Pasta
Every supermarket now does it's own brand of "fresh" pasta in all sorts of wierd and wonderful flavours and many of them are bloomin' tasty. The thing is, though, past is meant to be dried! The idea behind pasta was to make something during the warmer months that could be dried and stored through the winter, so the idea of "fresh" past is quite a strange one. That said, I don't think you can beat good, home-made pasta and it's really very easy. Once you've made the basic pasta you can either cut it into ribbons of taglitelle or fettucine (most pasta makers come with the attachments to do this), cut it into thick ribbons of pappardalle (my favorite), leave the sheets whole for use in lasagne or make little parcels of ravioli, canneloni, tortelli and so on. You don't even need a pasta machine (though they do help!), you can roll your pasta with a rolling pin.
There are dozens of basic pasta recipes kncoking about but using a bit of trial and error I've come up with the following basic guideline:
* Allow 100g of flour per person. You need to use "Type '00'" Flour which is available at most supermarkets.
* To each 100g flour add 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk.
* Then add 1 tablespoon of luke warm water and a splash of oil. It's always best to add a little first, you can always add more but you can't take it out!
Start by putting your flour on a clean worksurface. Make a well in the centre and add your eggs, water and oil. You can use an infused oil (such as saffron or basil), truffle oil or just good old olive oil. You could also substitute the water for squid ink, this is available in packets from good fishmongers. Next: stick your finger in! Begin stirring the liquid and slowly incorporating the flour from around the edge, the mixture will get thicker and thicker then eventually form your pasta dough. If it seems too sticky add more flour, too dry: add more water. Eventually you'll end up with a ball of lovely, shiny pasta dough. Wrap this in cling film and place in the fridge for a couple of hours. When you're ready to roll it use a little at a time, leaving the remainder in the fridge.
To cook: simply bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add a dash of olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking then boil for 3-4 minutes, depending on the thickness of your pasta.
I've got quite a few recipes for things to serve with your pasta which I'll post over time.
A lot of people probably won't be bothered with all this, after all you could just open a packet and there's nothing wrong with that! However for something a bit special you really can't beat your own, hand made pasta.
There are dozens of basic pasta recipes kncoking about but using a bit of trial and error I've come up with the following basic guideline:
* Allow 100g of flour per person. You need to use "Type '00'" Flour which is available at most supermarkets.
* To each 100g flour add 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk.
* Then add 1 tablespoon of luke warm water and a splash of oil. It's always best to add a little first, you can always add more but you can't take it out!
Start by putting your flour on a clean worksurface. Make a well in the centre and add your eggs, water and oil. You can use an infused oil (such as saffron or basil), truffle oil or just good old olive oil. You could also substitute the water for squid ink, this is available in packets from good fishmongers. Next: stick your finger in! Begin stirring the liquid and slowly incorporating the flour from around the edge, the mixture will get thicker and thicker then eventually form your pasta dough. If it seems too sticky add more flour, too dry: add more water. Eventually you'll end up with a ball of lovely, shiny pasta dough. Wrap this in cling film and place in the fridge for a couple of hours. When you're ready to roll it use a little at a time, leaving the remainder in the fridge.
To cook: simply bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add a dash of olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking then boil for 3-4 minutes, depending on the thickness of your pasta.
I've got quite a few recipes for things to serve with your pasta which I'll post over time.
A lot of people probably won't be bothered with all this, after all you could just open a packet and there's nothing wrong with that! However for something a bit special you really can't beat your own, hand made pasta.
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