Fresh Pasta

There is nothing better than fresh pasta and nothing easier to make.  Probably best I didn’t know how easy fresh pasta was to make before, but now it is the only pasta my kids will eat.  In fact, the other day my son asked what was for dinner and I told him pasta and sauce.  He asked if it was fresh pasta because if it wasn’t, he would find something else for dinner.

By the way, if you don’t have a kitchen scale, you should purchase one.  They aren’t expensive and are much more accurate for ingredients than measuring.  You can usually find one at the discount department stores for around $10.

Fresh Pasta – serves 2

4 oz semolina flour (this is a course flour made from durum wheat which makes pasta yellow)

2 oz AP flour (you can also use artisan, “00” or Italian flour)

1 t salt

2 t olive oil

2 eggs (slightly beaten)

Mix the semolina, AP flour and salt together in a bowl.  Make a well in the center and add the eggs and oil.

Slowly stir the flour mixture into the eggs.  Continue until all the flour is mixed into the eggs.

Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead until smooth.

Usually about 1 minute.  Flatten into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove from the plastic wrap and cut into rectangles approximately 1 inch wide. Start a large kettle of salted water to boil so it is ready when you are finished cutting your pasta.   Flatten out and do a letter fold with each of the rectangles of pasta dough, dipping in flour as needed to keep from being sticky.

Roll through your pasta roller at the lowest setting  and do another letter fold and roll through again at the lowest setting.  Continue rolling through the pasta roller, sprinkling with flour as needed,  increasing the setting each time until you have the desired thickness (I usually go to setting 5) then roll through the cutter onto a tray of flour.

When you have cut all your pasta, shake off the excess flour then carefully drop into the boiling water.  Allow to boil for 3 minutes.  Remove and allow to drain – DO NOT RINSE.  Add sauce, olive oil, freshly grated parmesan cheese, etc and serve immediately.

Experiment with using flavored olive oils like lemon, adding dried herbs or laminating fresh basil leaves between layers of fresh pasta then cut into a lasagna noodle, but that’s a post for another day.  Enjoy!