Super Simple Pasta Recipe

We bought a pasta machine about 18 months ago. In the first year we used it once. Ok so it broke and we had to get a new one, but it sat on the bench, in the box, broken for many many months so obviously we were going out of our minds wanting to use it... not.

Deciding to start cooking from scratch in January I realised this meant cooking pasta, a staple food in our house so I quick smart headed down to Harris Scarfe to exchange our pasta machine for one in working order! We have a Woman's Weekly pasta machine which cost us around $40 on special.

Image from harrisscarfe.com.au

Simon has nominated himself as the chief pasta maker in this house, which suits me fine as he is able to make it as soon as he gets home from work and sit it in the fridge to rest, then when I get home it gives me a chance to work on the sauce, and cook any meat we are using.

Once you go homemade pasta, you will never go back. The only thing that comes close at the supermarket is if you get egg pasta from the pasta section in the fridge, but even then it doesn't have the same freshness as homemade.

I do recommend investing in a pasta machine if you want to start making it. It will make your life infinitely easier than rolling out all the dough and hand cutting. Even if you do need lasagna sheets or handcut pasta, using the machine to roll will save you time and a lot of effort. Some bench mixers come with a pasta attachment, so if you have one check it out before rushing out to buy.

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 eggs

200grams Plain White Flour

(yep thats it.)

Method

Put your flour into a bowl, or mound onto your bench. Make a well in the flour (a hole) and break in one egg at a time. 

Mix with a fork.

Once combined, knead the dough until it is smooth on a floured bench. The dough should "bounce back" when you push on it lightly.

If you find your mixture is too wet, add SMALL amounts of flour and mix in. If your dough is too dry add teenie little drops of water and mix until all the flour is incorporated.

Mould your kneaded dough into a ball, wrap in cling wrap and sit in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Set your pasta machine up on the side of your bench (follow the instructions that come with your particular machine). 

Get your dough out of the fridge and flour it slightly if it is a bit sticky. Halve your dough and feed one section at a time through the roller starting at the widest setting (ours is 1.) Fold the rolled dough in thirds then feed through again. Repeat this 3 or four times before moving onto setting 2. Gradually move up the settings, feeding the dough through a few times on each setting. If your dough starts getting a bit sticky lightly flour it and also sprinkle some on the roller on your machine.

Your dough will start getting quite long, depending on the length you want your pasta, or your ability to roll through a huge long piece of dough simply cut in half.

Repeat with your other half of dough until you have long super flat sheets of pasta.

On the other side of your machine is the cutters. Feed your dough through, just as you did on the roller side in either the fettuccine or spaghetti section (if your machine has these options) You can generally change the width and thickness of the pasta in the cutting sections as well. 

I always jump in to help Simon at this stage, an extra pair of hands is much appreciated!

Drape your cut pasta over the back of a chair or as you can see we like to use a clothes horse haha!!

Your pasta is ready to be cooked!! It won't take as long to cook as packet pasta so make sure you pull a piece out of your water and sample mid cook to see when it is done to your liking!

Serve with your favourite homemade pasta sauce!

A simple one is a can of tinned tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, tablespoon of dried oregano, few sprigs of rosemary de-stalked a really good pinch of salt and a splash of red wine (in your pot and your glass!) Cooked over medium heat until it reduces slightly and the alcohol cooks off.

Happy Cooking (from scratch!)

Erica xx