Wednesday 11 February 2015

Pasta a Mano

It's no secret that the Italians are obsessed with their food. Last week my language school took this to another level, and dedicated a whole morning's lessons to those two champions of Italian cuisine: pizza and pasta.

So it is that I can now proudly present, my very own home-made pasta recipe:

The only ingredients you need are flour, eggs, and time (at least an hour, more if you want to make fancier shapes).  



Measure out 100g of flour for every egg, (100g is enough for 1-2 people).
Put your flour in a pile on the table and make a little well in the top



Crack open your eggs into the little well. Don't worry if it spills over the edge like mine, just keep as much of it together as you can.



Mix the flour and eggs together. Start by folding the flour nearest the edge of the well on to the egg (this is the messy bit), keep going until you have a nice ball of dough that looks something like this:


Now you need to knead the dough, (this develops the gluten, which gives the pasta its strong consistency and delicious taste). If the dough starts to get a bit dry just add a few drops of water.

Once you've finished kneading, your ball of dough should have a nice smooth and springy consistency. Wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.


Then you need a good rolling pin and a lot of elbow grease to roll the dough as flat as you can, preferably until it's only a few millimetres thick


Once you've done this, you can decide what kind of pasta you want to make. Biscuit cutters can be put to good use here.






I loved my star shaped (stelline) pasta, but if you're pressed for time something like linguine is a quicker option. You can make it by rolling up the pasta and then slicing it, as shown by the lovely Emma below:





Once you have successfully made your pasta shapes, pop them in some boiling water with a pinch of salt and leave to cook for 2-3 minutes. Make whatever sauce you fancy (we went for tomato with funghi and parmigiano). Once the pasta is ready, mix with your sauce, tuck in and enjoy!





Buon Apetito!