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Holy Sheet! Getting Fresh with Pasta
How it all began.
Fresh pasta was one of the things that really got me on a path towards a love of food.
I was 20 years old when I finally got out on my own and had to start feeding myself for real. At that stage, I was still a lot closer to third-trimester dependance on an umbilical cord than cooking from scratch when it came to my ability to get food into my body.
But I was willing to learn.
The first real eye-opener for me occurred at a friends wedding reception. One course during the meal was a small appetizer of cheese-stuffed tortellini richly dressed in a cream sauce. Wonderful stuff. It was only after eating that I heard about the fact that it was made from scratch by a friend of the groom. I knew the guy. He wasn’t a brain scientist or rocket surgeon, so I thought, hey, I should be able to do this.
So I bought a cookbook by Biba Caggiano, Northern Italian cooking, and I was off to the kitchen. It was a tough go at first, I’ll admit. I’d never really mixed anything with anything before. I probably went through a dozen eggs and I was covered in so much flour I looked like I was just about to take a dip in a deep fryer, but I finally nailed it. I rolled out a sheet of thin pasta, sliced it by hand into fettuccine strips, boiled it for a couple minutes in salted water, drained and served with a tomato sauce.
Pure magic. Real food and I made it. Eighteen years later, I’m still energized from that first experience with real food and fresh pasta is still a huge love for me in my kitchen.
If you, unlike me in my early 20s, have actually mixed something with something before, this shouldn’t be too hard to pick up. Fresh pasta is a whole world of difference from boxed pasta and once you get your fork around it, you’ll realize why it’s worth the (tiny bit of extra) effort.
There are a variety of things you can put in your pasta dough for different results but the basic rule is that one large egg will require 3/4 cup of flour, and one egg worth of dough is one serving. I like to use a mix of durum semolina flour as well as all-purpose flour for a more firm finished pasta. That’s what gives it a nice al dente’ as they say in Italy. But while Italy likes it a bit “to the tooth”, other parts of the world like an egg noodle that’s more tender. In China or Korea for example, the noodles are generally softer so if making egg noodles for a recipe from Asia, just use a mix of all purpose flour and egg (or mix in a bit of buckwheat flour or other soft flour) for a softer noodle.
Making fresh pasta is a fantastic skill to learn so give it a shot!
Fresh pasta (for two)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup durum semolina flour
1 cup all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Mix the 1/2 cup durum semolina and a 1/2 cup of all purpose flour in a bowl. Make a well and add the two eggs. Beat the eggs a bit then start working the flour into to the eggs. It will come together into a wet dough fairly quickly (use a stand mixer or food processor with the dough hook to make quick work of this). Add a few tablespoons of flour at a time, kneading it in well with your hands until you have a dough that can be lifted out of the bowl onto a floured work surface. Knead the dough for at least five minutes, adding flour as needed if it gets sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 10 minutes to rest. Cut the dough into three pieces. Toss a piece in flour on the board, flatten it slightly at pass it through your pasta roller at the widest setting. Fold the dough, flour it again and pass it through the roller again. Do this three or four times. Flour the piece again and begin passing it through the roller at progressively thinner settings until you have the sheet you want for your particular application. You’ll want a thick dough for lasagna or a string pasta, a thinner one for a stuffed pasta. Whatever you end up doing, be sure to season your boiling water well with salt as there is no seasoning in the dough. Enjoy!
That makes sense. Thanks!
The Food Network recipe makes a wetter and much larger dough, which would certainly be easier to work with for pastas such as lasagna sheets and cannelloni. Being wetter though means it’ll be a bit more difficult to cut into strands like spaghetti or linguine without it all sticking together in a glump. As you get used to working with pasta dough, you’ll find you’ll be using less liquid in the mix for a firmer dough. Especially for Italian pastas which should have some firm bite to them when they’re cooked (as opposed to noodles you may find in Asian countries). The semolina flour will help with that al dente bite too.
Tried this recipe. It didn’t work out very well. So far, the best pasta recipe I’ve used is here:
http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=8780
I’ll try to incorporate some durum semolina into it the next time I use it.
Food is a constant experiment, and quest for the perfect plate.
DG
Moncton does indeed have a Bulk Barn. We’ll check that out. Thanks for the tip!
Hi David – the Bulk Barn is your friend! Lisa says you’re in Moncton – do they have a Bulk Barn there? The one here in Saint John carries it and it’s super cheap stuff. Makes for a more firm pasta than just with all purpose flour.
Where do you get durum semolina flour? We only find all purpose and whole wheat at the grocery store. We make fresh pasta all the time but just with all purpose. Any ideas?
Thanks!