Of all the memories that managed to stick around from when I was a wee tiny child, pasta was definitely my first love. Coffee is a close second. My parents would have friends over, we would roll out crazy long sheets of pasta dough, and everyone would enjoy their dinner a little bit more due to the satisfaction of making it with their own two hands.
When I got married and moved away, my Mom and Dad got me the two most important kitchen accessories: A Kitchen Aid mixer, and a pasta machine.
I use it as often as I can, and homemade fettuccine is my go-to impress the neighbors meal. It's easy, but a tiny bit time consuming. In the words of the great Alton Brown, "Your patience will be rewarded."
This is a pretty basic pasta dough recipe, I had a photocopy from the book that came with my Mom's pasta machine, so original credit goes to Mercado, I believe.
You start with a bowl, dump in your flour and salt, then dig a little swimming pool in the middle for your wet ingredients to play in. I add a few teaspoons of dried herbs to the wet ingredients to make my pasta look pretty. :)
Stir with a fork, just like you're making scrambled eggs, scraping a little of the flour wall in at a time. GO SLOWLY, if the flour gets added too quickly, you will get a big crumbly mess. Trust me.
You will get to a point where the fork will no longer cut it. That's when you get your hands involved. Knead the remaining flour into the dough until it is all combined, and your dough ball is tough, and not sticky. Sort of Play-dough consistency.
Roll it into a nice, happy ball, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes.
Cut the ball in quarters, and flatten and cut it with your machine, if you have one. If you do not, don't despair! You can roll your pasta out with a rolling pin and make ravioli, tortellini, or just cut strips with a pizza cutter! (this part is fun for the kids)
Then hang your pasta to dry! Before I got this fancy pasta rack, I used 1/4" dowels hanging from my cabinets with rubber bands. Classy, I know, but it worked really well!
When you are ready to eat, boil a BIG pot of SALTED water (DO NOT skip the salt, it makes all the difference in the world with ANY pasta... I can go on a very long tirade about not salting pasta water, but I will spare you today. ) Your water should taste like the ocean. Don't add a teaspoon to a gallon of water and call it salted! Ok ok ok, I'm calming down.
Depending on the thickness and level of dryness, your pasta should cook in 5-10 minutes. Just keep sampling until it feels good.
... I promise you, it will be oh, so good!
-CJ
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