2.19.2011

Fresh From the Oven: Homemade Pasta

Hello All-

As I have said in other posts, my KitchenAid mixer is my best friend in the kitchen.  Despite the amount of use that it gets, I still didn't feel that I was using it at its full potential.  You see, we have some attachments for the mixer and I had never even taken them out of the box!!  One is a sausage stuffer, and since meats fall into hubby territory, he's responsible for dusting that off this summer. 

Another attachment we had was the food grinder/pasta maker.  I put aside the grinder attachment for now (that's going to get lots of use come St. Patrick's Day...I love me some hash!!) and I decided to take the plunge into pasta making.  The attachment that we have allows you to make noodles of various sizes and macaroni.  I decided to try egg noodles, since I had planned to make beef stroganoff for dinner tonight. 

I used the recipe that came with the attachments.  Pretty simple...eggs, flour and water.  It called for very little water, and I don't know if the altitude messed with tings or what, but I had to add quite a bit more water than it called for.  Honestly, I wish I had added more. 

Once I got it balled up and resting, I tackled putting the extruder on the mixer.  It was quite straightforward and not hard at all.  So far so good.

I had read on several websites that pasta making takes lots of practice and I now believe it.  My first few tries were rippled and short.  Oh well...those became the testers...aka lunch!  After a few tries, I got the hang of things.  The problem I ran into was finding room to lay out all of the pasta.  I guess I could have lined the kitchen table with towels, but I didn't know how long it would take to dry.  So, I used a method I read about online where you stretch a broom across two chairs and dangle the pasta over it (on towels of course).  This worked, but I found that when I removed the pasta, much of it cracked at the bend point.  I guess this isn't a big deal if you are cooking it right away. 
For pasta that is going to be stored, I found that simply lying the noodles on a lightly floured cookie sheet worked well.  The noodles stayed flat and would be easier to store.

In the end, I am quite happy with the results.  Hannah and I tried some of the "testers" for lunch and they were yummy!!!  I cannot wait to cook up the rest tonight.

My next adventure is going to be with ravioli making.  Hubby and I went out last night to find some supplies and we couldn't find any!!  All we found was some pasta flour and a fluted edge roller.  I did some digging online and found that Sur La Table has a huge selection of pasta making supplies...and though they aren't located in Canada, they are in Florida near my in-law's house, so I know where I'll be shopping on our upcoming vacation!!

Stay tuned...

Cheers!
Sharon

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