Letizia’s Tagliatelle with Pureed Dried Broad Beans

For the dough:

Step 1: Weigh Out Your Ingredients

Allow 45–50 g tepid water for every 100 g semola rimacinata (semolina flour). Incidentally, the volume of the water is the same as the weight: 45.50 ml, but scales are more accurate than measuring jugs. Add 4 g salt to a liter of warm water. Salt is not there for flavor; it helps to make the gluten strands slide along one another better.

Step 2: Mix Them Together

Either use a bowl or heap the flour onto your board. Using your fingers, make a well and pour in the amount of water you need. Mix the flour into the water, making sure you mop up all the excess flour.

Step 3: Knead the Dough

Knead the dough for 5 minutes. You want a dough that is silky and not sticky to the touch. It won’t have the soft, pillowy feel of an egg-based pasta dough, but it will feel nice and plastic—and you can use it immediately; there’s no need to leave it to rest. If you knead the dough for longer, it will develop some elasticity, and then you will have to let it rest for 20 minutes or so.

Step 4: Shape the Dough

Roll the dough out to a thickness of about 2 mm, then use a knife to cut 3 mm wide ribbons.

Keep the dough covered while you are making the pasta shapes to stop it from drying out.

For the sauce:

Pour olive oil into a non-stick saucepan and warm it up over medium heat before adding the onion and carrot. (If you don’t have wild fennel, add the crushed fennel seeds now.) Sauté the vegetables until they have softened, which will take 7–10 minutes. Add the broad beans and cover with plenty of water.

Drop in some wild fennel fronds and the bay leaf, and let the mixture simmer until the beans start to collapse; how long this will take will depend on the beans, but you should estimate at least 20 minutes for this stage. Add more water if necessary, but remember you are aiming for a thick purée. Do not wander off—beans have a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pan if you don’t stir them regularly. Remove the bay leaf and season the bean purée with salt to taste. Chop up some more fennel fronds and stir them through the mixture.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and drop in the pasta. The pasta will take about 5 minutes to cook. Nibble one to check for doneness. Add a ladleful of pasta water to the bean purée. Drain the pasta and toss it with the beans. Ladle it into bowls, drizzle olive oil over each serving, and add a scattering of chili, if people would like it, and more fennel fronds (if using).