Penny Roma is the newest restaurant of the Flour Water team, led by Thomas McNaughton and Ryan Pollnow. It opened just a few weeks ago and has won praise for their views on rustic Italian cuisine. Among these compliments, there is an outstanding dish: their thoughts on spaghetti bolognese. 

Below, they share this recipe with us.

“This is a classic spaghetti bolognese – a staple on our Penny Roma menu, where we celebrate iconic Italian dishes from all regions of the country,” McNaughton said. "This version mixes ground beef, ground pork, and bacon to increase the depth of the finished product, but the process is also applicable to mushrooms instead of protein." (Specifically: "Portobello and Shiitake Mushrooms, and a small amount of porcini mushrooms." -Whether it is fresh, or dried and rehydrated-because of their flavor profile.")

If you want to be vegan, McNaughton said, “You need to use roughly the same amount of minced mushrooms, calculated by weight. If you use dried porcini mushrooms, replace some of the broth with the broth you used to rehydrate the mushrooms. If you do Vegetarian, you can also use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth."

If you feel lazy, Penny Roma is open for dinner seven nights a week. Otherwise, go for it. 

To make a rag, heat oil at medium high temperature in a large, heavy pot. Add onions, celery and carrots. Fry until soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Add beef, pork, and bacon; sauté, and beat with a spoon, until browned, about 15 minutes. Add 2.5 cups of stock and tomato paste; stir to combine. Reduce the heat to very low, then simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for about 2 hours. Season with salt and pepper.

Stew the milk in a small saucepan; gradually add the sauce. Cover the sauce with a slightly half-open lid and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the milk is absorbed, about 1 hour, adding more ¼ cup of soup at a time, diluting if necessary.

Finally, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Transfer the rag to a 12-inch (30 cm) wok and simmer it over a low heat. Add the butter and start mixing. At the same time, put the pasta in boiling water.

Once the pasta is 80% cooked, until it is almost chewy, about 2 to 3 minutes, add it to the pot. Reserve the pasta water. Continue to simmer, stirring constantly, until it reaches a sauce-like consistency, about 3 minutes. Season with salt. Remove from the fire. When serving, divide the pasta and sauce into 4 plates, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and eat immediately. Service 4.

Standard egg dough (Tagliatelle)

First, place the flour on a dry, clean work surface to form a mound about 8 to 10 inches in diameter at the bottom. Sprinkle salt in the middle of the mound. Using the bottom of the measuring cup, create a 4 to 5 inch wide well with at least half an inch of flour at the bottom of the well.

Slowly and carefully add the wet ingredients (eggs and olive oil) to the well, treating the flour as a bowl. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork, and do not touch the flour wall or scrape from the bottom to the work surface.

Then, continue to stir and start slowly adding the flour "wall" to the egg mixture, gradually moving towards the outer edge of the flour, but disturbing the bottom as little as possible. If the eggs damage the sides prematurely, scoop them back quickly and re-lay the walls. Once the dough begins to thicken and become mushy (pulsy), slowly add the flour at the bottom to the mixture.

When the mud begins to move as a solid, remove as much as possible from the person. Slide a bench spatula or spatula under the dough, turn it over and turn it over to clean any wet dough on the work surface.

At this point, with your hands, start folding and formatting into a single mass. The goal is to add all the flour to the quality, and spraying a lot of water with a spray bottle is essential. This is a very dry dough, and how important it is to continuously spray generously to help "stick" any loose stains to the dry dough balls cannot be overemphasized.

When the dough forms a hard solid mass, scrape off any dry flour lumps from the work surface. If it is added to the dough, it will create dry spots in the final product.

Kneading is an important step in the dough making process: it re-adjusts the protein structure of the dough to make it work in the next resting stage.

Kneading is simple: press the heel of your dominant hand into the dough. Press and release, then use the other hand to pick up the dough and rotate it 45 degrees. Press your heels back into the dough, rotate and repeat for 10 to 15 minutes. This is how Italian grandmothers got their fat wrists.

Pasta is easy to be under-kneaded, but it is almost impossible to over-knead (unlike bread, each type has its own optimal kneading time or ideal kneading time). That is, even if the dough cannot be kneaded excessively, it will spend too much time on the workbench—and, as a direct result, it starts to dehydrate and it is more difficult to form the final shape. For best results, I think a range of 10 to 15 minutes is a reliable guideline. When the dough is ready, it will stop changing its appearance and texture. The dough will be hard, but it will feel elastic, and the surface will be smooth and silky, almost like Play-Doh. Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap. 

Rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. If you rest for more than 6 hours, store the dough in the refrigerator. The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days, but it is best to use it on the day it is made because over time, the egg yolk will oxidize and change the color of the dough. Take the dough out of the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, then roll it out again.

Step 3: Make the pasta

Sprinkle semolina on 2 baking sheets and set aside.

To make spaghetti, cut off a part of the dough ball and immediately re-wrap the unused part with plastic wrap. Place a piece of dough on the workbench and flatten it with a rolling pin to make it fit the widest setting of the pasta machine. Start rolling the dough on the machine, starting with the widest setting. Quickly pass it through the slot once. Then reduce the thickness setting and repeat. Reduce the thickness setting again, and then roll the dough quickly again. Once the dough has passed three times, for each of the first three settings, its length should be doubled.

Place the dough on a flat surface. The hydration of the dough is very low at this time, and you may see some streaks; this is normal, and this is the reason for the next key step: lamination of the dough.

Using a rolling pin as a temporary ruler, measure the width of the trough of the pasta maker and subtract the thickness of two fingers. This measurement represents the ideal width of the pasta sheet, with approximately the length of a finger on each side, so there is enough space in the machine. Measure the rolling pin to the end of the pasta sheet and lightly indent the dough to indicate the measured length. Mark the crease and fold the pasta. Repeat for the rest of the pasta, keeping the same initial measurements. For best results, you need at least four layers. Use a rolling pin to hold the pasta layers together and roll them flat so that they can be placed in the machine. Put the dough back in the machine, but rotate the sheet 90 degrees. In other words, the bottom edge of the pasta now passes through the machine first.

This time, it is important to roll the dough three times in each setting at a steady, smooth speed. If you scroll too fast, it will bounce back to its original thickness, thus prolonging your time to browse each number.

It is important to maintain a consistent speed at startup to maintain a consistent thickness. As the dough passes through the roller, you should be able to see and feel the resistance. At the first time of each level, the dough will be compressed. It’s time to move on to the next level with the dough slipping smoothly. The first few thickness settings (maximum width) usually require three passes; once you enter the thinner area, the number of times to compress the pasta dough will be reduced, so the speed will be faster, and the work can be completed with two passes.

Continue to roll the dough until it becomes translucent or slightly thinner than 1/16 inch (2 mm). If you can see the outline behind your fingers, or see the texture of the wooden table through the pasta, then you are in good shape. For most (but not all) hand-cranked pasta machines in the home, this is the penultimate setting.

Use a knife to cut the dough into 12-inch (30 cm) long strips. Make two stacks of four strips each, dusting the two layers thoroughly with semolina. Let the dough dry for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the dough is slightly dry and leather-like in texture but still flexible. Fold each stack like letters to form three even layers. Cut the folded dough into 1/4-inch (6 mm) strips, shake off the excess semolina, and form small nests on the prepared baking sheet. Set aside.

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