Sauces

Flour

• 1.2 kg oxtail, jointed
• 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery rib, 1 leek
• 500 ml red wine
• 500 ml beef stock
• 1 strip orange peel, 2 bay leaves
• Gremolata: zest of 1 lemon, 1 garlic clove, 20 g parsley

Method

1. Brown the oxtail on every face, 12 minutes total. Pour off all but 2 tbsp of fat.
2. Add the vegetables and cook until they take on colour, then the wine. Reduce by half.
3. Add stock, peel and bay. Cover and braise at 150 °C for 3.5 hours, until the meat leaves the bone with a nudge.
4. Pull the meat, discard the bones, skim the fat, and reduce the liquid until it coats a wooden spoon.
5. Chop the gremolata and stir it in raw, off the heat.

Flour

• 250 g coarse-ground beef chuck
• 120 g pancetta, minced
• 1 small onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery rib, all minced fine
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 200 ml whole milk
• 400 g passata
• 30 g tomato paste, 2 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Soften the soffritto in oil over low heat for 12 minutes until it is sweet and no longer smells raw.
2. Add the pancetta, then the beef. Brown it hard without stirring for the first 4 minutes so it crusts.
3. Deglaze with the wine and let it evaporate completely, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the milk and reduce until it has almost vanished, then the passata and paste. Simmer uncovered at the barest bubble for 3 hours.

Flour

• 200 g spinach, blanched and squeezed dry
• 180 g sheep's ricotta
• 120 ml double cream
• 1 small shallot, 20 g butter
• Nutmeg, grated fresh
• 30 g pecorino

Method

1. Sweat the shallot in butter until translucent, not coloured.
2. Add the spinach, chopped coarse, and cook 2 minutes to drive off water.
3. Add the cream and reduce by a third, then fold in the ricotta off the heat.
4. Finish with nutmeg and pecorino. Keep it loose with pasta water.

Flour

• 250 g cooked chickpeas, half of them mashed
• 400 g tinned tomatoes
• 1 rosemary sprig, 2 garlic cloves
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 80 ml pasta water

Method

1. Fry the garlic and rosemary in oil over low heat for 5 minutes, then remove the rosemary.
2. Add the paprika and stir for 20 seconds, no longer, or it turns bitter.
3. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas, mashing a third of them against the side of the pan to thicken the sauce.
4. Simmer 15 minutes, then loosen with pasta water.

Flour

• 350 g Italian pork sausage, casings removed
• 1 tsp fennel seed, cracked
• 1 small onion, 2 garlic cloves
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 200 g ricotta, drained
• 40 g parmigiano, 2 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Break the sausage into 2 cm lumps and brown them hard in oil so they form a crust on two sides.
2. Add the onion, garlic and fennel seed and cook until soft, 6 minutes.
3. Add the wine and reduce until the pan is nearly dry.
4. Off the heat, fold in the ricotta and parmigiano and loosen with pasta water.

Flour

• 0.4 g saffron threads (about 25 threads)
• 80 g pancetta, diced
• 500 g tinned tomatoes, crushed
• 1 onion, 1 bay leaf
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 60 g pecorino

Method

1. Steep the saffron in 60 ml warm water for 15 minutes. Do not use boiling water; it kills the colour.
2. Render the pancetta, then cook the onion in its fat until soft.
3. Add the wine, reduce, then the tomatoes and bay. Simmer 25 minutes.
4. Stir in the saffron water 5 minutes before the end so the colour survives.

Flour

• 90 g cold unsalted butter, cut in four pieces
• 10 sage leaves, left whole
• 1 tbsp pasta water
• 20 g grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• A squeeze of lemon, only if the butter is very sweet

Method

1. Melt the butter over medium heat with the sage leaves in it.
2. Wait for the foam to subside and the milk solids to turn the colour of hazelnut skin, about 4 minutes.
3. Pull it off the heat the moment it smells of toasted nuts; it will keep darkening in the pan.
4. Add the pasta water and swirl to a sauce, then the parmigiano, off the heat.

Flour

• 30 g dried porcini, soaked 30 minutes in 300 ml warm water
• 80 g prosciutto crudo, cut in ribbons
• 1 shallot, 30 g butter
• 150 ml double cream
• 50 ml dry marsala
• 40 g parmigiano

Method

1. Lift the porcini out of the soaking liquid; strain the liquid through a paper towel and keep it.
2. Cook the shallot in butter, add the prosciutto and the porcini, and fry 3 minutes.
3. Add the marsala and reduce to a syrup, then the strained porcini water. Reduce by half.
4. Add the cream and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon. Off the heat, add the parmigiano.

Flour

• 400 g delica or butternut pumpkin, cut in 2 cm cubes
• 60 g amaretti biscuits, crushed
• 70 g butter
• 6 sage leaves
• 40 g parmigiano
• Nutmeg, salt, white pepper

Method

1. Roast the pumpkin at 200 °C for 25 minutes until the edges caramelise. Mash roughly; leave some lumps.
2. Melt the butter with the sage until it smells of hazelnuts.
3. Fold the pumpkin through the butter, then loosen with pasta water into a sauce that still has body.
4. Off the heat, add the parmigiano, then the crushed amaretti at the very last second.

Flour

• 300 g cooked beetroot, grated coarse
• 70 g butter
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 80 g robiola or ricotta
• 15 g horseradish, freshly grated

Method

1. Toast the poppy seeds in a dry pan for 40 seconds until they start to pop.
2. Add the butter and the beetroot; cook 4 minutes so the beet loses its raw edge.
3. Add the vinegar, which is what stops the whole dish tasting of earth.
4. Off the heat, fold in the robiola and the horseradish.

