Pasta, homemade 11 recipes pt 1

4 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
All-purpose Pasta
2 cups Flour (about)
3 tablespoons Plus water
2 larges Eggs

Directions

General information: The basic recipe makes an all-purpose pasta to cut and shape as you like. For a variation, you can change the flour to make whole wheat, triticale, or chewy semolina pasta; add extra egg yolks for an extra-rich and tender product; or add pureed spinach, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, or chiles for delightful variety in color and flavor.

Fresh pasta cooks very quickly, so be sure not to boil it for more than a few minutes. Drying the strands slightly before cooking helps prevent them from sticking together. Serve your homemade pasta with butter and cheese, or dress with butter and cheese, or dress with different sauces.

Note: If recipe is increased, then all following measures must be increased accordingly. For example if you triple the recipe, then 1 cup would then become 3 cups.

All-purpose Pasta: To machine-mix and knead dough, put flour, water, and eggs in food processor with metal blade. Whirl until dough forms a ball, at least 30 seconds. If dough feels sticky when pinched, add 2 tablespoons more flour; process until dough forms a ball again, at least 30 more seconds. If dough is crumbly, add up to 3 tablespoons more water, a teaspoon at a time, processing after each addition.

To hand-mix and knead dough, mound flour in a bowl or on a board; make a well in center and add eggs. Beat eggs lightly with a fork; add 2 tablespoons water. Stir with a fork, drawing flour in from the sides and adding more tablespoons of water, until dough is well mixed (it will be stiff). Pat into a ball and knead on a lightly floured board until dough feels smooth, about 10 minutes; add flour as required to prevent sticking, using as little as possible. Divide dough into quarters for single recipe, or eighths for double recipe, etc..Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 10 minutes. To roll with a pasta machine, set rollers to widest opening. Flatten and lightly flour 1 portion of dough; feed dough into rollers, then fold dough into thirds lengthwise. Roll repeatedly until dough feels smooth and supple, 10 to 20 times. If dough gets sticky, brush with flour; shake off excess. Run dough through half-closed rollers. Reduce roller space to about 1/16 to 1/32 inch opening or narrowest setting (depending on how thick you want pasta to be) and run dough through again; if dough gets too long to handle easily, cut strip in half or into thirds.

Lay dry uncovered, until dough has the feel and flexibility of soft leather, 5 to 10 minutes. If dried too long, pasta will be too brittle to cut well.) Turn dough over 2 or 3 times as it dries. Feed sheets, 1 at a time, through cutting blades of pasta machine.

If you plan to cook pasta within 2 hours, you can pile it in loose coils.

If you are making pasta ahead, lay cut strands out straight in single layers on wax paper. Cover with wax paper; roll up, enclose in plastic bags, and seal airtight. Refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 2 months.

To roll and cut by hand, roll 1 portion of dough at a time on a lightly floured board until as thin as possible, 1/16 to 1/32 inch thick. Use as little flour as possible. Let dough dry as directed for machined-rolled pasta. When dry, cut into ¼-inch (or narrower) strips with a sharp knife (use a ruler as a guide) or noodle cutter. To store, follow directions for machine-rolled pasta. To cook pasta, in a 6 to 8-quart pan, bring 4 to 6 quarts water to a boil over high heat. Drop in 1 recipe All-purpose Pasta (do not thaw, if frozen) and stir with a fork, Cook uncovered, until just tender to bite, 1 to 3 minutes. Drain noodles well.

FRESH PASTA WITH BUTTER & CHEESE To 4 cups hot cooked All-purpose Pasta (or any of the following variations), add 4 to 6 tablespoons melted butter or margarine. Lift pasta with 2 forks to mix. Sprinkle with about 1 cup (5 oz.) freshly grated Parmesan cheese per recipe. Lift and mix again; serve at once, letting diners season pasta to taste with salt and pepper. Offer additional freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired. Instead of Parmesan cheese, you may use 2 cups finely diced cream cheese, or 2 cups (8 oz.) shredded smooth-melting cheese such as jack, fontina, or teleme. Sprinkle with a little minced parsley, if desired.

WHOLE WHEAT OR TRITICLA PASTA Follow directions for All-purpose Pasta, but substitute 1¾ cups whole wheat flour (not stone-ground) or triticle flour and ¼ cup toasted wheat germ for the All-purpose flour. Roll dough slightly thicker than for All-purpose Pasta, no less than 1/16-inch or the third from the narrowest opening on the pasta machine. Cooking time: 4 to 6 minutes.

SEMOLINA PASTA Follow directions for All-purpose Pasta, but substitute 2 cups semolina flour for the all-purpose flour (or use any combination of semolina and all-purpose four to make 2 cups; the more all-purpose flour used, the easier the dough will be to knead and roll). Also increase the water to 3 to 8 tablespoons. After adding the first 3 tablespoons water, dough may seem sticky; process or mix well before adding more water. Let dough

continued in part 2

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