Make pasta in 2008, it’s easy!

Written by: Laura Zucchetti. Posted on: January 6th, 2008. 1 Comment »

You can guess what Santa brought me for Christmas can’t you?! Yes, a pasta machine. An Imperia Italian Pasta Machine SP150 to be precise! I’ve had a great time making pasta twice in a week so far. It’s so easy and gives you loads of satisfaction when you are chomping down on your own home made pasta.

To make the dough

I followed the recipe in the book that came with the pasta machine and the second time round did some research and changed the quantities and the second time round it was much a much better dough, smooth and easy to handle. Here’s how I recommend you do it.

Serves 4

• 220g 00 flour
• 2 large eggs
• Pinch of salt

00 flour use to be a trip to the deli job, but I discovered this Christmas that McDougalls have a 00 variety and is sold in Sainsburys! If you can’t find it in your local supermarket, try a deli shop such as Melbury and Appleton if you are in the north London area.

Weight out the flour and make a heap with a hole in the middle on the worktop. Crack the eggs and put them into the well of flour, sprinkle over the pinch of salt. With a fork whisk the eggs together in the well and then start to draw the flour in from the sides of the well. Do this until you want to get your hands dirty and mix everything well together. It should start to form a dough that you can start to knead together. If needed add a table spoon of water to help it form into a smooth dough.

Knead the dough for 10 mins and put on a plate covering it with cling film and let rest for 30 mins.

Now what!

That’s it! You can now let you imagination go mad with what type of pasta you want to make. We made ravioli, which was simple. Just make the filling that takes your fancy. (We did roasted butternut squash.) Roll out the pasta – The thinner the better. If you are using the machine roll out the sheets of pasta starting with the rollers set on the fattest width and keep taking it down a notch until you are using the thinnest setting on the rollers. You might need to cut the pasta sheet in half if it is getting too long. Don’t try and roll pasta sheets longer than 30cm as it gets hard to manage. I found that the smaller sheets came through perfect once I had a smaller piece to manage and just let the sheet roll out onto the work surface. Also flour the pasta a little if it is getting too sticky when you roll it out.

If you don’t have a machine to roll it out, you can use a rolling pin. As I have the pasta machine and I do not know the in’s and outs of what is the best way to hand roll your pasta, I found a clear explanation on Clifford A. Wright’s website.

Once you have your sheets of pasta, to make the ravioli just lay one sheet on a lightly floured surface and put a small teaspoons of filling in the middle of a 4-5cm square area and space according to how your sheets are rolled out. Brush the sides with egg and lay another sheet of pasta on top. Firmly press the sheets together making the ravioli shapes as you go. With a pizza cutter cut the squares of ravioli out and inspect each one to make sure they are completely sealed. You don’t want that lovely mix coming out in the hot water when you cook the pasta!

Voila! Put on a floured plate and keep the shapes coming until you have enough to feed your army or have used all your dough. Cook in a large pan of salted boiling water for 4-5 mins. Serve with shavings of Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. Delissssh! I don’t have a photo of the finished product as we were too excited and ate it before I could get near the camera! hehe. Enjoy.

*Top tip

Oh and in case you got carried away and made too much ravioli, you can freeze it. However, freeze them on a tray in a single layer so they don’t freeze together in a big lump. I made that mistake and then when I went to cook them, the only way to separate them was to tear them apart and let’s just say it was messy!