Flour

• 200 g pork belly, diced 5 mm
• 150 g sweet fermented flour paste (tianmianjiang)
• 60 g yellow soybean paste (huangjiang)
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 spring onion, 1 piece ginger, 1 star anise
• 100 ml water

Method

1. Render the pork belly in a dry wok for 8 minutes until the fat runs and the cubes are gold.
2. Add the ginger, star anise and spring onion and fry until fragrant.
3. Add both pastes and stir constantly over low heat for 15 minutes; they scorch in seconds if you stop.
4. Loosen with the water and wine, add the sugar, and cook until the oil separates back out and floats.

Flour

• 200 g sheep's ricotta
• 70 g walnuts, roughly broken
• 60 g butter, 8 sage leaves
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 50 g parmigiano

Method

1. Toast the walnuts in a dry pan, then crush them lightly with the flat of a knife.
2. Brown the butter with the sage until it smells of hazelnuts.
3. Off the heat, fold in the ricotta, the walnuts and the honey.
4. Finish with lemon zest and parmigiano; loosen with pasta water.

Flour

• 150 g young nettle tops, washed and blanched 30 seconds
• 400 g tinned San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand
• 2 garlic cloves, 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sugar (only if the tomatoes are acidic)
• 40 g pecorino
• Basil, added off the heat

Method

1. Warm the garlic in oil until pale gold, then remove it.
2. Add the tomatoes and simmer 20 minutes until the sauce no longer tastes of tin.
3. Chop the blanched nettles and add them for the last 5 minutes.
4. Off the heat, add basil and pecorino.

Flour

• 3 small zucchini, sliced into 2 mm coins
• 60 g butter
• Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
• 20 g mint, chopped
• 50 g parmigiano
• Black pepper

Method

1. Cook the zucchini in half the butter over high heat so they colour before they release water, about 3 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the butter and the lemon zest, then 60 ml pasta water.
3. Swirl into a pale green sauce; do not let it boil once the zest is in.
4. Off the heat add the lemon juice, mint and parmigiano.

Flour

• 150 g arugula, half chopped, half left whole
• 60 g walnuts, broken
• 2 garlic cloves, 1 dried chilli
• 80 ml olive oil
• 60 g pecorino
• Juice of half a lemon

Method

1. Toast the walnuts in a dry pan until they smell of oil paint, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the oil, garlic and chilli and warm gently for 3 minutes.
3. Add the chopped arugula and let it wilt for 30 seconds only.
4. Toss with the pasta, the whole arugula, pecorino and lemon, all off the heat.

Flour

• 500 g broccoli rabe (cime di rapa), trimmed
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 4 anchovy fillets in oil
• 80 ml olive oil, 1 dried chilli
• 60 g pecorino
• 1 tsp lemon zest

Method

1. Blanch the rabe in well-salted water for 90 seconds, then shock in cold water and squeeze dry.
2. Melt the anchovies into the warm oil over low heat; they should dissolve, not fry.
3. Add the garlic and chilli, then the rabe, and cook 4 minutes so it takes on the oil.
4. Toss with the pasta and pecorino, loosening with pasta water.

Flour

• 120 g Pecorino Romano, finely grated on a Microplane
• 2 tsp black peppercorns, cracked coarse
• 1 tbsp butter (a modern crutch, not a Roman one)
• 180 ml pasta water, starchy and barely salted

Method

1. Toast the cracked pepper in a dry pan for 40 seconds, until it smells like a spice market.
2. Add the butter and 100 ml pasta water; swirl to a loose emulsion off the heat.
3. Off the flame entirely, rain in the pecorino while swirling. Never let it boil.
4. Loosen with the remaining water until it coats a spoon, then toss the pasta for 30 seconds.

Flour

• 1 kg small clams, purged 2 hours in salt water
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 1 dried chilli, 4 tbsp olive oil
• A handful of flat parsley, chopped
• 60 ml pasta water

Method

1. Warm the garlic and chilli in oil over low heat until the garlic is pale gold, never brown.
2. Add the clams and the wine, cover, and steam until they open, 4 to 6 minutes.
3. Discard any that stay shut. Add the pasta water and swirl to emulsify the oil and wine.
4. Toss with the pasta and the parsley off the heat.

Flour

• 1 kg lamb neck bones
• 2 litres water, 1 onion, 1 piece ginger, 20 g
• 1 tsp cumin seed, 1 tsp coriander seed, 2 star anise
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• Spring onion, coriander leaf, chilli oil to finish

Method

1. Blanch the bones in boiling water for 3 minutes and rinse off the grey scum. This is what makes a clear broth.
2. Cover with fresh water, add the aromatics, and keep at a bare simmer for 4 hours. Never boil.
3. Strain, season with soy, and reduce by a third so it coats the noodles.
4. Ladle over the noodles and finish at the table with spring onion, coriander and chilli oil.

Flour

• 2 tbsp coarse chilli flakes (crushed, not powdered)
• 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, ground
• 3 garlic cloves, minced; 20 g spring onion
• 120 ml rapeseed oil, smoked to 190 °C
• 2 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Method

1. Put the chilli flakes, pepper, garlic and spring onion in a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the oil until a chilli flake dropped in fizzes immediately, then pour it over in three stages, stirring between each.
3. Let it stand 10 minutes; the colour deepens from orange to red.
4. Add the vinegar and soy at the table, not in the pan.

Flour

• 60 g basil leaves, no stems, dry
• 30 g pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves, 8 g coarse salt
• 60 g parmigiano, 20 g pecorino
• 120 ml extra virgin olive oil, added in a thin stream

Method

1. Pound the garlic with the salt to a paste in a marble mortar.
2. Add the basil in three additions, pounding and turning, never grinding.
3. Add the pine nuts and pound again, then the cheeses.
4. Loosen with the oil in a thin stream, stirring, not pounding.