut it with a knife, and let butter just browned with sage coat it: nothing more is needed. Quality, my friend, never quantity — a rule I kept until a hundred years old.
- •Soft wheat flour — one pound (pasta base)
- •Very fresh egg yolks — about thirty (richness and color)
- •Mountain butter — a good knob (sauce)
- •Sage leaves — a few (aroma)
- •Parmigiano or Grana — to taste (final umami)
Tajarin al burro e salvia — fine tagliatelle with 30 egg yolks, butter and sage
Extremely fine tagliatelle, kneaded with a shower of egg yolks that make them golden and silky, barely coated with brown butter and sage. Absolute simplicity where everything depends on the freshness of the eggs.
Why this dish? Rita ate little but always prioritized quality, and every time she returned to Turin she rediscovered "the Piedmontese flavors of her childhood." Tajarin, pasta made with egg yolks, is THE primo of her native Piedmont — and the egg, which she dissected in the lab to track nerve growth factor, was also the food at her table.
You see, in the Piedmont of my childhood, a housewife was judged by the number of yolks she dared put in her pasta — and we were not stingy. I spent my life bent over eggs, under the microscope as at the table; nothing moves me as much as that golden color the yolk gives to flour. Roll the dough so thin you can read a newspaper through it, cut it with a knife, and let butter just browned with sage coat it: nothing more is needed. Quality, my friend, never quantity — a rule I kept until a hundred years old.
Ingredients (period version)
- Soft wheat flour — one pound (pasta base)
- Very fresh egg yolks — about thirty (richness and color)
- Mountain butter — a good knob (sauce)
- Sage leaves — a few (aroma)
- Parmigiano or Grana — to taste (final umami)
Ingredients
- Type 00 flour — 400 g (pasta base)
- Egg yolks — 12 to 15 (richness and color)
- Butter — 80 g (sauce)
- Fresh sage leaves — 8 to 10 (aroma)
- Grated Parmigiano Reggiano — 60 g (final umami)
- Salt — 1 pinch (seasoning)
Method
- Pour the flour into a fountain, add the yolks and a pinch of salt; knead for 10 minutes until a firm and smooth dough forms, let rest for 30 minutes under a cloth.
- Roll out very thinly with a rolling pin (or machine), flour, roll the sheet and cut into 2 mm ribbons with a knife.
- Cook the tajarin for 1 to 2 minutes in a large pot of salted boiling water (they cook quickly).
- Meanwhile, foam the butter with the sage until it turns a light hazelnut color.
- Drain, toss the pasta in the sage butter, serve immediately with Parmesan.
How it was made : On farms in the Langhe, eggs were not abundant every day: tajarin rich in yolks was a quality primo, handmade and cut with a knife (tajè = to cut, in Piedmontese). The leftover whites were used for meringues or amaretti — nothing was wasted.
The contemporary twist : A shaving of white Alba truffle in season transforms this humble dish into absolute luxury — as it is still served in Turin's trattorie.
Rita Levi-Montalcini · Charactorium
