Tagliatelle, by hand

Fresh egg pasta is a Lombard habit. Every kitchen between Como and Colico makes its own, and every grandmother has an opinion about the dough.

The dough

Soft-wheat flour from a mill in the Brianza and the yolks of eggs from a farm above Lezzeno, nothing else. It rests for an hour under a cloth before it goes anywhere near the machine.

There is no secret. You roll it thin enough to read through, and you cut it by hand.

The plate

The perch comes in at seven from two fishermen in Lezzeno. We serve it on the tagliatelle with brown butter and sage, fried at the very last minute so it arrives still crisp.