Let's talk pasta. Who doesn't love a good, hearty pasta dish? There are so many varieties that you can do almost anything with it. But have you ever had fresh, just made pasta? Let me tell you - there's nothing like it. Sure, it's easy to buy that dried pasta from the store, but the fresh flavor and texture just isn't there. And there's something so humbling and gratifying about making it yourself. It's easier than you think, and much more cost-effective than store-bought. I made enough pasta for 8 people with just a few ingredients. I recommend eating it with my homemade marinara sauce!
To make it really easy, I suggest getting a pasta roller attachment for your stand mixer if you don't already have one. I don't have a pasta cutter attachment but it's really easy to cut with a knife so I don't recommend spending the money on it.
Here's how to make it:
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour (or semolina)
3 large eggs
1/2 TSP sea salt
1/2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
Place the flour on a clean work surface (I used my silicone mat) and make a nest in the middle. Add the eggs, olive oil, and salt to the center and use a fork to gently break up the eggs, keeping the flour walls intact as best as you can.
Use your hands to gently bring the flour inward to incorporate it. Continue working the dough with your hands to bring it together into a rough ball.
Knead the dough for about 8 to 10 minutes. Don't add flour - the dough will be very dry but after kneading it will all come together. If it's still too dry after 8 minutes, sprinkle your fingers with water to incorporate it into the dough.
Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Dust a large baking pan with flour and set aside.
Slice the dough into four even pieces. Using your hands or a rolling pin, gently flatten one at a time into an oval disk. Run the first disk of dough through the pasta roller attachment three times on level 8 (the widest setting - this is the setting on my attachment).
Fold both short ends in to meet in the center, then fold the dough in half to form a rectangle.
Run the dough through the pasta roller three times on level 7 (or next level), three times on level 6, and one time each on levels 5, 4 and 2.
Lay half of the pasta sheet onto the floured baking sheet and sprinkle with flour before folding the other half on top. Sprinkle more flour on top of the second half. Every side should be floured so that your final pasta noodles won't stick together.
Repeat with remaining dough. You should end up with two separate layers of dough (2 disks of dough each) on the baking pan.
Take each layer of dough and fold according to #7 in the instructions.
On a cutting board, using a sharp knife, slice the folded dough to desired thickness. The pasta I made (in the photo) was for linguine. You can make it thinner or thicker! If you have a pasta cutter attachment, use that according to its instructions.
Separate the pasta ribbons and cook in a pot of salted boiling water for 2 minutes until desired texture. Two minutes makes it al dente, which is perfect for me!
Add sauce, veggies, meat or seafood and enjoy! You can store the pasta in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap for up to two days.
Did you make pasta? Share pics in the comments!