It's true, and while it's not quick or exceptionally easy, it is really fun and amazingly delicious. Plus, I feel like making your own pasta earns you some bragging rights. My boyfriend is tired of hearing me brag, so I'm here to share my homemade pasta conquest with you.
Ready to try it? You know you want to! Here are my step-by-step photos and notes on the process. Scroll down for a recipe for midnight fettucine--a simple sauce to let your pasta shine.
This is a special recipe from America's Test Kitchen for people who DON'T have special pasta machines. So if you're fancy and do have a machine, this might not be the right recipe for you. But, leave me a comment about what machine you have and how you like it!
Here's the dough recipe (from America's Test Kitchen).
Ingredients:
2 cups flour, plus extra
2 large eggs
6 large egg yolks (save the whites for this or this or a healthy breakfast scramble)
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
Put 2 cups of flour and all the remaining ingredients in your food processor. Whir until the mixture comes together into a ball.Touch the dough. If it sticks to your fingers, add more flour a tablespoon at a time until it's just a little bit tacky.
I found this hard to do in the food processor, so I dumped the dough out onto a cutting board and worked in extra flour until it felt right. I added 3-4 tablespoons.
Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it with the palms of your hands for a couple of minutes, until it feels really smooth.
Form a cylinder of dough that's about six inches long. Flour it lightly on all sides (otherwise it will stick) and wrap it in plastic wrap.
Let the dough rest at room temperature for at least one hour and up to four. The longer you let it rest, the easier it will be to roll out. I let mine sit for an hour and a half and rolling it out took a little elbow grease, but went just fine.
When you are ready to roll out your dough, unwrap it. Using a sharp knife (I subsequently discovered that my pizza cutter is NOT super sharp), cut the dough into six equal pieces.You will work with one piece at a time, so wrap the remaining pieces back up with plastic wrap (flour them a little first and wrap them individually).
Using your hands, form a 3 x 3 inch square with the dough and flour it lightly on both sides.
Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a six inch square. As you can see, mine wasn't really square. I did my best. Lightly flour it again on both sides.
Place the rolling pin in the middle of the dough, and using one motion, pull the rolling pin toward you as you roll out the bottom half of the dough.
Then, place the rolling pin in the middle again. This time, push the rolling pin away from you to roll out the top half of the dough.
Repeat this process until the dough is about 20 inches long and 6 inches wide, and you can see the outline of your fingers through it.
Set rolled out strips aside on a kitchen towel to dry a little while you roll out the rest of the dough.
When you finish rolling out the strips, go back and get the first one. The edges should feel a little firm and dry. If it isn't floury, flour it lightly on both sides so it won't stick to itself.
Starting with one of the short ends of the dough, roll up the strip by folding over two inch segments. Don't push the layers together, just roll them up very gently.
Using a very sharp knife, slice the roll crosswise into 1/2 inch wide slices.
Unroll them with your fingers. Ta-da! Fresh fettucine.
Cook the pasta within an hour, or freeze it. To freeze, place the whole baking sheet in the freezer until the pasta is firm. Transfer to an airtight zip top bag and store for up to two weeks. You can boil the pasta straight from the freezer.
To cook the pasta, boil in a large pot of salted water until just al dente, 1-3 minutes (it might take longer with frozen pasta). Fresh pasta cooks really fast, so check it early!
I used my fresh pasta to make midnight fettucine. This easy pasta is called midnight fettucine (or spaghetti) because chefs like to make it as quick and easy meal when they get home from work at midnight. I loved it with this fresh pasta, but you can make it with any pasta and it will still be delicious. You can dress it up with parmesan, parsley, or red pepper flakes if you want, but I like it best just the way it is.
Ingredients:
1 pound pasta
1/3 cup olive oil
10-15 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
Salt to taste
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for about ten minutes. You want the garlic to soften and sizzle but not brown, so reduce the heat if it starts to turn golden.
Cook the pasta until al dente and drain, reserving one cup of the cooking water.
Toss the pasta with the garlic and oil, season to taste with salt, and add cooking water as necessary to thin out the sauce. Serve hot.
I love homemade pasta - crazy how much tastier it is than the dried stuff, isn't it? Great post!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave! Yes--it's going to be hard to go back to the boxed stuff!
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