Homemade Pasta...

I have been without a job for a few months now and after doing some traveling with family, I have finally settled back into my home.  With all this free time, I have taken many opportunities to try new things and make items from scratch…time is always my biggest enemy!  So, I recently found an awesome recipe for pasta…simple, easy, and quick!

Pennsylvania Dutch Egg Noodles:

Materials:

1 1/4 c (5oz/155g) all-purpose (plain) flour (plus extra for dusting)

1/2 tsp coarse salt (kosher)

2 eggs (lightly beaten)

Rolling pin

Dish towel

cutting knife, scissors, or pasta roller (depending on what kind of pasta you’d like to make)

Combine flour and salt in a large bowl.  Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the eggs.  Using a fork, mix the eggs into the flour mixture until a soft dough is formed.  (You make also use your hands, making this a fun recipe for kids).

With a light dusting of flour on your kneading surface (counter top, kneading board, etc…), scrape the soft dough out of the bowl onto the kneading surface.  Knead dough (adding flour as necessary) for about 10 minutes.  Cover loosely with a flour-rubbed dish towel.  Let stand (and rise) for about 30 minutes.

The dough is ready when you can pinch it and the indention remains for at least 3 seconds.  If it passes this test, it’s ready to be rolled into pasta!  I like to work with small sections, so separate the dough into 4-6 evenly-sized dough balls.

Working with one dough ball at a time, roll out your dough to the thickness you desire ( I like mine as thin as possible, which makes for faster cooking pasta as well).

Using your choice of cutting device, cut pasta into strips.  You’ll need to lightly flour the dough before rolling into a tube or the dough will stick together.  At this point, you could also cut ravioli squares and add your filling if desired.

Roll cut or Hand cut, you decide!

I like mine in strips, but whichever way you cut it, be sure to toss the new pasta in some flour to keep them from sticking to each other.  Just be sure to shake the excess flour off the noodles, or they will get gummy once boiled.

Now you’ve made fresh pasta!  At this point you can store it until dinnertime on lightly greased wax paper in the refrigerator, dry it on the backs of chairs or a broom stick and store in an airtight container, or cook it immediately!  During the resting period, I made a sauce to go along with my fresh pasta, so I cooked it immediately.

Fresh pasta only needs to be boiled for about 2-3 minutes for al dente.  Adjust for the thickness if you chose not to roll out as thin as possible.  I lightly salt my water (as with normal pasta), boil the pasta, then strain it and drizzle some olive oil to keep the cooked pasta from sticking.

All that’s left to do is add your sauce and enjoy.  This pasta can be combined with any sauce you like, throw in some meat or veggies, whatever you like!

This is my creamy tomato sauce, which I’ll be posting the recipe for at a later time.  Also made from scratch, it is super easy and very yummy (especially on freshly-made pasta).  A sprinkle of Parmesan cheese to top it off makes for a decadent dinner!

The whole process for the pasta takes about an hour or so, depending on how quickly you roll and cut your pasta.  Newbies will be slower, but with practice comes efficiency.  It’s not the 10 minutes it takes to make store-bought pasta, but the taste and satisfaction rewards are well work the extra 50 minutes (and you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry already)!

I hope you enjoy!