Homemade Pasta

I've always loved the idea of homemade pasta.  As I've said many times before, I am a noodle fanatic.  From regular pasta to veggie noodles all the way to the recently attempted sweet potato starch pasta, I love it all (I didn't even include ravioli and tortellini in there!).  My husband gave me a pasta rolling machine for Christmas, and I was ecstatic to use it. For my dad's birthday, I decided to make him one of his favorite dishes, fettuccine alfredo.  I opted to make not only the sauce from scratch (using my Carrot and Kale Alfredo sauce recipe), but also my very first totally from scratch homemade pasta.


Pasta is extremely basic to mix. It's flour, egg, and a bit of water.  I just grabbed my large mixing bowl and dumped in the flour, then created a well in the very center. I added the eggs in there.

 

I used a fork to mix the dough, starting out by stirring the eggs in the center with the flour just touching them.  I then gradually incorporated more flour until all of it was mixed in.  Once the mixture was combined, I dumped the dough on a flour coated cutting board.

 

The dough was a bit dry at this point, so I mixed in a few tablespoons of water at a time until it was uniform and pliable. I then kneaded the dough with my hands.

 

 I rolled out the dough to get it nice and thin so I could put it through the pasta press.

 

First, you have to get it thinned down enough to fit into the pasta press (at first I failed at this, resulting in the pasta starting to go through the press then tearing off).  The dough needs to be evenly thinned, and you must sprinkle some flour over the pasta roller to keep it from sticking inside.

 

 Once I got the pasta put through the first part of the roller (to get it even thinner than I had rolled it initially), I was able to push it through the pasta cutter, and VOILA! Gorgeous homemade fettucine noodles starting pouring out!

They looked perfect!

 

I also used a part of the dough to make some homemade spaghetti.

 

 All it took after that was about 8-9 minutes of salted boiling water and these bad boys were DONE!  I can usually tell when a noodle is complete by seeing if it will stick to a plate.

 

I know I do this a lot...But Oh-em-gee! (What can I say, cooking is thrilling for me!) These. were. delightful!  I tried some with the homemade alfredo and some marinara as well.  Hey, options matter.   My picky pasta-loving Dad dug the noodles as much as I did.  This experience opened up a world of possibilities. Spinach noodles?  My very own potato starch pasta?  Ravioli?  Doors have opened.  Opportunities have arisen.  And with this roller, homemade fillo dough, perhaps?  My creative juices are flowing.  The noodle hour is upon us.

Homemade Pasta Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 eggs
3-4 tablespoons water , as needed

Instructions:

Add flour to a large mixing bowl.  Create a well in the center and add 2 eggs.  Use a fork to gradually mix eggs with flour, mixing in the inner layer with the eggs first then gradually working outward until all the flour is mixed in.  Add water as needed until dough is well combined and not overly dry.  Roll out on a floured cutting board using a rolling pin until around 1/8" thick (or thicker, depending on the width of your pasta roller).  At this point you can either roll the dough thinner and slice by hand into noodles, or put through the pasta roller to thin out more.  Then, insert into pasta cutter and slice noodles.  Boil for 7-9 minutes (until fully cooked), then serve.  Then, pat yourself on the back, because you have officially made homemade noodles!