Homemade pasta is definitely not quick and easy; it is not greatly economical and it doesn’t necessarily taste a lot better than dried, commercial products; but—it is a lot of fun to make. And if it is done right, it really can taste better. Besides, you control everything that goes into it, impress your friends and family and feel really creative in the process.
I have owned a pasta machine for years and it has sat in its box in my storage room for all that time, mainly because I had it in my mind that it was a long and complicated process to use it; the instruction booklet alone was about 25 pages long. When I’ve made pasta, I’ve used the attachment to my Kitchen Aid mixer. My Kitchen Aid conked out in the middle of making pasta to write about in this column and I decided to get the pasta machine out. I had to laugh at myself; the instruction booklet that came with it was so thick because it was written in 6 languages. The actual English directions were so easy they took up less than one page—the rest was instructions and recipes in all six languages. A bonus: the results were better and the process was easier than the Kitchen Aid, although I will still use my new mixer (yes, I had to replace it) for some shapes of pasta that the machine doesn’t make.
I looked up several recipes for pasta dough and checked the instruction booklet recipe as well and after some trial and error I came up with this recipe:
3 ½ cups unbleached white flour
4 eggs, room temperature
1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ cup water
If using a mixer, break eggs into mixer bowl and beat to mix slightly. Add olive oil and ¼ cup water. With mixer on low speed, add flour until dough makes a ball and cleans the sides of the bowl. If dough is too dry and stays crumbly, add remaining water, one Tbsp. at a time until dough comes together. Take dough out and knead on lightly floured board until firm but pliable. Let rest wrapped in plastic wrap for 30 minutes. Proceed with making pasta according to shape and method.
I decided to make fettuccini, spaghetti and ravioli. The fettuccini and spaghetti were so easy that I just dried it a little while and froze it. Fresh pasta takes much less time to cook than totally dried, so I kept it nearly fresh. The ravioli was a bigger challenge, but turned out to be so delicious that I will really do this again.
All the great cuisines of the world (and the minor ones, as well) have some form of stuffed dough. Some, like Latvian Pirogi use a yeast dough wrapping; some use a short pastry, like Cornish pasties and empanadas, but many use a noodle dough like Chinese wontons and Italian ravioli. All were invented, I’m sure, to frugally use the scraps and bits of meats and vegetables or cheese or even sweet fruits that were on hand. Ravioli is such a dish.
I happened to have a lot of scraps of meats and so I made this filling—you can substitute or add anything you happen to have and think would taste good. I made my own sauce, too, although I guess a respectable sauce can be purchased at the store. Homemade sauce is easy; but it takes a long simmering, so you have to start it at the beginning of the pasta making.
Sauce:
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 6-oz can tomato paste
3 cups water
½ cup dry red wine
¼ cup roasted sweet peppers
1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbsp. sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tsp. dried basil
½ tsp. dried oregano
Empty cans of tomatoes, sauce and paste into large saucepan. Add all the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring to mix ingredients. Turn heat to low and simmer for at least 3 hours, tasting from time to time and correcting seasoning according to taste.
Filling:
1 small chicken breast
3 ounces sausages or ham
1 ½ ounces hard salami
1 medium clove garlic
8 ounces ground beef
¼ cup fresh parsley
½ cup (packed) fresh spinach
2 large eggs
¼ tsp. salt
Wash:
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. milk
Put all ingredients (except wash ingredients) in food processor or through meat grinder and process until consistency like sausage stuffing. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.
To make ravioli: Using pasta machine, put dough into rollers through number 7. Cut into 4” by 12” strips. Work with one strip at a time, keeping others covered by plastic wrap. If making by hand, roll out ¼ of the dough at a time to a thickness of 1/16th inch or less. Place 1 rounded teaspoonful of filling along one long edge of each strip at 2-inch intervals. Brush dough on long edge and between filling with wash. Fold dough over filling; press firmly between filling and along long edge to seal. Cut ravioli apart with fluted pastry wheel. Cook a quarter of the ravioli at a time in large pot of boiling salted water just until al dente, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon draining well. Place about ½ cup sauce in bottom of casserole dish; put ravioli in one layer, then sauce, ravioli, etc. Heat in oven just until hot. Grate Parmesan cheese over top and pass more at the table. Serve.
