An Abundance of Pasta!

I’m reading the book “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert right now. I know, I know, I’m late to the party. I haven’t even seen the movie yet, so…more to look forward to!

I just finished Liz Gilbert’s journey through Italy where she happily gained more than 20 pounds by eating a lot of pasta.

Pasta has probably been around since about 1700 BC in China. There are early records of pasta-like products in Italy going back to the 5th century, but it wasn’t the pasta we think of today until more like the 13th or 14th century. And good old Thomas Jefferson brought macaroni to the United States back in 1789 and we’ve been eating it ever since.

Suffice it to say, pasta has been a fan favorite for a long, LONG time. And why not?! It pairs with so much and is equally comfortable in a starring or a supporting role.

Pasta comes in all shapes and sizes these days, the latest of which is the Cascatelli, or “waterfall” shape. See my review of Cascatelli pasta here. But there are literally hundreds of shapes. Mr. Stone Soup got me one of my favorite kitschy cookbooks years ago, called “The Geometry of Pasta.” It gives the history and science behind the shapes and what sauce best suits each one. A very fun read! [Please note, that I am not receiving any compensation for the links provided–these are merely products I have enjoyed and passing on as information to you.]

There are plenty of great dried pasta options out there, but really–there is no substitute for fresh, homemade pasta if you have the time and the tools to make it.

I started experimenting with making pasta probably 30 years ago. At that time, I managed a housewares department at a large department store and daily had to restrain myself from buying the latest kitchen gadget or machine that was supposed to change my life. My first pasta machine was one of those hand-crank ones, which I actually really enjoyed and it worked very well–very low-tech, very little to break. I happily used it for several years.

But, it was the early 90’s, and bread-making machines and pasta-making machines were all the rage. I succumbed to temptation and bought a pasta machine that had all kinds of attachments, bells and whistles. I remember that you could add your ingredients into the top of the machine and it would mix and knead the dough and then you extruded it through a nozzle at the front. I think you were supposed to be able to make 8 different kinds of pasta with it. But I soon had a lot of trouble with the consistency of the dough, which affected how the extrusion process worked. Within about 3 years, I donated it to a church bring and buy.

Enter my phase of making pasta with my Kitchen Aid mixer. I have owned three Kitchen Aid Pro Line mixers during my marriage. Mr. Stone Soup gave me the first one for our first Christmas together. I loved it so much. We lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment with a a kitchen the size of a closet. The Kitchen Aid took up most of the space in the kitchen, but I didn’t care. I made bread and pasta and all sorts of wonderful baked goods. The machine gave me much more control over the consistency of the dough and the pasta attachments made nice, uniform pasta.

I burned out the motor in the first Kitchen Aid within the first couple of years. Fortunately, Mr. Stone Soup is very handy and fixed it up. I burned it out again. He fixed it up again…and again. We replaced that one within about 7 years with another one. Same thing happened. Are you seeing a pattern here? After I killed the third one, Mr. Stone Soup declared that he was done proving the typical definition of insanity and said that my next mixer would not be another Kitchen Aid.

Enter my Ankarsram Assistant phase. I got it about 5 years ago and have never looked back. The first Christmas after I got it, I asked for the pasta attachments to go with it and–wow! Making pasta is a breeze and super fun using this machine! There are some tips I will pass on, but the main piece of advice I can pass along is to have patience.

There are lots of dough recipes out there, but I prefer egg dough.

My recipe is super easy: 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 3 extra large or jumbo eggs, about 1 Tbsp very good quality olive oil (more if the dough is too dry), 1 tsp salt.

Add the flour and salt to the bowl of your mixer:

Make and little indentation in the flour and salt and add the eggs and olive oil:

Using the bread hook, mix and knead the dough for several minutes, coaxing the pushing the dough through the mixer’s paces, until it forms a nice cohesive ball:

Don’t be discouraged. This can take several minutes and you may need to slowly drizzle a little more olive oil, or even a little water to the dough if it seems too dry or crumbly, to make get it to come together as a ball. I have never had to add flour if the dough seems to wet, but keep some handy just in case.

Take the ball out and place it onto a lightly floured cutting board. The dough will be stiff. Knead by hand for about 5 minutes to really incorporate the ingredients and bring the dough to a smooth, elastic ball. Divide the ball into four pieces and loosely wrap them in plastic wrap:

Now–and this is the KEY–you must let your dough rest wrapped up in the plastic wrap (so it doesn’t dry out) for a minimum of 30 minutes. I like to leave it for more like an hour. This will let the dough relax and it will be much easier to roll out in your pasta maker.

Once your dough has rested, it’s time to make the pasta! Set up your pasta maker first with the pasta “sheet” attachment:

Set the rolling attachment on the widest setting and send your dough through:

The first time through, your dough may look a little “shaggy.” It should get smoother as you continue to send it through. You may need to add a little more flour if the dough seems too wet.

Continue to send the dough through the roller, changing the settings to roll the dough out thinner and thinner as you go. My machine will roll the dough out to almost see-through, but I find that a setting of about “5” is all the thinner I want it. But you should make your pasta as thin or thick as you like it.

As the dough gets thinner, it will get longer, so at some point, cut the dough in half to avoid having pasta that’s a meter long:

Now your’e ready to use a pasta cutting die. In this example, I cut fettucine:

I then hung it on a drying rack until I was ready to boil it. You can dry it completely, but I haven’t done this yet. I’ll post about drying pasta in a future post.

Once it’s made, it’s time to boil it up in lots of well-salted water:

Fresh pasta will only take 2-3 minutes to cook up, depending on how thick you make it. Check it after 2 minutes and cook for an additional minute if you think it needs the time.

And now you’re ready to dress it. This week, I’m featuring seven different preparations: Basic tomato sauce, Cacio e Pepe, pasta salad, pasta picante (or Mom’s pasta), pesto, cheese and basic spaghetti:

Basic Tomato Sauce