Grandma Ada's TagliatelleHow can they be described? They certainly can't be imitated. No massaia (farmer's wife) today would make tagliatelle with goose eggs mixed in with the hen eggs (there aren't even massaie anymore). Fortunately, my mother, Elena, and my sister, Mirella, are true tagliatelle experts. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get goose eggs today. There aren't real farmyards anymore nor the chicken coops from which to collect the eggs the second before you roll the pasta dough (the health department wouldn't allow it anyhow). In addition to the special ingredients, Grandma Ada's tagliatelle had a unique rough and porous texture. Their shape was due to the rather rough surface of her spianatoia (pasta-making table) and a rolling pin that wasn't quite perfectly straight and round. That unique texture lives on now only in my memories. The goose eggs also gave the pasta a quality that made them virtually crackle in your mouth. You'll have to believe me that they absorbed the rabbit sauce so well that the aroma and the taste are fixed in my memory forever.If you would like to try these foods, send me an email and I would be delighted to come to your house and make you lunch or dinner with some of the recipes on this site. Of course, you must accept the limits due to the availability of ingredients, the lack of a fireplace (unless you happen to have one) and, more than anything, my Grandma Ada not being able to come herself.
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