Torta di Tagliolini Ferrarese

Ingredients

• For the pasta frolla
• 300 g plain flour
• 150 g unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
• 100 g caster sugar
• 2 eggs, yolks only
• For the tagliolini filling
• 300 g fresh egg tagliolini, rolled to pasta machine setting 8, very thin
• 120 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 150 g caster sugar
• 120 g blanched almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 lemon, zest finely grated
• 2 tsp orange flower water
• To finish
• 20 g icing sugar, for dusting at serving

Method

1. 1
   Make the pasta frolla. Rub the cold butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the sugar and egg yolks and bring the dough together with minimal handling. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. The dough is ready when it is firm and holds a clean edge when pressed.
2. 2
   Line a 24 cm tart tin with the pasta frolla, pressing it evenly up the sides to a thickness of 4–5 mm. Return the shell to the refrigerator for 15 minutes, then blind-bake at 180 °C for 10 minutes with baking weights in place. Remove the weights and return to the oven for 3–4 minutes. The shell is ready when the base is dry to the touch and just beginning to colour at the edges — no raw dough smell should remain.
3. 3
   Cook the tagliolini in abundant salted boiling water for no more than 1 minute — they must be decidedly undercooked. Drain immediately and spread on a tray to cool slightly so steam escapes. The noodles are ready when they are just past raw but retain full resistance to the bite.
4. 4
   This is where the dish lives or dies. In a large bowl, toss the slightly cooled tagliolini with the melted, cooled butter. The butter must be at room temperature — not warm — so that it coats each strand evenly without beginning to cook the pasta. Add the caster sugar, toasted almonds, cinnamon, lemon zest, and orange flower water. Toss until every strand is uniformly coated. The mixture should smell of warm spice and almond and the pasta should glisten without pooling butter at the base of the bowl.
5. 5
   Transfer the filling into the blind-baked shell. Press the pasta down firmly and evenly with the back of a spoon so it is compact and fills the shell generously with no sunken areas. The surface should sit level with or just above the rim of the pastry.
6. 6
   Bake at 180 °C for 30–35 minutes. The torta is ready when the top is deep golden and the pasta has set into a firm disc — a skewer pressed into the centre should meet resistance, not softness, and the outer pastry should be fully coloured and pulling slightly from the tin sides.
7. 7
   Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin, then refrigerate until fully cold. The filling sets firm only once cold; the butter and sugar bind the strands into a clean, sliceable mass. Dust with icing sugar at the moment of serving.