Wednesday 20 February 2013

Homemade pasta

I've been horribly lazy this winter...  well, maybe not intellectually lazy, but certainly lazy in the kitchen.  Normally, winter is the time of year when I delve a little deeper into making more foods from scratch, but with my studies, I've been a little distracted :)

A few days ago I decided that enough was enough so I ground up some organic durum



added fresh eggs


some olive oil and sea salt


and a bit of water to the consistency of this:




I hauled out the grinder attachment for my Bosch mixer and attached the pasta extruding fitting and die which took all of 5 minutes.   I don't know WHY I make these things out to be harder or more time consuming than they are...  



Paige assisted with the chopping while I fed the auger so that we didn't end up with 8' long noodles!  My noodles always come out sort of rough textured no matter the quantity of water or flour...  but perhaps that's because of using entire grain flour.  In any case, I probably need to experiment a bit more as I've only made pasta a handful of times (possibly 6?).


This gorgeous fresh pasta cooks in 2-3 minutes and when bathed in homemade sauce made from home grown tomatoes, it is a hearty, flavourful meal with staying power.  Nothing beats whole grains!

We made 2 batches so that one could be popped into the freezer for another day.  A word of caution - as the dough dries out quickly (and won't extrude well if too dry), keep it covered tightly while you are working on another batch.

Any tips for me about the crude state of my pasta? 



8 comments:

  1. Im beginning to get an inferiority complex - you women are so accomplished. Never mind crude state of pasta, you are grinding durum and making pasta!!!

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    1. ROFLOL!!!!!!! Ya - who cares about the crude state of it!!!!!!! :)

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  2. Lol, I totally agree with Lynda!! Right on, girl!! :)

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  3. yes...you are so inspiring!!! And now i really want some homemade pasta and yummy sauce....

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  4. Popped over from the D2E forum.
    I think your pasta looks great. I like the grainy appearance. If you wanted it more like regular pasta, you would probably have to knead the dough a bit before extruding it but I'm not sure how that would work with your machine.
    I use spelt grain flour often so I love the more wholesome taste and texture of pasta like yours.

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    1. Hi Tracy :) Great to have you visit. Thanks for the tip - I'll try spelt next time :)

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  5. I tried making ravioli. You should be proud of your pasta. Mine turned out too think. At least yours in edible!

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    1. Good for you! I have a ravioli press but I've never used it - for shame...LOL You have motivated me to try it, though. I'd love to have homemade ravioli stuffed with tasty cheese and spinach. YUM.

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