Tagliolini Pie with Fontina and Peas without Béchamel.
This Neapolitan tagliolini pie is one of my most treasured recipes, because it’s a family recipe passed down by my mother, handwritten in her beloved recipe notebook and she always prepared it for family Sunday lunches or special events, it evokes distant childhood scents and memories, particularly we customarily serve it at the table during important holidays and occasions, such as Christmas and Easter, it always impresses, and besides being tasty, it’s convenient to prepare for any occasion, even in advance the day before serving.
It’s not the usual tagliolini pie recipe smothered with béchamel, cream etc., but it’s a light and at the same time very tasty tagliolini pie, the secret is the fontina that ensures a creamy and enveloping consistency, without needing to add butter, cream, or béchamel, in one fell swoop, the fontina gives this dish: simplicity, lightness, and taste.
This Neapolitan tagliolini pie, in my family, is the classic showstopper to prepare when hosting guests, it always receives great acclaim and requests for seconds.
Trust me! With this Neapolitan tagliolini pie, you’ll impress your guests!!
This exquisite and rich main course can also serve as a one-pot meal.
If you love baked pasta dishes, I recommend trying this “Tagliolini Timbale… by Laura Ravaioli
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 10 people
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian Regional
- Region: Campania
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients for Tagliolini Pie with Fontina and Peas without Béchamel
- 2.2 lbs egg tagliolini (made with durum wheat semolina, even Rasagnole Buitoni n.6 are fine. NO tagliatelle)
- 5.3 oz Butter (high quality)
- 6 Eggs
- 10.5 oz Fontina
- 10.5 oz Fiordilatte (drain it in a container)
- 5.3 oz Grated Parmesan
- as needed Breadcrumbs (to finish)
- 16 oz Peas
- 3.5 oz Butter
- 0.7 fl oz Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Meat cube (or meat extract)
- as needed Salt (be careful with salt because the cube is already salty)
Tools
- Bowls set of various-sized Guzzini bowls
- Beater electric Philips, with a powerful 450 W
- Baking dish irresistible Pyrex
Preparation of Tagliolini Pie with Fontina and Peas without Béchamel
First of all, take a small pot, fill it with water, add a cube, and bring to a boil.
In another pan, pour a drizzle of extra olive oil, add 3.5 oz of butter, when it’s hot add the frozen peas, let it flavor for two minutes and then pour in the boiling water with the cube (keep the remaining cooking water, you’ll need it later!) cover and cook on low heat for about 30 minutes, until the water is all absorbed. Attention: salt the peas ONLY at the end of cooking, because the cube is already salty.
Once cooked, set the peas aside and let them cool.
At this point, take the 6 eggs and separate the yolks from the whites (keep these last for later). Pour the 6 yolks (WHOLE without breaking them) in the small pot with the remaining BOILING water and the cube and let them set (they must not be raw) it will take about 5-10 minutes.
Once the yolks are set, gently remove the yolks from the small pot with a slotted spoon, remove any egg white residue, crumble them and set them aside.
Cook the tagliolini in salted boiling water, very very al dente (the pasta must be almost raw, because it will then go into the oven for an hour).
Once the pasta is drained (keep a bit of cooking water to mix it better) season it with 5.3 oz of butter, the Parmesan and a little cooking water.Put the seasoned tagliolini to cool.
Generously butter a baking dish and sprinkle it with breadcrumbs.
Beat the 6 egg whites, previously set aside, to stiff peaks.
Dice the fontina and the fiordilatte (well-drained of its water).Take the bowl with the pasta (previously seasoned with butter and Parmesan) add half of the peas and 3 yolks (out of 6) into very small pieces (they must be almost like large crumbs, mimosa-like) and then also gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
In the previously buttered baking dish, pour a first layer of seasoned tagliolini, sprinkle it with diced cheeses, the other half of the peas and the remaining 3 yolks and a pinch of grated Parmesan, cover everything with the seasoned tagliolini (if you want, you can also make more layers).
Sprinkle the last layer of tagliolini with breadcrumbs and small butter knobs.
Place the tagliolini pie in a pre-heated oven at 300°F (150°C), for about 50 minutes.
If you see the surface starts to darken too much, cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil.Take the tagliolini pie out of the oven, let it rest for 5 minutes and then serve it hot.
Tips
This tagliolini pie, as mentioned above, can also be prepared the day before serving, in this case put the baking dish in the fridge, well covered with a sheet of aluminum foil, then half an hour before baking it, take it out of the fridge and bake as explained above.
If you want you can also portion it and freeze it, it’s equally delicious, but in this case, it’s better to cook it in the oven first.
100 g of Pasta Pie correspond to about 168 Kcal (see here) .
Shopping Tips !!!
I whipped the egg whites perfectly with the excellent Philips electric beater with 5 speeds and a powerful 450 w.
I cooked the tagliolini pie in this irresistible borosilicate glass Pyrex baking dish: 100% natural and hygienic material, ideal for cooking in the oven up to 572°F (300°C). It withstands thermal shocks, can go directly from the freezer at -4°F (-20°C) to the oven at 464°F (240°C).
You can purchase all the items I recommend above, on Amazon, at a great price, just click directly on the respective links.
Origins and history of the Neapolitan Tagliolini Pie?
The tagliolini pie is a delicious dish that is good to eat always on any occasion, but in Naples, it is traditional to prepare it on big occasions and especially at Christmas or for Easter lunch.
Neapolitan cuisine has its roots in the 1800s, when the Bourbons, ruling in Naples, juxtaposed French “monsu” (French cooks) cuisine with Neapolitan cuisine, creating masterpieces of taste, such as the tagliolini pie, born for important occasions of the royal household and later becoming a typical dish of the Christmas or Easter menu.
