Fettuccine with sea bream tartare and black truffle

Not yet rated

Francesco Sposito coats ribbons of fettuccine with 'cacio e ovo' – a cheese and egg sauce – in this elegant seafood pasta dish. The chef selects Neapolitan Provolone del Monaco cheese for the pasta sauce – a DOP (protected designation of origin) semi-hard, mature cow's milk cheese. The richness of the pasta is perfectly balanced by the delicate notes of sea bream and fresh langoustines.

First published in 2016

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Fettuccine pasta

  • 80g of fettuccine
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
  • 200g of chicken stock
  • 1 knob of butter
  • 1 tbsp of oil
  • salt
  • pepper

Cheese and egg pasta sauce

Sea bream tartare

  • 30g of sea bream fillet, skinless, pin-boned

To serve

Equipment

  • Thermometer

Method

1
To make the sea bream tartare, carefully check the fish for any remaining bones then finely dice the flesh. Chop the langoustine into quarters and reserve both (separately) in the fridge until ready to serve
  • 30g of sea bream fillet, skinless, pin-boned
  • 1 langoustine, cooked and peeled
2
Place the butter and oil together in a pan and melt over a medium heat. Stir in the chopped garlic and allow to soften for a few minutes without colouring
  • 1 knob of butter
  • 1 tbsp of oil
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
3
Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Allow the liquid to reduce by half – about 5–10 minutes
  • 200g of chicken stock
4
Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to the boil over a medium heat and add the fettuccine. Cook for 7 minutes – the pasta should not be cooked through completely
5
Drain the pasta and transfer to the pan of reduced chicken stock to finish cooking for another 5 minutes – keep warm while making the sauce
6
For the pasta sauce, place the milk and cream in another pan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Once boiling, remove from the heat and whisk a third of the hot cream into the whisked egg yolks
  • 125g of milk
  • 125g of cream
  • 6 egg yolks, whisked
7
Pour this egg yolk mixture back into the pan with the remaining hot cream and stir in the cheese so that it melts into the sauce
8
Transfer the sauce to a bowl and place over a pan of barely simmering water, being careful not to let the bowl touch the water. Heat the sauce through until it reaches 80°C, then pass through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Season well
  • salt
  • pepper
9
Drain any remaining stock from the cooked pasta then stir in 100g of the cheese sauce. Mix thoroughly so that the pasta is fully coated in the rich cheese and egg sauce
10
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and blanch the asparagus tips for 2 minutes. Drain and plunge into iced water to cool quickly and to stop the cooking process
11
To serve, twirl a nest of fettuccine on to each plate and pour over any remaining sauce. Add a line of the diced sea bream tartare and the langoustine pieces, then scatter over the asparagus tips
12
Pile up the slices of black truffle over the pasta and finish with a few edible flowers for garnish and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to serve

Francesco Sposito became Italy’s youngest two-star chef at the age of thirty-one, cooking his unique reinterpretation of Naples cuisine, with modernist international flair.

Get in touch

Please sign in or register to send a comment to Great British Chefs.

You may also like

Load more