Last year, during my Christmas shopping, I procured a pasta maker for fairly cheap at Ross. Just a simple hand-cranked NorPro model, with attachment for making fettuccine and spaghetti. Yesterday, I finally had a chance to try it out.
I used the Joy of Cooking’s Egg Pasta recipe, since it seemed the most simple. I also checked out a couple of websites by googling Homemade Pasta.
3 ½ c. unbleached flour (I used 3 c. white and ½ c. whole wheat)
5 eggs or (7 egg whites)
1 t. salt
1 t. olive oil
I added 1 t. of dill weed and 1 t. of lemon pepper (salt-free) for flavor.
I whisked it together in my food processor for about 20 seconds and then I kneaded it for 10 minutes by hand. I then divided it into 4 pieces and let them set, loosely covered, for 30 minutes. (There were pages and pages of directions, and information in the Joy of Cooking.)
I learned a few more things—dough should not be sticky, keep dusting with flour. It’s like bread making—you get a feel for the right consistency of the dough. I ran it through the pasta maker, following the rules for making the sheets of pasta. I let them dry for about 30 minutes and them ran them through the fettuccine attachment and laid them out to dry again. The more I worked with it, the faster I got at it—I felt like I needed 3 hands to work with it. It was a good thing the baby was napping. ;-) (I think it easier to use the attachment than to cut by hand, I tried both ways.)
I only had to boil them for 5 minutes and served them with homemade pasta sauce. Shawn had two helpings (he wondered if this was gourmet food) and I had mine with garlic butter—see the recipe below. I have to tell you that this was the best pasta I have ever eaten. It’s a little time consuming but wow!! The taste was awesome!! Of course, I will not stop using the cheap boxes of dried pasta, at least right way. I’d like to eventually switch to eating all whole-grain pasta and this is probably the way to do it, as the dried stuff is very expensive.
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4 comments:
I'm glad it turned out! A while ago, I was reading the pasta section of Joy of Cooking also, and it seems as though ravioli would be a good pasta to try homemade for the more primitive folk among us, including me, who have not been priviledged to "procure" a fancy pasta maker. :-) Dear husband's favorite pasta is ravioli so that would work out splendidly. So one of these days, I will try it for a treat.
I do get such a kick out of Shawn's food comments. :-)
I get a kick out of it too. I've been reading up on ravioli too and that is my next new thing to try...I found a filling for Sausage and Pear...I don't think Shawn found that too appetizing. YOu will have to roll the dough really thin for any filled pastas. I'd like to "procure" a ravioli maker--it has the little wells where you put the filling.
I've always thought of trying to make pasta - and don't have a pasta machine, is it possible to make it without one?
Yes, it is very possible. Joy of Cooking says to roll it out thin with a rolling pin and then cut it with a sharp knife. Just leave yourself plenty of time. ;-)
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