Homemade Pasta

Recipe and Images by Yasmin

For my birthday last year I received a pasta machine!!! However, these holidays have been the only opportunity thus far to use the machine and make my very own fettuccine!!! As a first timer, my first tip is to give yourself PLENTY of time before the designated dinner time to prepare the meal. My second tip is to prepare pasta with another person, I find that it is helpful to have two sets of hands rather than one. My third tip is two lightly flour both sides of the rolled out pasta before putting it through the part of the machine which cuts the pasta. This ensures that the pasta won't become stuck in the machine and bunch up when coming out because it is stuck to the sides. Taking all of these tips into account when making pasta is VERY helpful. Upon my second attempt this holiday at making pasta I produced the perfect fettuccine! My friend and I were dancing around the house we were so excited!!! The fettuccine we produced was picture perfect! Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the pasta before cooking it; however, the first time I made pasta I did take photos before cooking it. This means you will see the not so perfect first attempt at pasta rather than the picture perfect pasta, but it all tastes good anyway! I hope you are all successful in your attempts at making pasta. The best part about pasta is that you can add anything to it to serve. However, before I teach you how to make a meal out of pasta, I will devote this post to mearly teaching you how to prepare and cook plain fettuccine. Enjoy!

Before beginning the Recipe I would like to type out an excert from my new pasta recipe book which explains the ingredients.

Flour Special flour for making pasta may be 100% durum wheat semolina, such as an aithentic Italian flour called doppio zero (double zero). Other types may be a combination of durum wheat semolina and ordinary flour. Alternatively, use unbleached strong (bread) plain flour or plain wholemeal flour, or a mixture of unbleached strong plain flour and buckwheat  or rice flour. A small portion of soya flour will boost the protein content of the pasta.

Eggs Although much commercial pasta is made with just flour and water, most homemade pasta includes eggs. Standard medium eggs are ideal.

Oil Olive oil is authentic. Since the amount used is small, it Will not have a great impact on the fat content of a dish.
Salt fine sea salt offers the best flavour.



Fettuccine

Ingredients:

• 500g bakers flour
• 4 eggs or 320ml of water

Method:
The basic recipe per person is: approx. 125g of wheat flour and 1 egg (at room temperature). For 4 people, this equates to 500g of wheat flour and 4 eggs. Water can also be used in place of eggs. 1 egg = approx. 80 ml of water. For this particular recipe do not add any salt.

Pour the flour into a bowl and add the eggs/water into the middle of the flour. Mix the eggs with a fork until they are completely blended with the flour. Knead the mixture with your hands until it is completely homogenous and consistent. If the mixture is too dry add some water. If the mixture is to moist or soft and some flour. Remove the mixture from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured table. Cut the piece of dough into smaller and more manageable sized chunks before putting it through the pasta machine.

If you don't own a pasta machine simply roll the dough with a rolling pin and cut it into long thin strips of pasta.

When using the pasta machine, simply feed it through the rolling end a few times to ensure it is thin and smooth (with no holes or bubbles). Then lightly flour it both sides before feeding it through the cutting blades. This ensures the perfect slices of fettuccine. Repeat this step until all of the dough has been used.

Boil water in a big saucepan. Once the water has come to the boil, add the fettuccine. Cook the fettuccine on high for 2-4 minutes. Drain the fettuccine and place in a bowl for flavouring which will be found in the next post.