I spent some time on my stay-cation between Christmas and New Years playing around with making pasta!  I’ve never made pasta before, but my hubby got me the KitchenAid pasta roller attachment set for my birthday in November and I’ve been dying to try it.  What a fun process!!  After making a few dough’s and reading a TON of information on making pasta, (and binge watching Giada and Bobby Flay in Italy), I found this combination of ingredients to give me some pretty incredible results!  My family agrees that it is going to be really hard to ever go back to regular dried pasta after enjoying this amazing stuff!

Just this past weekend, (after all my experimenting), my hubby and I enjoyed a Saturday date day making fettuccine together and we seriously had so much fun!  (To the point where we then made gnocchi together Sunday.)  My hubby now thinks he is a pasta making expert and swears he is going to make it all by himself for me one night.  I’ll be completely happy with just making it together again!  If you can plan ahead and get a couple of hours with the person you love, I highly recommend it!  As a note, I have the BEST Alfredo sauce recipe to go along with it.

A couple of tips for this recipe:

• First, I learned from Giada that a little bit of semolina flour gives the pasta a good texture and helps the sauce stick to it.  I did it with and without and liked it with.  However, if you don’t have semolina flour, you can just add another 1/4 cup regular flour.
• Second, if you forget to get out your eggs to bring them to room temperature, just put some hot tap water in a cereal bowl and let the eggs sit in the water for a couple of minutes.  It brings them to temp quick!
• Third, if your dough seems wet, add a little extra flour.  If your dough is having a hard time coming together, add a sprinkle of water!  You want the dough to come together with as little water as possible, so don’t add too much.  The dough goes through the pasta rollers better if it’s dryer.
• Finally, be patient with yourself.  It gets easier every time you do it.  Allow yourself time to learn and enjoy the process.  (In other words, don’t try and make this for the first time on a weeknight when you are in a rush!)

Ready to give it a try?  You only need a few basic ingredients!

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. In a food processor, add the flour, the semolina flour, the salt, the eggs, then the oil in that order.
2. Pulse 15-20 times until the mixture starts coming together.  It will look a little crumbly, but should be easy to work with.
3. Empty the mixture out on to a lightly floured surface and use your hands to bring it together and knead for a minute or two until it becomes a nice ball of dough.  (If it’s too wet, you can add a sprinkle of flour, if it’s too dry, you can add cold water, just a couple of drops at a time.)
4. Once the dough is pliable, but more dry than wet, form it in to a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes.  (Note, you can refrigerate at this stage for up to a day.)
5. When ready to roll out the pasta, cut the ball of dough in to four pieces.  Using a rolling pin, roll one of the pieces in to an oval.  Put the pasta through the pasta roller at it’s thickest setting, (1 on the kitchen aid roller).  Fold the dough in half, pulling the ends in to meet at the middle, (see illustrations below), then fold in half again, so it forms a rectangle.  Run it through the pasta at level 1 another two times.
6. Run the pasta through level 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 once each. (It will get a little thinner each time.)  Dust both sides of the pasta sheets with flour, (I like to use the semolina flour for this but you can use either), fold in half and place on a lightly floured baking sheet.
7. Next, cut each of the long pasta sheets in half so they are easier to handle.  Run each of the sheets of dough through the fettuccine cutter attachment.  Lay each set of noodles in a little nest on a floured baking sheet or on a pasta rack and let sit at least 30 minutes.  (Note, if you have the roller, but not the fettuccine cutter, you can cut the pasta with a knife in strips after rolling it out thin!)
8. When you are ready to cook the pasta, fill a large 6 qt pot with water and generously salt.  (I put a minimum of 2 tsps.)  Bring the water to a rolling boil.  Add the pasta and cook for 2-5 minutes.  (It cooks fast, but how fast depends on how thick the pasta is.  Keep an eye on it and taste a piece after 2 minutes – you don’t want to overcook!)
9. Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining, (I always save some to add as needed to whatever sauce I’m making), then drain the pasta, and serve with your favorite sauce!

Here are some pictures at various stages if it helps!