Basic Pasta Recipe
We are home from Europe and I am crazy inspired to cook!
The first recipe on my list of imitations is porcini pasta in a light cream sauce. My son and I devoured it while visiting Rome.
Using shallot, garlic, white wine and cream I made a solid base for the sauce. The umami comes from the mushrooms. We couldn’t locate fresh porcini but the dehydrated version worked magnificently. Letting them sit in warm water for nearly forty minutes, while making pasta, then using a small amount of the hydrating liquid in the sauce warmed the entire dish with divine earthiness. Topped with flakes of parmesan we felt transported back to Italy.
Homemade pasta is my absolute favorite to prepare with the children. They love to crank the manual machine to flatten the dough into sheets.
There are many ways to experiment and play with pasta at home. Whether it’s bundling floured strands into neat nests to dry or hanging them on a rack. There’s infused pasta with herbs or spinach. There’s ravioli shapes and cutters and techniques and fillings. There’s hand-cutting and hand-rolling options for all sorts of dough. The options are endless!
This is a go-to egg noodle recipe to start experimenting with:
Yeilds: 1 pound of pasta
Ingredients:
3 eggs
2C all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
Fast Method:
Dump all ingredients in a stand mixer with dough hook
Knead until smooth but elastic
Let rest, covered, for 30 minutes
Cut and roll as you wish
*mind your stand mixer— I’ve burnt a motor with tough pasta in the past
Slow Method:
On a clean counter or board dump flour and salt in a heap
Use fingers to toss the flour gently to incorporate the salt
Using the flat end of 1C measuring cup make a well in the flour. Pressing until the counter is visible.
Crack eggs and add oil into the well.
Use a fork to whisk the eggs; being purposeful to gradually collect flour into the well with the tongs without allowing the well to collapse.
When the egg batter is thick (oozing but not watery) and flour is shaggy and mostly yellow, use your hands to knead the dough until smooth and firm.
Cover and rest for 30 minutes
Cut and roll as you wish