Using My Noodle, or, Homemade Pasta is Delicious

Several days ago, I told you all about Lidia Bastianich's bolognese recipe.  Her delicious, decadent (can a pasta sauce BE decadent? Uh, yes it can), rich and satisfying bolognese.  It should be against the law but happily, it is not.

I knew that such a special sauce deserved a special accompaniment, aka homemade pasta.  

Would store-bought dried pasta be just as good? Yes.  I am 150% certain that it would (even if I hadn't eaten leftovers with dried pasta I'd still be certain of this).  I just figured at the time that if I was diving in, I might as well go off the deep end.  It's how I roll, in case you didn't already know.

I had tried in the past to make my own pasta but it was never much fun.  As much as I adore the idea of my Kitchenaid pasta attachment...we've never been good friends.  I think this comes from the fact that I can never seem to keep the noodles from sticking together without drenching them with flour as they're being extruded and basically making a big fat floury mess.  I don't know.  It just never worked well for me.

But then. Oh, then.  Santa brought me a shiny pasta machine for Christmas!

Seriously.  No one should ever be as excited about something without diamonds in it as I was about this pasta machine.  Although it is kinda shiny...

Anyway, I figured that if I was making Lidia's bolgonese, I might as well use Lidia's recipe for homemade pasta as well! So I took her recipe for homemade tagliatelle...

3 cups all-purpose flour (plus more as needed)

3 large, cold eggs

3 large, cold egg yolks

3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbs ice water (plus more as needed)

...and followed her instructions.  The flour went into my food processor and was pulsed a few times to aerate.  My wet ingredients were then mixed in a separate measuring cup and, with the processor running, I poured them through the feed tube and processed until the dough came together and just about cleared the sides of the bowl.

The dough was a bit too wet, though, so when I emptied it onto my (clean!) counter, I added a bit more flour and kneaded it in for a few minutes until the dough was smooth.

Pretty.  Then the dough was wrapped in plastic and allowed to rest for 30 minutes (a little more, actually - remember I had that sauce taking up all of my attention, too!).  At this point the dough can be left in the fridge for a day or frozen for "a month or more", according to Lidia - just defrost in the fridge and allow to return to room temp before rolling.

And speaking of rolling...I divided the dough into 6 pieces and floured each piece generously before starting the rolling process.

Rolling the dough is my favorite part, and I'm well aware of how dorky I sound when I say that.  

You start with the machine on its highest setting - in this case, level 7.  

Roll the dough through a few times to get it ready to be rolled more thinly.  Then just turn the knob down one number and re-roll.  Repeat this step until you're at your desired thinness.  I usually stop at 3 - I like a little bite to my pasta.  But that's up to you - experiment as you will.

As each sheet is finished rolling I lay it out over a dish towel and allow it to dry a little bit in order to make the cutting process easier.  Now, I have both spaghetti and fettuccine cutters on my machine and in this case I used the fettuccine cutters.  But you could just as easily fold the pasta sheets into thirds or fourths, then cut into strips and shake them out when finished.  Either way, when pasta is cut it's important to toss the noodles with a bit of flour to ensure that they don't stick together.  Just give them a shake to remove excess flour before putting them in your boiling water.

Fresh pasta doesn't require much cooking time - a few minutes should do.  I test frequently to make sure I don't cook it into mush.

So, in case you didn't already know this: Making fresh pasta takes time.  But anyone who has ever had the chance to eat fresh pasta will tell you, the difference is mind-blowing.  The texture and flavor exists in a world of its own.  Is it as perfectly uniform as store-bought fresh or dried pasta? No.  But that's part of the fun.  Plus there's the knowledge that your finished product contains good, fresh ingredients and isn't concealing any secrets - which of course is the point of all home cooking, right?

Yummy.

Have you ever made fresh pasta by hand? How did it turn out? If not, do you think you'd be interested in trying this yourself?

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