Pasta

This pasta is so easy to do you can even have kids make their own portions if you have space and the patience for messy little ones.

The approximate proportions are for every 3/4-1 Cup flour an egg, a teaspoon of water, a teaspoon of salt and a TBSP of olive oil be used. From there you can make a great variety of kinds. You can leave out the oil and use more egg or you can leave out oil and use more water. Or in the water's place some puree spinach or herbs instead.

For about 4-6 servings is the recipe that follows:
1 slightly heaping cup unbleached flour
1 slightly heaping cup whole wheat
2 tsp salt
2 extra large eggs or 3 large eggs
2 TBSP olive oil

I chopped up a sprig of rosemary and put a little palm full into the 'pasta well.'

Pour the flour onto a large clean surface leaving it in a heap, push the measuring cup or your hand into it to make a little well to hold the other ingredients. Into the well put your eggs, salt, oil, any herbs or veggie mash/puree and blend the eggs and others in the center and push some of the flour into the center collecting as much flour as it will carry. Clean off your fork into your pile and toss him somewhere out of the way. Get your hands in there and work the dough from this ugly stage into a ball. DO NOT WORRY if it looks like a massive failure. Pasta does that, its a dirty trick it tries to play on you in a last ditch effort to not be eaten. It will comply with the palm of your hand. If you run out of flour and it wants more then add a little... if it is not blending and it is too dry then add a teaspoon of water until it gives up the goods and becomes blended.


Now that you have won and the ball is formed put it into either a covered bowl to rest or a plastic bag. Have it rest for 10-20 minutes until it goes from dry and leathery to lightly sticky and pliable. If not, give it a little more time. Clean up the chunky flour, sieve it and toss the chunks. Re-flour your big clean surface and press your ball out by hand into the floured surface allowing it to collect flour on both of its sides... form the ball into a rectangle to help you roll it out. Make certain flour is under it and roll, roll, roll, until it becomes smooth and thin. This is the most time consuming part. Once rolled out to be quite thin 1/16th of an inch? I don't know, I'm not an architect. Thin, but not totally translucent or anything. Flour the top which you were rolling on, flip and flour that side wipe off excess. Starting at one of the short sides roll it like a tube onto itself lightly.

 Once you have your tube cut little slices all the way through to make pasta strands. They'll look like little snails and now they can be put somewhere to dry or can be cooked straight away. I like to dry them for awhile or overnight so they are toothy and firmer. So if you like al dente then drying is for you.  Fresh pasta does cook faster than boxed pasta so monitor it closely.  It cooks in almost half the time.

I made a spinach pasta and was so excited that I didn't document much. So I promise to post that SOON!