Homemade Pasta

Who knew you could score a $20 pasta maker at Ross? That's right folks we are now officially getting our pasta on. You may remember back in December making raviolis with a rolling pin. Such a silly girl was I. A pasta maker is a huge time saver that is really easy to use and (who knew?) cheap.

You may want to mix the actual dough by hand, however, as I found it difficult to tell whether the dough needed flour or water in my food processor. It's something you need to feel out.

I was amazed how quickly this all came together. In about 90 minutes you could be eating the best pasta of your life!

Homemade Pasta

from The Barnes & Noble Essentials of Cooking

makes 1 pound of pasta

2 cups flour + more for dusting

3 eggs

Start with a flour well. Crack in room temperature eggs. Break the yolks with your fingers and slowly begin to mix in the flour, little by little. After a minute or two, you will have a cohesive ball of dough. You don't want it to be sticky, if so, add a little flour. If the dough is not coming together, add some water, one teaspoon at a time.

Knead the dough until supple, about five minutes. Let it rest, covered in plastic wrap, for 30 minutes.

When you are ready to roll the dough out, divide it into three pieces. Keep the remaining pieces covered. Take the first piece and guide it through the pasta maker on the widest setting. Fold the dough into thirds and repeat on the widest setting a few more times, folding into thirds each time. This helps to knead the dough. Sprinkle a little flour on the dough each time you pass it through, this keeping it from sticking.

Now guide the pasta through the next widest setting a couple times. Guide the pasta through each setting until you've reached the second to thinnest. This is the recommended setting for spaghetti, linguini and the like, although I used the thinnest setting, too and it came out fine.

Repeat this with the remaining dough. Allow the pieces of dough to air dry on the counter at least 15 minutes before passing it through the cutting side of the pasta maker. You want it to be a leathery texture so that the teeth can cut it cleanly. Dust the noodles with a little flour if you are not cooking them immediately.

Cook fresh noodles for 2-4 minutes in salted, boiling water. Taste a noodle for doneness. Strain and add your favorite pasta sauce. Enjoy!