I have owned a pasta machine for years and it has sat in its box in my storage room for all that time, mainly because I had it in my mind that it was a long and complicated process to use it; the instruction booklet alone was about 25 pages long. When I’ve made pasta, I’ve used the attachment to my Kitchen Aid mixer. My Kitchen Aid conked out in the middle of making pasta to write about in this column and I decided to get the pasta machine out. I had to laugh at myself; the instruction booklet that came with it was so thick because it was written in 6 languages. The actual English directions were so easy they took up less than one page—the rest was instructions and recipes in all six languages. A bonus: the results were better and the process was easier than the Kitchen Aid, although I will still use my new mixer (yes, I had to replace it) for some shapes of pasta that the machine doesn’t make.
I looked up several recipes for pasta dough and checked the instruction booklet recipe as well and after some trial and error I came up with this recipe:
3 ½ cups unbleached white flour
4 eggs, room temperature
1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ cup water
If using a mixer, break eggs into mixer bowl and beat to mix slightly. Add olive oil and ¼ cup water. With mixer on low speed, add flour until dough makes a ball and cleans the sides of the bowl. If dough is too dry and stays crumbly, add remaining water, one Tbsp. at a time until dough comes together. Take dough out and knead on lightly floured board until firm but pliable. Let rest wrapped in plastic wrap for 30 minutes. Proceed with making pasta according to shape and method.
I decided to make fettuccini, spaghetti and ravioli. The fettuccini and spaghetti were so easy that I just dried it a little while and froze it. Fresh pasta takes much less time to cook than totally dried, so I kept it nearly fresh. The ravioli was a bigger challenge, but turned out to be so delicious that I will really do this again.
All the great cuisines of the world (and the minor ones, as well) have some form of stuffed dough. Some, like Latvian Pirogi use a yeast dough wrapping; some use a short pastry, like Cornish pasties and empanadas, but many use a noodle dough like Chinese wontons and Italian ravioli. All were invented, I’m sure, to frugally use the scraps and bits of meats and vegetables or cheese or even sweet fruits that were on hand. Ravioli is such a dish.
I happened to have a lot of scraps of meats and so I made this filling—you can substitute or add anything you happen to have and think would taste good. I made my own sauce, too, although I guess a respectable sauce can be purchased at the store. Homemade sauce is easy; but it takes a long simmering, so you have to start it at the beginning of the pasta making.
Sauce:
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 6-oz can tomato paste
3 cups water
½ cup dry red wine
¼ cup roasted sweet peppers
1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbsp. sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tsp. dried basil
½ tsp. dried oregano
Empty cans of tomatoes, sauce and paste into large saucepan. Add all the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring to mix ingredients. Turn heat to low and simmer for at least 3 hours, tasting from time to time and correcting seasoning according to taste.
Filling:
1 small chicken breast
3 ounces sausages or ham
1 ½ ounces hard salami
1 medium clove garlic
8 ounces ground beef
¼ cup fresh parsley
½ cup (packed) fresh spinach
2 large eggs
¼ tsp. salt
Wash:
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. milk
Put all ingredients (except wash ingredients) in food processor or through meat grinder and process until consistency like sausage stuffing. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.
To make ravioli: Using pasta machine, put dough into rollers through number 7. Cut into 4” by 12” strips. Work with one strip at a time, keeping others covered by plastic wrap. If making by hand, roll out ¼ of the dough at a time to a thickness of 1/16th inch or less. Place 1 rounded teaspoonful of filling along one long edge of each strip at 2-inch intervals. Brush dough on long edge and between filling with wash. Fold dough over filling; press firmly between filling and along long edge to seal. Cut ravioli apart with fluted pastry wheel. Cook a quarter of the ravioli at a time in large pot of boiling salted water just until al dente, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon draining well. Place about ½ cup sauce in bottom of casserole dish; put ravioli in one layer, then sauce, ravioli, etc. Heat in oven just until hot. Grate Parmesan cheese over top and pass more at the table. Serve.
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