“This is a quick and light dish that has become my go-to when hungover, as it’s so easily pulled together, especially if you have a batch of Napoli tomato sauce in the freezer and some dried rigatoni in the cupboard,” Andreas Papadakis, chef-owner of Melbourne’s Tipo 00, writes of this recipe in his new book Tipo 00 The Pasta Cookbook. “It’s also something the kids are always happy to eat.”
Over the past 10 years, Papadakis and his team have developed a reputation as a go-to for outstanding pasta in Melbourne. Along with being beautifully crafted, Tipo 00’s dishes are notorious for using the best produce to turn simple classics into something spectacular.
In his new cookbook, Papadakis shares the recipes of some of the restaurant’s best-loved dishes – from asparagus ravioli with parmesan cream to focaccia and lasagne – as well as tips on perfecting pasta dough and more. This dish is an easy intro to the world of pasta-making, and can be adjusted depending on how much time you have: for a weekend project, commit to making the pasta from scratch; if you’re throwing together a midweek meal (or hungover), store-bought is perfectly acceptable.
If you feel like making your own pasta, below are the ingredients and method for garganelli with instructions for creating the rigatoni shape. Factor in several hours for drying and refrigeration time.
Tipo 00’s rigatoni pomodoro
Serves 2
Preparation time (if making pasta from scratch): 1 hour, plus 3–4 hours drying time, and refrigeration
Cooking time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Ingredients
5 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve
1 small clove of garlic, finely grated
200ml Napoli tomato sauce
225g quality dried rigatoni
2 tbsp parmesan, finely grated
4–5 basil leaves
Rigatoni pasta dough
350g 00 flour, plus extra for dusting
150g durum wheat semolina flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp sea salt
65g egg yolk (from about 3–4 eggs)
190g whole egg (about 4 eggs)
Napoli tomato sauce (makes 2L, this recipe requires 200ml)
80ml olive oil
1 brown onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 x 400g tins of peeled tomatoes, ideally San Marzano
Sea salt
Basil leaves picked from 2–3 sprigs
Method
For the pasta
Make the pasta dough first. If using an electric mixer, place both flours and the salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Make a well in the centre and add the egg yolk and whole egg. (Papadakis finds it easiest to weigh the egg yolks in a clean bowl first and then add the whole eggs to the same bowl up to the total amount of eggs, which is 255g for this recipe. The total amount of egg is the important part.) Mix on slow speed for 8–10 minutes, until you start seeing large crumbs forming and the dough starts coming together. Transfer the dough to a clean benchtop and knead by hand until it comes together. Don’t expect it to be really smooth, as this is a drier dough – it will come together more and get smoother in the rolling process.
To make the dough by hand, combine both flours and the salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the egg yolk and whole egg. Mix with a fork until just combined, then transfer to a clean benchtop and knead by hand for 6–8 minutes until the dough comes together.
If the dough seems too dry and won’t come together, you can spray it a couple of times with your spray bottle of water – just be careful not to overdo it and make the dough too wet, since it will become more hydrated and softer as it rests.
Papadakis likes to shape the dough into a roughly rectangular block, rather than a ball, as he finds it easier to feed through the pasta machine later. Wrap your dough really well in plastic film, making it as airtight as possible (at the restaurant they use a vacuum sealer).
If you are planning to make your pasta straight away, let the dough rest for at least an hour at room temperature – but ideally refrigerate it overnight, then take it out a couple of hours before rolling and cutting to let it come back to room temperature.
To make the rolling more manageable, it’s best to work with a relatively small amount of dough, so divide it in two before you start. (If you are not using all the dough at once, you can refrigerate the rest of it, tightly wrapped, for up to 3 days.)
Set up the pasta machine on a solid benchtop. Using your hands or a rolling pin, flatten the dough enough that it will go through the widest setting on the pasta machine, then pass it through the rollers two or three times, going down one notch each time.
Bring both sides of the dough to the centre, so they meet in the middle, then fold in half to create four layers of dough.
Roll the dough through the widest setting again, then repeat the folding and rolling process one more time – but this time bring one third of the dough into the centre, laying it over the middle third, then cover with the last third to create three layers.
Flatten the dough again, so that it will go through the widest setting on your machine, then pass it through the rollers, going down one notch at a time; it should be smooth by now and starting to become elastic. Keep going until the pasta sheets are the thickness you need: for long and short shapes, 2–3 mm.
Lay out the pasta sheets on a lightly floured bench and cut the pasta into 4cm x 3cm rectangles. Place a pasta rectangle on the ribbed wooden board and roll, aligning the longer sides with the grooves. Wrap the pasta around the dowel to form a tube as you roll, pressing firmly at the join.
Pull the pasta off the dowel and set aside on a semolina-dusted surface. Repeat until all the rigatoni are made, then leave to dry for 3–4 hours.
For the sauce
To make the Napoli tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, then add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and translucent, around 6–8 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir well, then bring to a slow simmer. Turn the heat down to low and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to make sure the sauce doesn’t catch on the bottom.
Taste and season with salt, then take off the heat and let the sauce rest for 15 minutes before you add the basil. We normally pass this sauce through a vegetable mill while it’s still hot. If you don’t have one, you can just use a whisk to crush the tomatoes – don’t be tempted to blitz the sauce with a blender, or you’ll lose its pleasingly rustic texture.
Final dish
To finish the dish, warm the olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat, add the garlic and cook gently until the garlic has just softened but not coloured. Add the tomato sauce and bring to a slow simmer.
In the meantime, cook the rigatoni in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente or, if using store-bought pasta, according to the instructions on the package. Drain the pasta (reserving some of the pasta water) and add to the sauce, then toss everything together for 30 seconds until the pasta is well coated.
Add the parmesan and basil and toss a couple more times, adding a little of the reserved pasta water to adjust the consistency of the sauce, if needed. Serve in warmed bowls and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.
Images and text from Tipo 00 The Pasta Cookbook by Andreas Papadakis, photography by Mark Roper, illustrations by Robin Cowcher. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.
