In the spirit of the DIY movement that is thriving in culinary circles these days (or as our friend, Tamar Haspel, dubbed it the "First Hand Food" movement — my all-time favorite term for what is is we are all trying to do — connect with our food first hand!), my resolution is make — from scratch — everything I possibly can instead of racing out to the store to buy it. For starters, here's a batch of homemade fettuccine I made just this morning. It took less than 5 minutes to make the dough, then it rested for 20 minutes, then less than 10 minutes to make passes through my hand-cranked Imeria pasta machine. Since you work on it in spurts and since the actual time spent making it is so short, it's an easy thing to add into your routine, regardless of whether it's a play day or a work day. Enjoy!
Quick Homemade Pasta
1 1/2 cups Semolina flour
1/4 tsp of salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp Olive oil
Combine flour and salt, then add all other ingredients. Mix until you have a stiff, but not too sticky, dough. Knead for 5 minutes (I do both of these steps, the mixing and the kneading) in my stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Wrap dough in a clean, damp dish towel and let rest for 20 minutes at room temperature. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to desired thickness (about 1/4" thick), then slice the long way into two sheets. Put each sheet through the pasta machine on the widest setting once (#5 on the Imperia), then another time through the next widest (#4). Then either roll the long wide strips up like you would a jelly roll so you can hand cut into strips of desired width more easily, or else put the wide strips through a fettuccine or spaghetti cutter on the opposite side of your pasta machine if it is equipped with one. Toss strips of finished pasta with a small amount of flour to prevent them from sticking together. Store in an air-tight container or cook immediately by dropping pasta into a pot of boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes, depending on thickness. Immediately serve with your favorite sauce.
Comments