It is so very cool that my friends Foodie Fran and AvaDJ joined me in the homemade pasta challenge! Above you will see Fran’s paper thin pasta going through her pasta machine, absolutely amazing! Apparently it was gobbled up very quickly and enjoyed by her whole family, so much so there were no leftovers. She is deeply contemplating making sweet potato and goat cheese ravioli next. Genius idea!
Fantastic work Fran!!! I will definitely follow your lead and make my pasta thinner next time.
Ava is Italian and dusted off her pasta machine and followed a recipe in the cookbook Cook Italy. Apparently it was such a huge hit in Ava‘s house that she wishes she had doubled the recipe!
She found that it has been so dry this winter she needed to use additional eggs to bring the dough together. Sounds familiar… LOL. I was happy to hear that she enjoyed making it so much she will do it again. That it was so delicious it was well worth the effort.
The following is my first attempt at making homemade pasta dough with my Fox Run Pasta Machine thanks to CSN Stores. I can tell you right now, it won’t be my last!
Thanks to Monica, one of my Facebook foodie friends, I found out about Ricardo’s recipe for fresh pasta. It starts off simple enough with flour in a large mixing bowl with four eggs in the center and some oil. You use a fork to break up the eggs.
Then with the fork you start incorporating the flour. I could tell pretty darn quickly that this was going to be dry. Way too dry.
This much did finally come together. I took it out, added another egg and brought the rest together. Then I tried to get the two mounds of dough together.
I was really worried at this point but started to knead. I kneaded the dough while listening to the radio for ten minutes. OMG, it hurt! It hurt so much but look:
Amazing! The dough got all nice and smooth and perfect. I could not believe it. Next time I will make it in the food processor like Jamie Oliver does. Thanks for that link Fran! Next, you need it to rest for a while.
I divided it into balls, rolled out one of the balls of dough a bit and then put it through the machine. One thing I was not expecting is the machine does NOT attach to kitchen countertops. Mine are rounded and I thought I had a broken machine, it would not attach.
Then I tried attaching it to my little island in my kitchen and it was fine. Thank goodness! Make sure to take that into account if you are contemplating buying one of these machines. It was annoying that my island shook and shook as I cranked the dough through but it was that or nothing.
I had seen in a video a guy who folds his dough a few times through the thickest setting which seemed to prevent tearing. I started on the thickest setting, put it through, folded, put it through two more times. Then I went to a thinner setting twice. Then a thinner setting twice…
Then things just got insane. I could not believe how long the pasta could get without falling apart! As a result. I started cutting it up into shorter and shorter pieces because it this way by yourself is impossible.
I managed to figure out how to attach the top part for cutting the dough into linguini. I floured the dough regularly to prevent sticking and also floured the noodles after they came out to prevent them from gluing themselves together. I did not have a place to hang the noodles so I left them in a loose floured pile. I boiled salted water and cooked them for just a little more than two minutes.
I added them to a traditional creamy chicken dinner and noticed that wow, they really, really swelled in the salted water. I had not made them thin enough!
I topped dinner with some roasted asparagus. I loved it but it bugged my husband. This is one of his favourite dishes and I don’t think he liked me changing elements of it. I made a version of Ten Dollar Dinner’s Super Buttered Noodles the next night and he loved them, LOL.
Yes, it was kind of a pain to make these the first time but I know next time will be so much easier. It has been a while since I made pasta so it took some getting used to again. But! I did somewhat successfully make homemade noodles and can not wait to make it again. I hope you considering joining us and sharing your homemade pasta story. I promise you the flavour is worth it, so delicious and full of love. There is nothing like fresh homemade pasta!
Looks like noodle heaven!
Oh yummy Suzie, your creamy sauce looks so rich and delicious. I still can’t believe how long you stretched your dough, what a pro! Guess what I’m making today? I’m hooked and I think I need a pasta fix again.
This was so much fun, thanks for the inspiration and the workout lol. Making pasta by hand definitely earns you the right to indulge in all those carbs.
Suzie,
Love the photo with long sheet of pasta!
Do you fold it along the way to increase the bond?
Wow! That all looks so wonderfully yummy! I’ve thought about making pasta at home but never got around to investing in a pasta machine. One day I will! 🙂
It’s been years since I made homemade pasta, but now that I’ve seen Jamie Oliver make it in a food processor I want to try again. Makes it look so easy. 🙂
Great post Suzie. Great pics from all three of us too.
I hung mine on the edge of a big mixing bowl to dry while I cut the rest and that seemed to work. Leaving them in a pile with flour is just as good though I think.
I like the thickness that you got with your noodles. Found mine too thin for what I was after. Mine would have been good for a thai dish I think but yours looked better for a big Italian pasta! What number did you get to on the dial when thinning it? I went all the way to 9 which I wont do next time. Especialy for ravioli. lol
Keep up the good work!
Hugs to you and yours!
Wow, such hard work, folks! I may consider trying pasta one day, the homemade version, that is. Thank you for sharing!
It looks like you did a great job for your first time! I would probably have cut it up into shorter pieces too. One person’s arms are only so long!
I have never made my own pasta and I have been wanting a pasta machine for YEARS. Hrm… maybe it’s time.
Wow! I’m impressed! I’ve only ever used a pasta maker for something other than pasta. A friend and I used to make clay projects, and rolling the clay through a pasta maker allowed us to have really thin sheets of perfectly flat clay! I’d love to try again with real pasta though! We have so little space though – I’m not sure I could make it work in this tiny kitchen!
That’s amazing! I’m so jealous of people who make their own pasta, I can’t imagine ever having the patience to do it. Not that it really matters, we’re a grainless house anyway!
Still, absolutely beautiful. Great job!
Thanks everyone! Grocery Alerts, yes, folding the dough seems to make it stronger, I highly recommend doing it a couple of times in the beginning.
I hope this post really inspires people to try making pasta! The taste is so worth it, I promise. And, even though it is a bit of a pain, it is also a lot of fun.
Fran, that is so freakin’ smart! I am going to do that next time. I only went to number 4, so impressed you went to 9 but I agree, that might be too thin, especially for ravioli.
Tammy, I had one of these machine for clay too, LOL. A tiny kitchen would definitely be a challenge but remember, if you have another surface you can use, make it in the other room. You do need a flat table you can clamp the machine on.
Wow, amazing!
Congrats on the great pasta! I love the shot of the super long sheet! BTW, when the dough is too dry, you can add water instead of more eggs. In our house, we found an all egg dough to be a bit too eggy sometimes and since some regions of Italy don’t use eggs at all we gave it a go.
Susie, what amazing pasta results! Pretty impressive for your first attempt. What’s great about homemade pasta is that it freezes really well. My mom’s handed down tip is to roll a handful of pasta strands,forming little circular mounds, then let it air-dry before freezing in plastic containers. Work really well and you have instant homemade pasta anytime.