Homemade Pasta

So I said I was going to make homemade pasta yesterday and guess what? We actually did!

I didn't whip out the camera until after I'd made the dough, though. But its 3 ingredients are:

• 2 3/4 cups of flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 large eggs (yes, for once it does make a difference... they do need to be large)
  

Combine the flour and salt in your mixer bowl, add eggs 1 at a time using the flat paddle for 2 minutes, or until large clumps are formed. Turn off the mixer and try to form the dough into a ball. If it's dry and shaggy, add a tsp. of water at a time (mixing in between) and try to form a ball again. If it's sticky, add a Tbsp. of flour at a time (mixing in between) until it sticks together but not to your hand. (I ended up having to add about 5 tsp. of water because I originally put too much flour in).

Here's the main player: the glorious attachment called the pasta roller.

Here's my beautiful dough cut into pieces after "resting" for 20 minutes.

Let the rolling begin (on setting 1, speed 2).

 Lookin' pretty good, hm? So far so great.

"Uh oh. That's not what pasta's supposed to look like. Dear husband, you're doing something wrong!"

"No I'm not. It'll work, trust me."

"I trust you, but it's lookin' kinda funky." 

"It always looks like this. You just have to work the dough and don't put it in too thick."

"You're a genius! It's beautiful!" (still on speed 2, setting 1, after about 5 passes through)

Just keep working it. When it's the width of the roller you can move onto the next setting. (speed 2, setting 2)

"It's starting to look like real pasta sheets! This is amazing!" (speed 2, setting 3)

It's the width of the roller and is nice and flat and soft, it's ready to cut. (speed 2, roller setting 4 for thick noodles or 5 for "the-way-I-like-it" fettuccine).

 

Now we're using the fettuccine cutter. I'm so proud of this picture -- it looks like real pasta! (because it is)

Just a few more...  (you can flour the noodles a bit if they're sticking together. Try to cut each sheet right after you roll it [it's not that hard to switch the attachments], or it might dry out before you cut it).

In the meantime, make a nice pot of Swedish Meatballs (recipe coming soon).

Don't you love winter food?

Look at that steam!

This is why I could never be a vegetarian.

Boil the noodles as long as they need (ours were thicker so they took about 5 minutes, but it can take as little as 1 or 2). I snuck some cabbage into the swedish meatball sauce before serving.... because... well... I love cabbage.

And so does my husband. (This meal goes great with beer, by the way).

Cold winter Advent evenings with my husband are so nice. O Come O Come Emmanuel!

Yes, I use a broken pink candle in our Advent wreath. Just keepin' it real.

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