Fresh Pasta

Homemade marshmallows will forever go down in history as my worst baking idea ever.  I spent two hours and a significant amount of money creating a sticky, sweet dessert that tasted exactly like the marshmallows that I buy in a bag at the grocery store for less than a dollar.  To make matters worse, I spent the following two days scraping white goo off of my counters, cabinets and ceiling.  🙄 As a result of my overly ambitious marshmallow project, I also ended up replacing my standing mixer because the gooey mixture got so thick that it burned up the engine.  😬 I get the award for the most expensive homemade marshmallows in history. 😅 Lesson learned - No more homemade marshmallows for this girl.  

Despite my bad marshmallow experience, there are still things that I make from scratch even though I could buy them cheaper from the grocery store.  BUT - I try and only make the foods that are going to be better than the store bought versions. Homemade ice cream, homemade pies and homemade brownies - all things that are way better than the grocery store versions, in my opinion.  Breads, spaghetti sauce and pasta also fall into that category of better homemade than store bought even though I could buy them cheaper from the store.  

It takes 9 minutes to boil a box of dried spaghetti noodles. 🍝 It takes me a the better part of an afternoon to make fresh, homemade pasta.  Is it worth it?  Absolutely.  If you've ever had fresh pasta - you know that nothing else even compares.  I love it so much in fact that I'm willing to dedicate hours of my life to kneading, stretching, rolling and cutting out dough to make the most delicious pasta possible.  

Is it possible that there could be a happy medium between 9 minute dried pasta and the half day homemade version?  Cook's Illustrated thinks so.  They published a recipe for fresh pasta dough that's made in a food processor.  (I can hear the disappointment of Italian women everywhere who are appalled by the idea.)  Taking the kneading out of my hands (literally) makes the pasta making process sooooo much easier.  I typically spend and hour making pasta dough by hand and I made this dough in a little under 15 minutes.  I was more than a little hesitant that it was too good to be true but I was willing to give it a try.  

Turns out - letting the food processor do the kneading was genius.  The eggy dough was soft and stretchy.  It's shaved at least 45 minutes off of my pasta making process.  Yay for time saving ideas.  

Fresh Pasta
1 cups flour
​1 cup semolina flour
2 eggs + 6 egg yolks
2 Tablespoons olive oil
​salt

Process flour, eggs, yolks and oil in food processor 45 seconds and dough is soft. 

Knead dough on floured counter for 30 seconds.  

Shape into a 6" long cylinder.  Wrap in plastic and let rest 1-4 hours.  

Cut cylinder into 8 equal pieces.  Take out 1 piece & rewrap remaining pieces.

Feed each piece into pasta machine staring on largest setting and working towards thinnest.  

Lay sheets of pasta on floured counter.

Feed dough sheets through pasta cutter.

Loosely pile cut pasta on countertop.

​Bring 4 cups water and 1 T. salt to a boil in a large pot.  Add pasta and cook 1-3 minutes.  ​

Drain pasta and toss with sauce and top with cheese.

There is just nothing like the taste of fresh pasta and homemade spaghetti sauce.  Makes me want to jump on a plane and head back to Italy today!  🇮🇹

​Ciao!

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