WHAT IS TAGLIATELLE?

From the Italian tagliare or “to cut”, this pasta is from that family of wide ribbon pastas. Often the dough is made with nothing more then eggs and flour.  This pasta is easy to quickly cut up with a knife.  And if you mistakenly cut the strips too wide, just tell everyone you meant to make pappardelle!  Tagliatelle is meant to have a rough texture to better allow sauces to cling to these long strands.   Traditionally served with a Bolognese sauce, legend has it that a local chef was inspired to make this cut by the braids in his bride’s blond hair. Though unless she was sporting some rasta dreadlocks in the 1400s, this is either doubtful or someone really needed a pair of glasses.

WHERE IS TAGLIATELLE MADE?

Hey, a pasta cut that is not from Naples!  Tagliatelle is originally from the Emilia Romagna region of Italy.  This area is also home to lasagna and cappelletti.  This cut migrated over the neighboring province of Marche where with its’ longer coastline seafood ingredients were more popular.

DRUG TRAFFICKERS SMUGGLE PASTA ON THE WAY HOME?

In northern Africa, drug smugglers make a lucrative trade transporting their goods across the desert.  But no distributor makes money bringing back empty trucks.  It turns out pasta cuts like spaghetti, tagliatelle or penne are among the most popular goods to backhaul home!  To read more about this click here!

WHAT SAUCES GO WELL WITH THIS PASTA?

Ragu sauces work particularly well with this dish.  If you are using bread crumbs or rice as a thickening agent, this cut of pasta will still stand out.  Try to avoid thin, watery tomato sauces if you don’t want something to heavy.  Instead just go with a nice extra virgin olive oil infused with herbs and spices.  If you’d like to see one of our recipes using tagliatelle check out our Alfredo sauce!