I’ve always wanted to make fresh pasta, I tried once and failed miserably. This time I was determined. And what do you know, nailed it. The first time I made this was for my roommate and myself. I was insure of the proper cooking technique- "when it floats it’s done". Honey, it floats the second you put it in the water! Anyway, I went along with it. I paired it with a yummy Alfredo sauce and oh my LORD. You will never want to go back to dried boxed pasta again. The fresh stuff is so unbelievably light and fluffy and has a great chew. If it wasn’t such a process, I’d have it every day! Also, in case there are any other fat kids out there- you can eat so much more of the fresh pasta! Because it's so light and just made up of simple ingredients you won't fill up and feel nasty. Before you know it, you’ll feel like you’re at a villa in Tuscany snapping your fingers at Francesco- the scantily clad pool boy, to come fill your glass with prosecco!
I come to you with a wonderful, nay, amazing, recipe for homemade pasta. Trust me when I say, this dish is garunteed to impress. Yes, it takes a couple hours, but when you see your guests display the look of pure nirvana on their faces... it’ll be very worth it. Unfortunately, you will need a pasta attachment for your mixer, a counter pasta crank, or some other contraption to ensure the dough is rolled thin enough (for this recipe I’ll be using the pasta attachment for my KitchenAid mixer- both the flat and spaghetti).
-2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
-4 eggs
-1 tsp kosher salt
-water as needed
1. Put all ingredients into the mixing bowl.
2. Using the dough hook on the lowest speed, mix until all of the ingredients are incorporated into a soft, slightly sticky dough ball. (Here is where it gets a bit tricky. You'll have to keep using a spatula to help incorporate the mixture. Once everything is kind of together, start dripping in a tablespoon of water at a time until the dough just comes together. If you overwater the dough, just add in a couple dashes of flour to dry it up.)
3. Once the dough is together, let it kneed for a minute or so until it's smooth and bounces back to the touch.
4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for a half hour.
5. When the dough has firmed up, remove it from the wrap and cut into four equal pieces (makes it much easier to work with).
6. Using lots of flour on the dough, attach the flat roller to the mixer and turn the dial to 1 or the widest setting and slowly feed the dough into the roller.
7. With one pass through, fold the dough in half and roll through the 1 setting a second time.
8. Set the dial to 3 and roll the dough through.
9. Set the dial to 4 and roll the dough through (for spaghetti, I like to stop here. If it's too thin, it'll have trouble cutting).
10. On a floured surface, set the rolled dough aside.
11. Repeat steps 6-10 with the remaining three sections of dough.
12. Once all the dough has been rolled thin, change the attachment on the mixer to the spaghetti cutter.
13. Again, keeping the dough floured, carefully feed each section of dough through the cutter. Setting aside the cut pieces on a floured or cornmeal covered surface.
14. Repeat step 13 for the remaining dough.
15. Once all the pasta is cut you can either let it dry out or cook it right away in a large pot of boiling salted water- if you let the pasta dry a bit, fluff it occasionally to ensure it doesn't stick together. (I like letting it dry a little before cooking, but I definitely suggest cooking it before storing in the fridge. It doesn't last long as a raw dough when being stored).
16. When you're ready to cook, don't overcrowd the pot and I'd let it cook in a large pot of boiling salted water for 3-5 minutes, but test earlier if you feel it may be done.
ENJOY!
Fresh pasta is seriously the best, in my opinion. The taste is so delicious and fresh and even though it takes a little time, it's worth it. Now that you have the basics down, you can do anything! You could add some spinach juice, or beet juice, or any other flavorings and get fancy with it! Whatever you do, just enjoy it : )
Meaghan
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