Yes, the Great Pasta-Making Adventure was successful, in that we all ended up eating and enjoying the pasta made by our own little hands. Oh, there were a couple of mishaps (small child falling off a high chair in the kitchen, the dog snatching some drying pasta when no one was looking . . .), but overall, easier than I thought.
It took a little while for my friend Alyssa and me to figure out the dough, the best way to position the pasta roller on the counter, and the easiest way to do the rolling. In the beginning, there were a lot of comments like, "Is the dough supposed to be this dry?" and "Am I turning the handle the right way?" Yes, it takes two brains and four hands to make pasta for the first time. Because we were using
my very own chickens' eggs, which are about medium-sized, instead of the huge ones from the grocery store called for in recipes, we had to fiddle with the dough a little, adding a little more flour here, incorporating another egg there, until it was the right consistency. But then we got to roll it.
The very first roll-out. You can't see my face, but I'm pretty sure I had a look of intense concentration on it at about this point. Also, everyone say hi to Alyssa! And her kitchen.
One recipe we had said to let the dough rest. One said to roll it out right away. So one batch rested, and one batch went straight to the roller. I don't see the point in the resting, frankly. I would eliminate that step in the future. Also, there was a lot of discussion in the recipes about folding the dough in half every time you put it through the roller again. We did that a couple of times, and then stopped. In addition, we were not particularly careful about making the pieces of dough to go through the machine perfectly rectangular. So that when they were cut, some strands were longer than others. We Fail at following directions. But you know what? In the end, it didn't matter.
Exactly like a Play-Doh machine. Except the end result is much more palatable.
Then we hung them up to dry, on a clothes drying rack conveniently placed just outside the kitchen. Unfortunately, it was also conveniently placed for the dog, who was later let into the kitchen unattended and decided to be our official taste-tester.
Of course she grabbed the longest, nicest-looking bunch there on the left. A discriminating dog, that Lulu.
Anyway, when WE finally got to eat some, the consensus was: good pasta. It had a much different texture than the dried stuff. More chewy. Although the sauce I made for it had two cups of heavy cream in it (I doubled this recipe), so I think we could have poured that over some twigs and everyone would still have stuffed themselves.
And THEN, our hosts made us crepes with all kinds of sinful fillings. (Would it be possible for me to just run away with Nutella? We would definitely live happily ever after.) And then we waddled off home.
So, in conclusion, I would say: If you have access to a pasta roller, go ahead and use it. It was not at all daunting once we finally got down to it. The machine in particular is stupid easy. And it was a lot of fun. Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that we were swilling these cocktails while we were working. Which brings me to the teaser for tomorrow's post . . .
Tomorrow on Going Country: The winning cocktail name! Stay tuned.
I think you can't claim to be a real cook until you've made homemade pasta. Alas, I have not. I grind my own damn flour for god's sake, but I have never made pasta. I am an utter failure.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, why don't you send the winner of the cocktail naming contest some pasta? And why don't you make me the winner? (Come on. You know I made you laugh.)
I must say making pasta gets much easier the more you do it. I now whip up fresh pasta when I need a quick meal for guests.
ReplyDeleteOne great tip is to not add all the flour with the eggs for the dough, I try to keep my dough on the soft & sticky side and just add lots of flour when rolling out (makes for easier rolling).
You'll enjoy making other kinds of pasta as well. Try adding some cracked pepper to the dough, delicious! Or perhaps spinach or tomatoes, there are endless ways to make it.
Hi, Alyssa! Hi, Alyssa's kitchen! (See, I can follow directions.)
ReplyDeleteSo, having never made pasta and having never seen a pasta maker, I have a stupid question for you: did you make some different widths? It looks like you have some angel hair type bunches there, and some thicker, more fettucini-like bunches. Is there just a setting on the machine that lets you do that?
Yup. There are two cutters on the machine--one cuts a width kind of like linguine, the other is more like regular spaghetti.
ReplyDeleteI can anything that stands still...make my own bread from wheat I've ground...yet I've still never tried making pasta. I think you just gave me the inspiration to give it a try!
ReplyDeletecan i come over? when you hear chefs and foodies talk about making pasta, a lot of them say it comes down to the eggs. seriously.
ReplyDeletegood job!
The more you make pasta, or work with any dough for that matter, the better you will get at doing it, you will be able to tell just by the feel if the dough needs more flour or more liquid. From day to day your flour will have different amounts of moisture in it, on a high humidity day you will add less liquid, on a low humidity day, you will need more liquid. I'm glad your pasta turned out good, just remember not to overcook it, 3-4 minutes and it's done. I have seen some recipes call for cooking fresh pasta for 20 minutes or more, I imagine that the pasta would just be muck by them, I know that happens if I cook it for even a few minutes too long. :)
ReplyDeleteWretha
So would you say it was better then store bought pasta?
ReplyDeleteI'm such a big rain on the parade. But after years of making pasta, I gave it up. I just honestly don't think it's that much better. I would soooo rather put effort into other stuff (roasting garlic, tomatoes and peppers, carmelizing onion, taking the time to make delish eggplant, etc) than to toil over the contraption. And the *cleaning* of it and the counters, for the love of god! (never have I been blessed w/ a dishwasher). I'd much rather buy quality pasta, which is even pretty cheap! But I can say that learning to make pasta taught me how to make kick ass bread sticks and pizza dough...
ReplyDeleteI'm so impressed, Kristin. Nice job! But you can't run away with Nutella...because I already have.
ReplyDeleteIf your recipes said to fold it in half every time, your recipes were wrong. You fold it in half and pass it through several times on the widest setting to make sure it's fully kneaded. Once you start turning it down to the narrower settings, you stop folding it.
ReplyDeleteCountry Midwife, I understand what you're saying. Cleaning the machine is definitely a pain in the butt. I do thing there's a difference in quality, though. The simpler the sauce, the more of a difference it makes. If you're doing something really robust though, it probably wouldn't make a difference.
Looks good! Sorry we missed it. Next time, I guess. And I'm glad you think no resting. More instant gratification!
ReplyDeleteYay! We've conquered pasta fears!
ReplyDeleteSo, tell me, did you make any of the pasta before drying it? Not sure if you can do that with egg pasta, but I do it with semolina pasta and it's divine.
You are SO the boss of that pasta maker. Well, you and Alyssa anyway.