You can’t beat fresh pasta, it’s so much better than the dried stuff, it’s on a whole new level. Surprisingly its also very simple to make, it just takes a few hours to knock out from three basic ingredients: Flour, eggs and a pinch of salt. The recipe below describes the method using a pasta machine, but it is possible to do with a rolling pin.
Ingredients
This makes 500g pasta, enough for 4 servings.
- 300g OO Flour plus extra to dust
- 3 Large eggs
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tsp vegatable oil (optional but makes easier to handle)
Making the dough
- Combine the flour and salt then place on a clean work surface, or pastry board.
- Beat the eggs gently with the oil. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the eggs.
- Using a fork gradually mix the flour into the eggs trying not to form any pockets. Beating in one direction helps with this. You will need to protect the flour dam from breaking open with your other hand.
- When the mixture becomes to stiff to continue with the fork get stuck in with your hands! Continue drawing in the flour until a soft dough is formed. Sometimes you will need more or less flour, its different every time. The perfect dough is soft and workable but not sticky
- Now for the kneading to develop a nice consistency. Knead for 10 minutes (good workout for your arms) by folding in half and flattening with your palms, try and maintain a nice round shape.
- That’s the dough done, too easy. Place in a small bowl and cover with clingfilm. Take a well earned rest and let the dough have a rest for at least 15 mins or up to a couple of hours.
Rolling the pasta
The final stage is to roll your pasta, there are a few different types you can make, but I’m going to teach you one of my favorites, tagliatelle. If you’ve bought a new pasta machine you’ll need to use the first piece of dough to run through and clean out the machine oil and metal filings from the manufacture process.
- Divide the dough into six pieces, work with one piece at a time whilst keeping the rest covered up.
- Flatten the first piece, dust with flour and roll through the pasta machine on the widest setting. If the dough becomes to sticky at any stage dust with more flour.
- Fold the flattened piece into thirds and run through the machine on the first setting, repeating the folding and rolling process 5 more times to develop the texture.
- Roll the pasta through the machine once at each of the remaining settings, you’ll need a bit of practice to feed the increasingly long pasta through the machine as it gets a bit tricky!
- Finally cut into suitable lengths for your tagliatelle and run through the cutting attachment on your machine.
- That’s it, your should now have enough fresh pasta to serve 4 – 5 people as a starter! To cook drop into salted boiling water and cook for just over 1 minute, serve with a simple tasty sauce such as homemade pesto (recipe to follow).
I like to make plenty in one go, eat some fresh and dry the rest for storage. To dry leave on the pasta tree or tea towel for around 3 hours, then store in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for up to three weeks. Dried fresh pasta is still amazing, and requires about 3 minutes cooking time.
