Adventures in Pasta Making - Chapter 1

I had been thinking about making my own pasta and mentioned it a time or two to my daughter Vanita, who is good at filing those requests away for future special occasions.

 Still, I was surprised on Mother’s Day when my three children showed up with a basket full of pasta making supplies.

There was a cookbook, ravioli maker, pasta machine, and various cutters. My son said it was a “win-win” situation, since they hoped to be sampling some of my pasta in the future.

I read the book Making Artisan Pasta by Aliza Green and bought Hodgson Mill Extra Fancy Durum and Golden Semolina Pasta Flour. I decided to try Chicken Fettuccini as my first dish with flat noodles.

Here is the basic Three-Egg Pasta Dough recipe:
3/4 pound Pasta Flour or unbleached flour
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 egg yolk
2 to 3 teaspoons tepid water

Now, I am not going to write all the specific instructions after that, because there were eight steps to mix the dough, and then six more steps for using the pasta roller.

Put the eggs in the center of the "volcano" of flour and incorporate the flour into the eggs.

This is what it looks after kneading more flour in for about five minutes.
Then the dough and I had to rest for about 30 minutes.



The first rolling of the pasta!



This is the drying rack. Is that impressive, or what?

 

Then I made my sauce using a recipe from The Pioneer Woman on the Food Network.  Yes, I used a whole stick of real butter and a cup of heavy cream!

Chicken Fettuccine

Ingredients

• 1 pound Fettuccine Noodles
• 1 stick Butter
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• Salt and Pepper, to taste
• 2 cups Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a saucepan or skillet, warm butter and cream. (I added grated garlic - at least a teaspoon.) Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Grate Parmesan cheese and place half of it into a large serving bowl. Pour warm butter/cream mixture over the top.

Drain pasta and immediately pour it into the bowl.
Toss a couple of times, then sprinkle in the other half of the Parmesan.

Toss to combine, thinning with pasta water if necessary.



I browned chicken breast and added that to the mix.

It was rich and creamy and delicious. The process from start to clean up took about four hours.  I think I will try ravioli next.

Bread Machine Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup wheat flour

3 cups unbleached white flour

1 tsp. salt

1 packet yeast or two teaspoons of bread machine yeast

Preparation:

Add ingredients to the bread machine in the order given and set on dough cycle. When cycle finishes, punch down and let rest for a few minutes. While the dough is resting, prepare a cookie sheet by spraying it with cooking spray and lightly sprinkling it with corn meal. Pinch of a circle of dough and flatten it. Remember that your final product will be about twice as big, so do not make it too big. Place each circle on cookie sheet, spray tops with cooking spray or brush with butter or egg white wash, whichever you prefer, and let rise until double, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until browned. Slice and enjoy. 

Note: You can make smaller party size shapes, or elongate the dough for hot dog buns. This recipe makes 8-10 large buns.  You can make it totally with white flour, or add more wheat flour if you want. Wheat makes a heavier bun that might take more time to raise.