Compiling your wedding list is fun. It is a free ticket for something that you do not really need, you do not feel comfortable spending some serious money on it, but you feel you deserve it. Also it feel compulsory to choose items that will stay with you – happily ever after – for at least a couple of good decades.
Time to embrace your passions and match them with great presents. The Lord indulged in a solid crystal decanter to enhance good red wines and make the less so drinkable. I got the Kitchen Aid, and, as I was indulging, I got the pasta tools as well.
Inspired by my friend Gaia and her legendary Shoreditch pastificio Burro e Salvia, I thought it was my duty to give pasta making a go. I saw my mother making it with a manual pasta machine, my grandmother doing it from scratch, using exclusively her hands a rolling pin, so I decided to leave the fear of failing behind me and give it a go. Twenty-first century technology was on my side, so what could go wrong?
I tried few attempts, all successful and well received, a gluten free version (not hugely proud of it, the dough doesn’t stick very well together), and reached the conclusion that this is the best recipe.
Warning. It gets messy. Flour gets everywhere and I spend half of my pasta time clearing out the mess. Hopefully with a bit more experience, I will get better at that as well. But it was worthy.
Bring on the next pasta party!
300 gr plain flour, also called 00
3 large eggs, well beaten
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Makes 450 gr of pasta
10 minutes to mix
1 hour to rest in the fridge plus 15 extra minutes
30 minutes to make pasta – hopefully I will get faster with practise
Instructions
Combine the flour, and salt in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine the eggs & beat well with a fork.
Add extra-virgin olive oil to the eggs and mix with a fork.
Add the cold water to the egg & olive oil mixture, and mix
Pour the liquid ingredients into your mixer bowl and attach the flat beater.
Add half of the flour, turn to speed 2 and mix 20 seconds. Add the rest of the flour and mix an additional 20 seconds.
Exchange flat beater for the dough hook.
Turn to speed 2 and knead for 5 to 8 minutes, until a dough ball is formed.
NOTE: Good pasta dough should be elastic and pliable, but FIRM (not soft like bread dough). It should not stick to your fingers or fall apart.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour.
Remove dough from refrigerator and let it rest for 15 minutes.
Using your hands, roll dough into a log, and slice it into 4 piece.
Flatten each piece slightly, using a rolling pin. Spread it with flour, so the dough doesn’t stick on it.
Using the widest setting (1 on the Kitchenaid), turn mixer to speed 2 and taking one piece of the flattened dough, feed through rollers. Fold dough in half & roll again. Repeat 3 more times, lightly dusting the sheet of pasta in between each rolling.
Move adjustment knob to setting 2 and feed the dough sheet through the rollers once or twice, depending how think do you like your pasta. I like it thick!
Continue to increase roller setting until desired dough thickness is reached
Place the pasta sheets on a clean and thin kitchen cloth, the bigger the better,
dusted with flour, so the dough doesn’t dry out or stick.
And now the fun part, where the magic happens:
Exchange the Pasta Roller Sheet attachment for the tagliatelle one.
Run each sheet through the cutter.
Fold each set of tagliatelle into a next and dust with flour again.
You can place the pasta in the fridge for up to 12 hours, so I suggest to store there only what you are willing to eat in the next few hours. Everything else can go in the freezer.
When ready to cook, boil your water and add salt. I also add a spoon of oil.
Fresh pasta will cook faster than commercially bought pasta — about 4 minutes are sufficient.
