I have an approximately one-weekend-a-month tradition of heading down to visit my family in the Bay Area. Oftentimes, particularly during the summer, we’ll spend Saturday afternoon whipping up a delicious evening meal, inviting some friends over and enjoying dinner outside. This past weekend, the theme of the dinner was homemade pasta and we prepared two to-die-for pasta sauces: Pistachio Pesto (pistachios, arugula, garlic and olive oil pureed in the food processor) and a traditional chunky tomato sauce (diced tomatoes – ideally fresh, but canned is okay – olive oil, lots of garlic and basil sautéed together), both of which we served atop homemade noodles. Here’s how you can make homemade pasta (I recommend a pasta maker like this Imperia one, but you can hand-cut if you don’t have one):
Egg Pasta Dough
Ingredients:
1 cup flour (best if ¾ cup regular flour and ¼ cup semolina)
1 egg
2 tablespoons water (more if needed)
Directions:
Mix the flour and egg in a standing mixer with paddle attachment at the lowest level. Slowly add water until the dough comes together and starts to cling to the paddle. Do not add too much water. If you do, and the dough becomes sticky, add a bit more flour.
Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and briefly knead with your hands into a ball. Place in a clean plastic bag, twist the back closed and press the ball of dough into a disc with the ball of your hand.
Let rest for one hour (room temperature is fine).
Roll dough with hand-cranked pasta machine adding flour when necessary to prevent sticking. Roll to “6” on the machine and cut to desired shape. Cook in boiling, salted water 3-4 minutes or until preferred softness.
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