Pasta comes from a box that you find at the supermarket, right? Not true, before there were supermarkets, or markets of any kind pasta was made from scratch in the home. You need only four ingredients and 99% of you have them in your home right now. The process is fairly easy, but the rolling out part can be a bit tricky. That is the part that caused my first attempt to be less than perfect. the recipe that I used came from Kitchen Aid to be used with with the pasta roller attachment for their stand mixers. The instructions were in terms of using that piece of equipment, I was using an old fashioned pasta rolling pin.
I wasn’t sure exactly how thin to roll the pasta out and what I believed to be thin enough was too thick. The pasta was a little thicker than I would have liked it to be, but it tasted great and I will certainly be making another attempt at it.
I added chopped parsley to the dough to add a bit of herb-y goodness as well some color. Definitely worth it. I am sure that the pasta would have tasted great without it, but it was just that much better.
As for the the preparation of the actual meal, this was me trying to come up with something on my own. It started two Fridays ago when a coworker was talking about what to make for dinner. Their spouse does not eat any meat on Friday during Lent, so they were looking for a meat-free dinner idea.
Off the top of my head, I said that he should saute some roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts in a butter/white wine sauce and serve it with fettuccine. Between then and now I have had some time to think about it and mushrooms were added.
Now that I have made it, I have learned a couple things: the artichokes and roasted red peppers didn’t add much to the flavor and more mushrooms would have made it better. We are thinking that next time we will use sun-dried tomatoes in place of the RRPs and the artichokes. I think there will be a better depth of flavor from that. Stay tuned for an update.
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- Place eggs, water, flour, parsley and salt in mixer bowl. Attached bowl and flat beater. Turn to speed 2 and mix for 30 to 60 seconds. Add more water if the dough is too dry, in 1/2 Tablespoon increments.
- Change out the flat beater for the dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and knead for 2 minutes. Remove the dough and knead by hand for 2 minutes. Let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Cut dough into four pieces to be rolled out. In my case, I cut it into two, wrapped one really well and froze it for use at another time. My research shows that it should stay good for about 2 months. We are planning on making homemade ravioli out of it this weekend. Take the two or four pieces and roll them out until paper thin. It will get thicker as you cook it. Use a sharp knife and cut into thin strips. Once cut, twist a few pieces together into a nest shape.
- Once all is cut into strips, place into well salted boiling water and cook for 3-5 minutes. Pasta will float when it is done. Remove from boiling water and serve promptly with your favorite sauce.
