Making homemade pasta from scratch is a lot easier than you think with a KitchenAid and the pasta roller/cutter attachment. My friend Marietta Calas, award-winning interior designer and owner of Expressive Interiors joined Darlene, Cathy, Veda and me for lunch and a "class" in making homemade pasta. We made angel hair pasta and served it with a Pesto sauce, alongside Chicken Piccata.
I remember my grandmother rolling out long sheets of paper thin pasta dough by hand on our dining room table and then draping the strands of pasta over a broomstick to dry. It is a lost art. That said, I am personally happy to have a little mechanical help from a KitchenAid. It takes about an hour from start to finish to make fresh pasta, and 30 of those minutes are letting the dough rest. That is a good time to put on a big stockpot of water to boil. By the time you have a rolling boil, the pasta will be ready and cooks in 3 minutes.
Not convinced yet. Well, the taste of fresh pasta should be enough to warrant the extra effort. I think it is best with a butter, olive and a good imported cheese sauce to capture the lightness of the dough. This dough is also perfect for making ravioli! Save the heavier tomato meat sauces for store-bough pasta.
Veda is grating fresh parmesan cheese. A must for fresh pasta!
Easy Homemade Pasta
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour or 00 flour
- ½ cup semolina flour
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 eggs + 3 yolks
Instructions
- In a stand mixer, mix flours and salt with the flat paddle. Mix eggs and oil in a measuring cup with a pour lip. Slowly add egg mixture to flour on a low setting. Continue mixing until a ball starts to form. Change to dough hook and knead for 3 - 5 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
- It is now ready to roll out and shape. (I find it easiest to use the pasta attachment on the KitchenAid to roll out the pasta sheets, and cut to the appropriate pasta shape.) Let pasta dry on a towel-lined baking sheet for at 15 minutes.
- Add 2 tablespoons salt to boiling water in a large pot on the stove. Drop in the pasta and gently stir. IT will only take about 3 minutes for the pasta to become a la dente. Drain. Cook the pasta in batches if needed so not to crowd the pot.
- The dried pasta freezes well.
Amy T
I made this yesterday and turned out great. We are cooking tonight. How much does one batch feed?
Jan Schalla
Hi Cara,
I am Veda's cousin and I live in Utah and she told me about your amazing blog and recipes. She had so much fun with you when you made the pasta and it reminded me of our family get togethers making 100's of Christmas cookies every year. It was so fun. I used to have a pasta maker and made it many times in my younger days but then my daughter wanted it and so I guess I should get one like you have. I am really enjoying seeing all of your recipes and I will definitely try several of them. I also love the pictures to go along with the recipe. I will definitely pass you blog on to all of my cooking friends. Lots of luck with you new venture.
homemadeitaliancooking
Hi Jan! Thank you so much for the wonderful note. It was a joy meeting Veda. I will send you a PDF copy of my Top Ten Italian Christmas Cookies. I'm sure you already make most of the them. I can only imagine how much work AND fun that is making so many for the holidays with family. All the best, Cara
Marietta Calas
Cara, What a great blog! I really enjoyed it. It was fun to see all the photos. It reminded me of what a wonderful day we had. I appreciate you including information on my company too. That was very sweet of you to do that. I just wanted to mention though, in case anyone inquires, that my company name is EXPRESSIVE Interiors. Not Impressive Interiors. (But I appreciate the compliment) =)
I look forward to your future blogs and new recipies!
Ciao ~
homemadeitaliancooking
Thank you Marietta! I have corrected your company name. Sorry about that, I was so impressed with your designs it just stuck. All the best, Cara