Friday, October 18, 2024

Homemade Pasta...

...is hard to make, requires special flour and lots of $$$ tools - all MYTHS

You can make great pasta with all-purpose flour, a rolling pin, and your hands.

Why make your own pasta? It's softer, more delicate, with a fresher taste. 

Customize to your own taste, thicker noodles, special shapes, add herbs, colors, special fillings...

Egg pasta (northern Italy) is for shapes that need to be rolled thin and keep their shape.
Plan on 100g flour (AP or 00) plus 1 egg per person.
Add an extra yolk to make it a bit richer.
Egg pasta should be frozen rather than dried, for safety reasons. 
If kept in the fridge, cook within two days.
*Use only the freshest eggs. Test your eggs in a bowl of water, if they sink, they're fresh.
If they remain in a vertical position, they are getting old but can still be used for other recipes. 
If they float, they've gone bad.

Drizzle cooked pasta with a bit of olive oil - 1-2tsp. per lb. Toss, spread on sheet pan to cool.
Store in ziplock in fridge for up to 5 days.

Semolina pasta (southern Italy) is for a thicker, more rustic shape. 100g flour to 50g water
Adding some AP will make it a bit more elastic.
**Fresh dough can be refrigerated for 24 hours before rolling out. 
Any longer and the dough will start to oxidize/discolor.

        00 flour                              Semolina                    All-Purpose
more finely ground                 more al dente                more common
     best texture                   harder to work with             great texture

Dough can be mixed by hand, stand mixer, or food processor.
Stand mixer-use dough hook for 4-5 minutes to save on kneading time.
Food processor-mix til dough comes together, remove to work surface, rest 1 minute. 
If sticky, sprinkle w/flour. Knead 1-2 minutes.
By hand - mix, and then knead 7-10 minutes.
Fresh pasta has a short shelf life, cook or freeze as soon as possible. 
Pasta can be cooked right from frozen.
Mix, knead, wrap, rest 30 min., roll, shape, dry 30 min. 
(use a fan to speed up the process), freeze or cook.

Dough should be at room temp. before rolling. Divide dough into manageable pieces to roll. 
Keep remaining dough wrapped when not in use to keep from drying out.
If using a cutter (like a spaghetti or fettucine attachment), allow rolled pasta to rest/dry for 15 minutes.

Make nests out of long noodles (sprinkle with flour), freeze, then put in ziploc.
Other shapes, freeze on parchment lined cookie sheet, then transfer to ziploc.
Make sure container is airtight. 
To see 29 pasta shapes made by hand Visit


To color pasta, use carrots, spinach,  fresh herbs, beets, pumpkin, cocoa powder.
Add more flour/liquid as needed.


Have your sauce ready to go before cooking your pasta.
To cook pasta: Start with cold water. Add salt/sugar when the water is almost to a boil.
Cook regular pasta in salted water, dessert pasta in sugared water.
Do NOT add oil to your water - this may prevent the sauce from sticking to the pasta.
Wait for BIG bubbles before adding pasta to the water. The boiling temp. prevents the pasta from getting
mushy. The first plunge is critical to the texture. Do not use a lid - this will keep the pasta from boiling
over. Remember to stir to prevent sticking and/or uneven cooking. Don't pour the pasta into a colander.
Remove pasta straight to sauce right when it is done to avoid overcooking.
If the sauce gets too thick, add a bit of the pasta water.

Covered in class-cavatelli, orecchiette, manicotti (lasagna see 12/19/20), tagliatelle, agnolotti, ravioli
Sauces-Meat sauce, vodka sauce brown butter sage sauce, quick white alfredo sauce

Pasta
- 1c. AP flour 1egg 1/2Tbsp. olive oil 1/2tsp. salt add water sparingly if needed 
(could use a spray bottle) Knead 7-10 minutes.

Manicotti: In food processor-2c. AP flour, 2 eggs + 1 yolk, 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
wrap and rest 30 minutes
Using the food processor cuts down on the need to knead.
I actually rolled, cut, and froze the sheets until I had time to fill them. They defrosted quickly.
Filling: Cottage cheese, (ricotta), shredded mozzarella, cream cheese, 1 egg
Cavatelli: 1c. semolina 1/4c. water (see rolling video below)
Make your own gnocchi board with skewers. See pic below.
Meat sauce-I add 1lb. ground beef, 1 onion, and doubled the recipe on the
Tone's Italian Spaghetti Seasoning from Sam's. 
I add an equal amount of sugar substitute.
Cook in crock pot, instant pot, add more water depending on what you're using it for.
Pumpkin Agnolotti: 2c. AP flour pinch salt 2 eggs 1-2 yolks 2Tbsp. pumpkin 
1Tbsp. olive oil dough was sticky after resting, so I added flour when rolling
Filling: 1oz. grated parmesan, 1oz. cream cheese, 1 clove garlic, 1c. canned pumpkin puree, 1 egg, 3/4tsp. kosher salt, 1/2tsp. pepper, 1/4tsp. nutmeg
 *make the filling ahead of time and refrigerate so it's not too runny
Brown Butter-Melt 8Tbsp. butter in large skillet, cook until foamy. Add in 2 cloves garlic and 1 Tbsp. fresh sage. Add in 1 tsp. brown sugar, s&p. Serve with fresh parsley and grated Parmesan. Can add some pasta water if it gets too thick.
Your pasta: 1c. AP flour 1egg 1/2Tbsp. olive oil 1/2tsp. salt 
add water sparingly as needed (could use a spray bottle).
Knead 7-10 minutes. Less if using a KitchenAid or a Food Processor
Udon noodles: 1c. AP flour, 1/4c. water, pinch salt - cover pasta w/oil and rest 90min.
See stretching video below. 
Quick Alfredo Sauce-Melt 3 Tbsp. butter, whisk in 1c. heavy cream (or 1/2&1/2) bring to simmer. Cook while whisking 5 minutes. Add 4cloves garlic, cook 1 more minute. Gradually add 1.5c freshly grated Parmesan, s&p to taste. If sauce is too thick, add some pasta water.
Can add lemon juice, cream cheese, nutmeg for a different flavor.
00 pasta: (bowties/penne) 300g. 00 flour (3eggs 1 yolk + oil to equal 185g.)
Visit:
Chocolate ravioli: 2.5c. AP flour, 1/3c. cocoa, 2 eggs, 1/3-1/2c. water
Can cut this in half, or make them all and keep in the freezer.
It's ok if this dough sits in the fridge for an extra day. It doesn't seem to oxidize like the plain pasta.
Filling: 4oz. cream cheese, 3oz. ricotta, 1/3c. cottage cheese, 1 egg, 1.5c. powdered sugar, 1tsp. vanilla, 
1Tbsp. cocoa
Make ravioli, freeze, add 2Tbs. sugar to water when cooking.
Serve with nuts, choc. chips, raspberry sauce. Could use fudge or caramel sauce.








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