This dish, popular in the Jewish communities of northern Italy, most particularly in Venice, Trieste and Ferrara, has a colorful, if perhaps macabre, story behind it. A perfect fusion of Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Italian Jewish ingredients, it is traditionally made for Shabbat Beshalach (around the time of Tu BiShvat), when the story is told of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt. Italian Jews’ three traditions have different names for it: Frisinsal, hamin, or ruota di faraone (pharaoh’s wheel).
According to the Bible, after God parted the Red Sea to liberate the Israelites from slavery, the waters closed again, swallowing the Egyptians. The tagliatelle is meant to represent the waves, and the goose, pine nuts and raisins, the heads, bodies and horses of the drowning Egyptians… (I did say it was macabre!).
Baked in the oven, this dish calls for fresh goose sausages or salami, which can be hard to find kosher. You could try it with good beef sausages, or sometimes I mix the salami with a little salted beef. The best flavor will come from using sugo d’arrosto (leftover cooking juices from roast meat) but if you don’t have this, you could make an aromatic soffritto instead. Some traditional recipes use goose fat, but I don’t particularly like it and much prefer the sugo d’arrosto or soffritto.
Ingredients
- scant 1 cup sugo d’arrosto cooking juices from roast beef, veal, lamb, or chicken or soffrito 200ml
- scant ½ cup pine nuts 50g
- 1¾ oz raisins or sultanas soaked in warm water for 5 minutes, then drained 50g
- 9 oz goose sausage rolled into bite-sized balls, or beef sausage, hot dog, salami, or salted beef, diced 250g
- 8½ cups boiling water or meat stock for cooking the pasta 2 liters
- 1 tablespoon coarse or kosher salt for the pasta water if using water
- 250 g 9 oz tagliatelle 250g
Soffritto (if using):
- scant ½ cup extra virgin olive oil 100ml
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 6 fresh sage leaves roughly chopped
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- A generous splash of white wine
Nutritional Facts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan/425°F/gas mark 7).
- If you are using the sugo d’arrosto, heat it in a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and, when sizzling, add the pine nuts, drained raisins or sultanas and sausage or salami. Reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, for 5 minutes.
- Alternatively, make a soffritto by heating the olive oil in a large, non-stick frying pan with the garlic, rosemary, sage and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook over a low heat, uncovered, for a couple of minutes, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn, then add the wine and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the pine nuts, raisins or sultanas and sausage or salami and sauté over a low to medium heat for a further 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, pour the water or stock into a large saucepan and bring to the boil – stock will give extra flavor to the dish (add coarse or kosher salt if you are using water) – then add the tagliatelle. Stir and cook, uncovered, over a medium heat, for just a couple of minutes as the pasta will continue cooking in the oven.
- Drain the pasta and mix it with the meat juices or soffritto. Transfer everything into the oven dish.
- Bake in the oven for about 15–20 minutes until the top is light golden.
- Serve hot or warm for a Friday night meal, or at room temperature or warm from a hot-plate, for Shabbat lunch.
Equipment
- a large, shallow, round oven dish.
Recipe and photo courtesy of Jewish Flavours of Italy Cookbook.
