Got a pasta crank sitting around? If not, this can be done with a rolling pin, too. Making homemade pasta couldn't be simpler, and it's the perfect thing to do on a Sunday. 3 ingredients, an hour of your time, and you could be eating pasta YOU made yourself. How gratifying! There is nothing like eating the real deal. Much lighter than any box pasta! I got this recipe from Lidia Bastianich's Family Table.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 3 eggs + 1 yolk
- 2 TB olive oil
Beat the eggs and the oil together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, add the flour. Add the egg mixture to the flour and mix with a fork until clumped. Make a ball of dough with your hands. On a floured working surface, start kneading your dough until it gets dense and shiny. It should not be sticky, if it is, add more flour.
Your dough should look like this. Wrap it in plastic wrap, and let rest for 30 minutes at room temp.
After resting, cut the dough into fourths. Take one piece and wrap the rest so it doesn't dry out.
Make a work surface, complete with pasta crank, bowl of flour for sprinkling, kitchen towels for layering, and a floured baking sheet for your pasta nests. It's good to do this while the dough is resting.
Pass the dough quarter through the pasta crank on the widest setting (#5). Pass thru once, and fold into thirds. Turn, and pass through again. Do this about 8x, continuously folding and turning the dough.
Turn the crank down 2 notches, to setting #3. Pass through once more.
Turn pasta crank to setting #1, thinnest setting. Pass through once more.
You'll have beautiful, long, thin sheets, keep them nicely floured, and continue with the rest of the dough. Layer the strips between kitchen towels, being careful not to let any pasta touch each other. The dough will get drier and easy to work with.
Once you have all your strips ready, move the crank to the pasta setting of your choice. I chose wide pasta - like fettuccine. Crank your strips through, catching the pasta strands on the other side.
Start piling up "pasta nests", sprinkling
liberally with flour.
Beautiful pasta!
Boil some water, add pasta. Only takes a minute til it's ready!
Plate and serve with your favorite Sunday sauce.