I think it was figuring out how to make my own pasta that really turned me on to making my own food. Doing something which was once common place but now feels almost artisanel helped me to understand how much we take processed food for granted. We hardly question what is in our foods and often assume that even the most basic are either too difficult to make or too time consuming. We have given up making our own food. Food where we know what goes into making it and we decided what it tastes like. Making your own pasta is like reclaiming something you lost in a supermarket freezer.
My 4 year old daughter loves making
pasta with me. She mixes the dough, kneads , rolls, stretches, cuts and dries
it herself. When making your own pasta, the only thing you need to invest in is a pasta maker. Get a
hand cranked one, as you will want to be able to control the speed with which
the pasta goes through the machine. If you get serious, you may also want to
invest in a pasta drying rack. In the mean time you can use a tray and layer
the pasta in between towels or just hang it on your dish rack. I have this and
this, both of which I enjoy using.
Pasta (serves 4)
1. 400 gram all purpose flour
2. 4 eggs
3. A pinch of salt.
Make a mound of flour and the pinch
of salt on your counter top and make a little crater in the middle. Break all
four eggs into the crater and using your fingers start mixing the flour and
eggs. Try not to break the sides of the crater for as long as you can so that
the egg doesn’t run all over the counter. Once it is all mixed, knead the dough
for about 5 minutes, as you would knead bread, coming from above with the palm
of your hand and using the weight of your body, then give the dough a quarter
turn, fold and repeat. Ideally you get a rhythm where you are rocking back and
forth. After 5 minutes your should hae a shiny, elastic dough. If it’s brittle
add a little water, if it’s sticky add a little flour.
Wrap the dough in cling wrap and
let it rest in the fridge for an hour.
Cut the dough into4 equal parts,
spread some flour on your counter and using a rolling pin start flattening the
dough. Try to get it the width the same as your pasta machine.
Sprinkle some flour on your pasta
machine and your rolled dough. The dough should not stick at all. Starting at
the widest position, feed the dough through the machine, pulling slightly at
the end coming out to stretch it. Continue until position 6 or 7. If the pasta
becomes too long to handle, cut it in half. Now put the flattened pasta through
the cutter. When it’s about half way through, stick the handle of a wooden
spoon under the pasta that came out so that you can easily place it somewhere to
dry and not turn into a tangled ball. Place it on a towel on a tray placing an additional
towel in between each layer or hang it somewhere to dry.
Fresh pasta takes much less time to
cook than dry pasta. 3-4 minutes aree usually enough. You’ll want to start
checking after 3 minutes.
