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1
Mound the flour on a clean work surface and make a well. Break the eggs into the centre. Work the eggs into the flour with a fork, then with the hands, until a rough dough forms. Knead for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth, firm and elastic. Wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The dough is ready when it springs back slowly under a pressed thumb.
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2
Divide the dough into four pieces. Roll each through a pasta machine, progressively narrowing the setting, to setting 6 — a thin, semi-translucent sheet. Cut strips 5–6 mm wide. Lay the tagliatelle on a clean cloth and dry for 15 minutes. The pasta is ready when the surface feels dry to the touch but the strands remain pliable.
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3
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and salt it abundantly. Melt the butter over the lowest possible heat in a wide pan large enough to toss the pasta. Add the thread of mild olive oil. The butter must not colour or foam aggressively — it is ready when it is entirely liquid, pale, and faintly fragrant.
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4
Cook the tagliatelle in the boiling water for 2–3 minutes. Drain, retaining a small ladleful of the pasta cooking water. Transfer the tagliatelle immediately to the butter pan. Toss gently over low heat, adding a splash of the retained pasta water to marry the butter into a light emulsion. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies: the pasta must reach the plate glossed in butter, perfectly seasoned by its own cooking water, with no pooling of fat and no dryness — the balance is achieved only in these few seconds of tossing, and must not be delayed. The tagliatelle are ready when every strand glistens and the pan shows no standing butter.
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5
Plate immediately into four warm bowls. Bring the cleaned, dried truffle and a mandoline truffle slicer to the table. Shave the truffle generously over each portion at the moment of serving — not in the kitchen, not in advance. The truffle is ready when its fragrance fills the room within seconds of each slice falling onto the hot pasta.