For Christmas, I purchased a pasta extruder for myself, because certain pasta shapes(i.e. bucatini, penne, and mafaldine) could not be made simply by hand or with ye old pasta crank that I’ve owned since December 2013(crazy to think that was 12 years ago at this point). I first wanted to get a pasta extruder because I was watching a video of chef Missy Robbins from Lilia in Brooklyn describing some of the pasta dishes they serve there, and I thought it would be a fun challenge to try making some cool or unique pasta dishes! Back in high school, I actually wanted to be the pastry chef at the 1-starred Michelin restaurant A Voce, where Missy was executive chef at the time, but she since left that restaurant and both locations in NY closed shortly after that, but needless to say, I’ve been a fan of her cooking for quite a while. Fun fact, I actually went to Lilia on a trip to NY in 2024(I also met Ahran from Masterchef season 5 in-person that trip, and it so nice to get to know her!), but I did not think to order one of their signature pastas, the mafaldine(long pasta with ruffled edges) with butter, parm, and pink peppercorns. After perusing on Amazon, I was trying to get a mafaldine extruder attachment, just so I could try making that at home, but I somehow ended up with a wider ribbon-like pasta attachment instead, which was sort of like it, but 3 times the width. So I rolled with that, and decided to make this specific recipe, loosely inspired by Missy’s mafaldine, instead!

Missy’s mafaldine recipe uses parmesan cheese, butter, and pink peppercorn, which creates this almost cacio e pepe flavor profile. I wanted to do a riff off of that, but introducing roasted garlic and radishes to the mix, just to add some sweetness from butter-roasted garlic, and pepperiness from using the radish two ways in the recipe. I also, for an extra texture, made crispy parmesan, just to crumble on top in lieu of a breadcrumb. For my pasta, I used semolina flour, water, and salt, extruding it through to form these long, wide noodles – each serving was just 1 noodle long, because they were that wide that you only needed a single noodle to feel full. A majority of this recipe, outside of the dough, hinges on roasting radishes and garlic in butter, then taking that butter, the roasted garlic, milk, and pink peppercorn, and blending them into a velvety sauce that we then finish that with finely grated parmesan(this is important because too large of clumps and the cheese will never melt into the sauce), the cooked pasta, and some of that pasta water, just to guarantee that it emulsifies and clings to the noodles. I also blanched and shocked the radish greens and pureed them with oil to form this vibrant, peppery radish top oil, just to add more fragrance. While it was not the mafaldine dish I had originally expected to make, I am still pretty happy with how this came out – you have a gorgeous noodle, almost sweet-roasted radishes, a creamy, floral sauce, and crunchy parm to finish. This dish is proof that it’s hard to go wrong with pasta!

Makes 4 servings:
For the buttered radishes:
16 breakfast radishes, leaves removed and reserved, and halved
4 cloves garlic
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp flaky sea salt

Place all of the ingredients in an aluminum foil parcel, fully covering them. Roast at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Allow the radishes to cool before fishing them out of the butter, and sprinkle salt onto them. Reserve the rest of the contents of the parcel for the butter sauce.

For the extruded pasta dough:
100g semolina flour
35g water
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix everything together until combined into a dough. Place into a pasta extruder with a ribbon pasta attachment, and extrude the dough into ribbons that are 7 to 8 inches in length.

In heavily salted water, boil the noodles for 30 seconds. Finish the pasta in the butter sauce.

For the crispy parmesan:
2oz parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 tsp pink peppercorns, crushed

On a parchment-lined sheet tray, bake the parmesan and peppercorns in an even layer at 400 degrees F for 8 minutes. Crack into smaller pieces.

For the radish oil:
1oz radish leaves, blanched and shocked
2oz olive oil
a pinch of salt

Puree everything together in a blender, and pass through a cheesecloth.

For the butter sauce:
4 cloves butter-roasted garlic
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp crushed pink peppercorns
1oz radish butter
3 tbsp parmesan reggiano

In a blender, puree the roasted garlic, and milk, and peppercorns until the garlic is fully blended in. In a pan, start by heating up the butter, with the radishes, until melted, then whisk into that the garlic milk. At this point, add in the par-cooked pasta, 1 tbsp of the pasta water, the parmesan, and stir until everything is coated.

To plate, start by placing down one noodle, then garnish with the sauce, radishes, and radish oil. Finish with the crispy parmesan.