Sepia Tagliatelle with Tomato Ragout and King Prawns

Tagliatelle:

1. Mix both flours, place on the work surface and make a large well in the middle. Beat the eggs in there, add the oil, salt and sepia and whisk everything with a fork. Always take some of the edge of the flour with you until the liquid has completely combined with it and nothing can run out. Then knead the crumbly mass with your hands until you have a smooth, non-sticky dough. If necessary, sprinkle the work surface thinly with a little semola in between. Wrap the finished dough in cling film and let it rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature.
2. When making the pasta with a pasta machine: Divide the dough into 3 portions. Flour the work surface and dough portion well and turn them one after the other through the pasta machine. Starting with level “0”. After each twist, fold the dough up again and twist again (lightly floured). The 4 – 5 x. Then always switch to the next level. After setting “5”, cut the wide, thin strips of dough into 3 parts and then pull them through again individually and one after the other at setting 6. This will give the noodles an acceptable length. Then twist the strips of dough through the tagliatelle attachment, place the pasta on a floured surface and immediately roll it in the flour and loosen it up. They must not stick to each other. Repeat all of this until all dough portions have been processed.
3. When working without a machine: Divide the dough into 3 portions and fold and roll out as described above. So proceed as with a machine, only with a rolling stick by hand. After this process, roll out each portion prepared in this way, 1 mm long and approx. 15 cm wide. Cut the rolled out, lightly floured dough strand into 3 parts, roll them up from one narrow side, cut into about 5 mm thin slices, unroll them again and – as described above – place them on a floured surface and roll them in the flour and loosen them.
4. It is easy to prepare. When they are slightly dried, they only take 1 – 2 minutes longer to cook. Use a larger saucepan for cooking. Fill it 2/3 full with water and add plenty of salt. When it boils, add the noodles loosely. When they rise to the surface they are done. But just to be on the safe side, try one. You should still have a slight “bite”. The cooking time for fresh pasta is a maximum of 2 minutes. For dried pasta it can be up to 3 – 4 minutes.
5. If the pasta is to be used immediately and mixed with a ragout or sauce, please DO NOT drain it, but lift it out of the water with pasta tongs, let it drain slightly and mix it with the other ingredients. In this case, only cook the pasta when all the other ingredients are ready.
6. If the pasta is served separately or not used immediately, drain it, place it on a baking tray or in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and turn it gently. So they don’t stick together. Please do not scare off with cold water, because then they will stick.

Preparation of prawns:

1. Use scissors to cut open the shrimp shell at the upper arch from the head end to the tail. Unfold the shell and remove the shrimp meat. Pull the thin, black intestine out of the small incision made in the upper arch (if it has not already happened when pulling the meat out of the tail part). Then wash the prawns in cold water, dry them and marinate them with a few spoons of olive oil, pepper, salt, paprika and garlic powder. You should do this until all other work is done.

Tomato ragout:

1. Wash all the vegetables, dry them well. Remove the stem from the tomatoes, cut into small pieces (including the inner ones) and place in a bowl. Catch the resulting juice with it. Skin the shallots, finely dice. Skin the garlic, roughly chop. Core the peppers and finely dice. Core the paprika, dice finely. Do not allow the tomatoes in oil to drain, so cut them into small pieces.
2. In a very large, high pan, first sweat the shallots in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Then add tomatoes including juice, garlic, peppers and paprika and sweat with them. Stir in the tomato paste, then deglaze with red wine and water, turn the heat down and let it simmer gently for about 5 minutes. At the same time, add all the spices and herbs (except the basil) and season to a strong, hot, sweet and sour taste. The ragout should simmer until it has a pasty consistency.

Completion:

1. While the ragout is simmering, bring the water to the boil for the pasta and cook it. At the same time, fry the prawns in the oil of the marinade in a strongly heated pan. But only about 3 – 4 minutes, because they should still be slightly glassy on the inside. Maybe cut through one and test the degree of cooking. Fold in the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil into the finished ragout and mix with the pasta that has been lifted from the water and drained.
2. Arrange everything on a deep plate together with the prawns and decorate with the coarsely grated Parmesan. ……………. Buon Appetito ………..
3. If a finished product is used for pasta, the rest period of 30 minutes, among other things, is no longer necessary, working hours are shortened, and it is then a quick and “easily” prepared after-work meal.