Homemade Pasta

About five years ago, I bought a pasta machine at a garage sale for $3.00. It was brand new, had never been taken out of the box and I had every intention of making fresh pasta as soon as I got it home. It just never happened. My old kitchen had almost no counter space and the pasta machine spent a few years hiding in a cabinet and forgotten. Now I have a roomy kitchen with lots of counter space and a little voice in my head started nagging me about breaking out that pasta machine. 

I started the project on a Saturday morning with a cup of coffee and a little research. I scanned a few recipes, checked my pantry and made a grocery list. I cleaned the kitchen while mulling over my options and I decided on pappardelle, my absolute favorite, with tomatoes and some kind of seafood. At the grocery store, I found cremini mushrooms and Prince Edward Island mussels on sale for just $3.99 a pound. There is a wonderful Italian market called Labriola's not far from my house, so I made a quick detour to get a can of Italian San Marzano tomatoes, grown and canned in a small town near Naples. The flavor of the San Marzano is more intense and the fruit has less seeds than other varieties. They are prized for tomato paste because of their low moisture content and dense flesh. With all my ingredients procured, I was ready to head home and make amazing food.

Making pasta requires proficiency in a variety of techniques, but the dough is so simple to make. Flour and eggs are mixed together with a pinch of salt and a dribble of olive oil, the dough rests briefly, then gets rolled out and cut into the desired shape. You can add almost anything to this dough and create flavored pasta, but this being my first time, I started with the basics. I decided to make a double batch of dough and put half in the freezer. 

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
4 large eggs
2 tbsp good quality olive oil
1 tsp salt

I poured the flour onto my work surface and made a well in the center of the pile. I cracked the eggs into the well and added the olive oil and salt. Using a fork, I beat the eggs and started mixing in flour from the sides of the well a little bit at a time. Eventually, I put the fork aside and used my hands to bring the dough together. I kneaded the dough enough to bring it into a cohesive ball and let it rest for just a couple of minutes to allow the flour to fully absorb all the moisture. Then I started kneading. The more I work with dough of various kinds, the more I learn that every kind of dough has a unique feel. The recipe called for the dough to be kneaded until it was smooth and silky. I relied on my instinct and kneaded until the dough felt right to me, about 10 minutes, and set it under a moist towel to rest while I set up the pasta machine.

The pasta machine was chomping at the bit and I had the rollers open to the widest setting. I cut my piece of dough and pressed it down enough to get it into the rollers of the machine. It went in after just a couple of cranks and a long sheet of pasta came out of the other side. I continued rolling, lightly flouring the dough as I went, adjusting the setting of the rollers each time to get my pasta gradually thinner and thinner. When the sheet of pasta became too long for my work surface, I'd cut it in half. I ended up with four sheets of very thin pasta.I dusted them with flour, and rolled up the pasta sheets and cut them into wide pappardelle noodles. I unraveled each piece of pasta, dusted them again with a tiny bit of flour and dropped them loosely onto a lightly floured towel. While the pasta dried out a little bit, I made the sauce.

First, I steamed the mussels in a big pot with just a splash of clam juice and a splash of liquid from the tomatoes. In a separate pan, I cooked onions and garlic until they were soft and starting to brown, seasoning as I went. Into the browned onions I added the slices mushrooms and let them brown slightly. I deglazed the pan with the steaming liquid from the mussels. Next, the tomatoes went in and I allowed some of their liquid to cook off and concentrate the flavor. My sauce was staring to come together. I removed the mussels from their shells, added them the sauce and moved it off the heat, then added just a small splash of half and half to give the sauce body and finished with a sprinkle of freshly chopped basil and thyme.

Fresh pasta cooks very quickly. In most cases, it takes less than a minute to achieve an al dente texture. Into a huge pot of boiling salted water I dropped handfuls of my fresh pasta. About a minute later, my pasta was done and I pulled it out and put it immediately into the hot sauce. I tossed it all together and gave the whole thing about five minutes to get acquainted and allow the noodles to absorb some of the sauce. My pasta was perfect, tender but slightly toothsome, having absorbed just enough sauce to impart flavor. Each bite had a little of everything. It was without a doubt the best pasta I ever ate. And now I have another piece of dough in the freezer, waiting for my next pasta dinner. I think I hear some ravioli calling my name.....