Recipe #8: Fresh Egg Pasta (in pictures)

I admit to skipping around some because I'm finding it difficult to cook while entertaining Roscoe, and deflecting his curious little paws from dipping into and tasting everything in sight. Lately I've resorted to cooking while Roscoe sleeps, but even recipes that seem easy, like Waffles--which were next on the list--call for stiff egg whites whipped in the stand mixer.

So, I've happily moved on from quickbreads to pasta, rice, couscous and polenta. I promise to return and make those waffles and blinis later!

With Roscoe sleeping soundly, Andy and I escaped to the kitchen and made like we were in Italy.

We decided to do it the old fashioned way and make our pasta by hand, at least for this first try (and we will have PLENTY of opportunities in this chapter to hone our skills), but it can also be done in a food processor. Instead of mixing directly on the counter-top, which would have felt more organic, I mixed it in a bowl to save Andy from having to scrape little bits of dried egg dough off the counter for the next week. Unfortunately, when all was said and done, every surface was covered in flour of one form or another.

Step #1: 6 eggs and two tablespoons of olive oil in a well dug into 4 cups of flour


Step #2: Mix the egg mixture, slowly adding flour until you have a nice shaggy ball


Step #3: Use the pasta maker to knead the dough

Step #4: Cut the pasta

I opted to hand cut the dough, which turned out ok for some of the sheets, but not so much for the others. We ended up using the pasta cutter to cut the other half into Fettuccine and Linguine.



When we first started to knead the dough, it was sticky, breaking, and rolling out with a lot of holes. We just added more flour and kept trying. In the end, we decided we didn't really care what the pasta looked like since we really just need something over which to pour the cream, porcini mushrooms, and cheese that we'll be using to make the sauce. We may have over kneaded the dough, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow night to find out!

FYI: Fresh pasta is made with low gluten flour and eggs--egg pasta becomes brittle when dried--so dried pasta is made with high gluten flour (durum) and water, which is perfect for storing in your pantry.