Fresh home made pasta

This weekend we did a half marathon.  This was to be my sweetie's first ever half marathon, so she was a little nervous.  I assured her that she had trained well, and the final bit of preparation was to carbo-load.  That's right - the traditional bread-and-pasta food orgy a day before the race.

Home-made Fettuccine with Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic

As always, I made a home-grown sauce for our pasta, but to make it special I decided to teach crazy girl how to make home-made fresh pasta.  As an added twist, we made it with fresh basil.  The shape we chose was a tagliatelle, similar in shape and size to a fettuccine but wider than linguini.

Home-made tagliatelle with fresh chopped basil

The pasta dough is remarkably simple to make.  I complicated things ever so slightly with the addition of fresh chopped basil leaves.

Unlike bread dough, the recipe for pasta dough is easily adaptable as it does not rely on rising.  If it is too damp, it's easy to add flour during the rolling process.  If too dry, it's simple to return to the kneading surface and work in some olive oil or water.

Basic:

• 2 whole eggs (Some recipes call for only the yolk, but I like the texture added by the white)
• 2 cups seminola flour (in a pinch, use all purpose)

That's it.  Really.  But I added these ingredients this time around:

• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup finely chopped basil

I initially combined these ingredients using my mix-master and a dough hook, then transferred to a board for more thorough kneading.  You need to knead only as much as needed to combine the ingredients.  (I did that on purpose.)

Wrap in Saran-Wrap, a damp towel or put in a Zip-Loc baggie and let rest for 20 minutes.  It's tired!

The rolling process can be frustrating at first.  Remember, screw-ups simply go back into the dough-ball for a second try.  Get yourself a machine (electric ones are available, but simple ones like mine are inexpensive and can probably be borrowed) and get rolling!

A simple, inexpensive pasta roller / cutter

My roller is not a brand-name one - I hope eventually to get a more sturdy one with a wider variety of cutting attachments.  But for now it works fine for fettuccine or raviolis.  Here is a video showing the first pass of dough through the machine:

The first pass is easy, but don't expect something beautiful yet.  As a matter of fact, expect some screw-ups.  Here is a video of me dealing with one such disaster and turning it into a wonderful finished product:

With one or two practice runs under your belt, it gets easier.  Eventually things start to look thusly:

Feeding a still-ragged sheet into the roller

Several fold-and-rolls later, it looks more civilized

When you've got a long, flat sheet, it's time to cut into ribbons.

Finished homemade pasta can be left hanging for up to several days to dry, or as in our case, can go straight into boiling water for a very fresh dish.  If fresh-made, remember that you don't have to cook it nearly as long.  Al dente (meaning "to the bite") or lightly cooked fresh pasta has a delightful flavor and texture to it that you won't get from pasta off the grocery shelf.

Buon Appetito!