Everyone must love homemade pasta, don’t they? Fresh pasta does not even begin to compare with purchased, boxed pasta. The basic, traditional recipe is so simple: 1-cup flour to 1 whole, fresh egg. Work the flour into the lightly beaten egg a bit at a time, and start to knead it until you have smooth, soft dough. Sounds so easy. Truth be told, it is not! After all this time my dough still takes a bit of muscle and sadly makes my wrists hurts for a day or more (carpal tunnel – yukk!). I have used a food processor to slowly mix and work the dough. It works really well and produces dough that slides through the pasta machine with ease. Beautiful pasta results! To me it’s not the same as making it by hand, but it’s close enough. Ya do what ya gotta do! There is another recipe that is easy on your wrists that works too! Not traditional by any means but it will result in homemade pasta – without a pasta machine.
In a food processor bowl add:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2-tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 egg yolks
Pulse slowly until a ball of dough forms. If dough is dry and does not form a ball add up to two additional yolks, one at a time. Remove from bowl and knead 3 minutes, adding as little flour as possible to prevent sticking to mat or counter. Shape into log, wrap in plastic wrap, and allow to rest 3 hours in refrigerator, and one hour at room temperature. Divide dough into 6 equal pieces. Place 5 pieces back under plastic wrap on counter. Work one piece at a time to shape into a 3 inch-square, dusting very, very, lightly with flour. With rolling pin roll into rectangle 6” x 20”, dusting lightly with flour as little as possible to prevent sticking. You will need a bit of flour, just be cautious as to how much. Less is more in this case! Place rolled dough on clean towel, uncovered. Work remaining 5 pieces of dough. All dough sheets needs to air dry at room temp for 10 – 20 minutes. If you are still rolling out dough and time has lapsed, cover lightly with cotton towel while you work the remainder of the dough.
Take dough you rolled first and gently fold (without pressing folds) into 3 inches x 6 inches. Cut rolled dough with sharp knife about ¼ inch wide, depending on noodles size you want to end with. If you want lasgana sheets, just cut in half and you are ready to cook your lasagna noodles. Gently shake pasta loose once cut and place on towel, uncovered. Continue until all dough is cut. Pasta may be frozen at this point. Freeze on tray and place in zipper bag once frozen. To cook add frozen pasta to 5 quarts rapidly boiling, salted water. Cook about 3 – 4 minutes. Cook fresh pasta the same as frozen, but only 3 minutes. You can also allow your pasta to dry completely at room temperature about 24 hours. Store in large, closed paper bag. Pasta will keep for about 4 weeks. This is a great recipe. I usually never make one batch at a tine but double or triple it to have pasta on hand. Try it and before you know it you are eady to serve your own pasta with your own favorite sauce!
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