Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Everything homemade: Homemade pasta


Pasta? Homemade? Really? yep. :)



Here's what you need. For four or five servings.

2 cups of all purpose flour
2 to 3 tablespoons of margarine or butter
3 large eggs
A bit of milk
A handful of lightly roasted sesame.(Optional)

Here's what to do.

Pile the flour on the counter top.

Cut in the margarine in and make crumbs as if you were making pastry. In the end all the margarine should be  incorporated into the flour & should resemble coarse bread crumbs.
Lightly beat the eggs beat into the flour mixture with a fork. Add the sesame if using.
 Knead well with your hands until the dough stops being sticky & is elastic. If you feel the dough is too tough to handle, add about a tablespoon of milk.
 Divide the dough into 4.
Roll out each portion to paper thickness while flipping & sprinkling with flour to prevent sticking. 
Hang to dry. Use can use a broomstick or as in my case just hang on the clothesline. :) Dry for about half an hour.

Sprinkle some flour to prevent sticking. Roll each sheet of pasta like a Swiss roll to a tube and cut slices which will unroll to long pasta strips.

 There you have it. Homemade pasta.
To cook this. Boil a pot of water add a bit of salt & oil & add the pasta. Cook till al dante. And proceed with as you would with regular store bought pasta.

To keep this, if not using straight away, hang the cutout stripes to dry for about a day or two & store in an air tight container.

Homemade pasta would also make a lovely gift.