When I have the time, I love, love, love making fresh pasta for an extra special meal. There's just something about getting your hands in the dough, methodically rolling sheets of pasta, nesting bundles of long noodles.
There is nothing overly complicated about the ingredients or techniques. You just need time especially if making enough pasta for a crowd.
In fact, a Pasta Party is one of my all time favorite dinner party concepts. We like to invite over another couple or two and make pasta together. I clear the decks, pile flour on the countertop, and have have everyone go to town kneading the dough by hand. Coupled with glasses of wine and tasty apps, it's a perfect way to keep your hands busy while catching up!
And the best part about fresh pasta - it's a blank canvas! Toss the noodles with your favorite sauce.
Fresh Pasta
Ingredients
· 2 cups flour
· 4 eggs
· 1 tbsp olive oil
· ¼ tsp fine salt
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the dough starts to form a rough ball. Remove the dough from the processor and onto a lightly floured work surface. Knee the dough with the heel of your hand until the dough is very smooth.
Form the dough into a ball with your hands and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day.
Using a bench scrapper, cut the dough disc into 8 wedges. Shape one wedge into an rough rectangle and dust with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until just thin enough to fit through your pasta machine. Pass the flatten dough through the widest setting of the pasta machine. After each pass through the machine, adjust the setting down by one. Lightly flour the sheet if the dough starts to tear or stick. Continue to pass the sheet of dough through the machine until you reach your desired noodle thickness.
Finally, pass the sheet through the spaghetti or fettuccine to cut the noodles. Hang the noodles over a drying rack or gather in a small bundle on a floured baking sheet. Repeat with all remaining dough wedges.
Cook in an abundance of boiling water for 2-3 minutes until the pasta is al dente. Toss with your favorite sauce.
Makes 1lb pasta dough
Notes
When rolling out the pasta dough, I usually target setting number 5 on the pasta machine.
If you prefer a noodle wider than your machine might afford for, say pappardelle, cut the sheets to the desired width using a knife or pizza cutter.
Gluten Free Friendly!
Substitute with Cup4Cup. You can also substitute Better Batter plus 4 tbsp tapioca starch. In either case, you may need to add a splash of water to bring the dough together.
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