Homemade fresh pasta
If Masterchef has taught me anything it’s that if you can make a spinach and ricotta ravioli with brown butter sauce and crispy sage leaves then you will get through the first round. Granted I’m not on a timer with a film crew and Greg Wallace in my kitchen but making pasta is easier than you think.
Take this as an easy pasta recipe for beginners. It’s two ingredients and doesn’t require and separating yolks or even specialist ingredients if you don’t have them. Before you choke on your Orecchiette, 00’ flour is better but seeing specialised ingredients often stops people from experimenting with new recipes. Try this even if you only have plain flour. It’s still a world of difference to dried pasta and might just set you on the path to MasterChef 2021 glory.
Ingredients
200g 00’ flour (or plain flour. The pasta in the image is made of plain flour)
2 large eggs
Method:
Pasta dough
Fix a plastic blade onto your food processor.
Sift the flour into a food processor then crack the two eggs in.
Turn the mixer on high. As the flour forms a dough it’s likely it’ll make a God awful sound. Mine sounds like it’s crying. Leave the mixer on till the dough comes together in a ball.
Sift a little flour onto a clean surface. Pour the dough out and kneed by hand for around ten minutes or until the dough is smooth and springy.
Cover with clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes but you can leave it up to 24 hours if it’s well covered.
After it’s rested, take the dough from the fridge. It might be a little sticky so sprinkle a little flour onto it if necessary.
Rolling (for all main pasta types)
Cut the dough in half, recover one half and leave it in the fridge until later. Shape the other half into a flatish rectangle ready for rolling in the pasta machine.
Ensure your pasta machine is fixed to the table securely. Set it to it’s widest setting. On most it’ll be number 1.
Feed the pasta through the top of the pasta machine whilst slowly turning the handle. Use your other hand to collect the pasta and guide it out at the other side if you’re concerned the pasta will stick to itself. You can also scatter a more flour on the pasta as it comes through.
5. Once the pasta is fed all the way through fold it in half and pass through the machine again at least three more times on the same setting repeating the roll-fold-roll-fold pattern. This is essentially a second kneading process for the pasta and makes it smooth and even.
6. Adjust the rollers by one notch to narrow the rollers then pass the rolled pasta through the machine again. As before, dust the pasta with flour if necessary. This process will stretch the dough so if the sheet gets to long, cut it to a length that you’re more comfortable working with.
7. Repeat until you’ve reached your desired thickness. Generally I like to go to the penultimate setting on the pasta machine. If you want to hand cut the pasta into squares for tortellini or circles for ravioli you can do that with a knife at this point.
For tagliatelle with the machine
If you’re making tagliatelle now just shift to the tagliatelle cutter on your machine. Make sure the dough is lightly floured so it doesn’t stick and feed through the machine as before. Voila! Fresh tagliatelle!
Cook the pasta in boiling water with a lot of salt, I use a small handful. Only a fraction will go into the pasta but you need it to give it the flavour it deserves. Cook for around three minutes before draining. If necessary you can cook it in two batches to make it more manageable.