This weekend Scott and I found ourselves looking after my 8 year old nephew and 5 year old niece while my sister and brother-in-law had a well deserved weekend away in Melbourne.
We had an action packed Saturday filled with walking the dogs, eating a tasty lunch from the local South American patisserie (called Sugarloaf in Kogarah), having ice cream, playing on the beach and watching the planes land at the international terminal.
In true Italian sibling form, my sister couldn’t let me look after the kids without ensuring we had something tasty to eat so she cooked up a big batch of bolognese sauce for us to have for dinner. Knowing how excited the kids were about having bolognese, I thought that maybe it would be fun for us all to make fresh pasta that the kids could have with the sauce. For me, a dish you have helped cooked yourself always is just that little bit tastier.
The kids had never made pasta before (shame on you sis) and were extremely excited at the idea. So we pulled out the pasta maker and took it round to their place. Pasta is pretty much the easiest thing to make and it will elevate your dinner to another level – So there is no excuse… get making people!
FRESH PASTA
Fresh pasta is made from just flour, eggs and a teeny bit of olive oil. To figure out how much of each you need, the flour to egg to person ratio is as follows: 1 person = 100g flour + 1 egg. Last night we fed four but wanted some left overs for my sister and brother-in-law to try so made enough for six people.
Ingredients:
600g “00” Flour (bread and pasta flour)
6 eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
Place the flour on a clean bench. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it. Beat the eggs with a fork until smooth. Using the tips of your fingers, mix the eggs with the flour, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined. Then add the olive oil.
Knead the pieces of dough together until one large lump of dough forms. You then need to work it until the dough become smooth and silky. I should warn you, it won’t feel like the dough will ever come together and you will need to work it hard but keep persisting until it does. What you are doing is developing the gluten in the flour and if you don’t do this properly, your pasta will become mushy when you cook it instead of al dente.
It is at this point that you are meant to wrap it in glad wrap and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. This is to rest the dough so it will harden a little. But with two kids starting to grumble that they were hungry, we thought we would risk it.
Now comes the fun bit. This is the quick and rustic version to do with kids who may not have the patience to get the pasta sizes perfect.
You’ll need a pasta machine and these are relatively inexpensive if bought from Victoria’s Basem*nt (we got ours for $29). Clamp it to your bench and dust the bench top with some of the remainig flour. Cut a lump of the dough (about the size of a small orange) and flatten it out with the palm of your hand.
Set the pasta machine at the widest setting and roll the lump through. Then set the machine down a level and roll the dough through again. Continue this process going down a level each time until you get it as thin as you desire. We were making fettuccine so we followed the process to the second thinnest setting (the thinnest setting is better for ravioli). Repeat with all of the dough until you are left with fresh lasagna sheets.
Then add the pasta cutter attachment to your machine and run the sheets through the pasta cutter that you require (we fed ours through the fettuccine cutter). Make sure bench is well floured and place the cut pasta on the floured bench to prevent from sticking.
To cook the pasta, get a large pot of water boiling on the stove and once boiling add a handful of salt and add the pasta. Fresh pasta takes a lot less time than dried pasta to cook so be careful. It will really only take a couple of minutes to get to al dente.
Once cooked, drain the water out and place the pasta back in the pot. Stir in your sauce, add freshly grated grana padano cheese and enjoy!
FAQs
One large-size egg weighs about 2 ounces; one cup of flour weighs about 5 ounces. Use one large-size egg for each full serving you want to make, to that add 1 ½ the egg's weight in flour. (You can do this with a simple kitchen scale.) If you don't have a scale, use 2 eggs per 1 cup of flour to make 1 serving.
How long do you cook fresh pasta? ›
Cook fresh pasta noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water. (Use about 6 quarts of water for 1 pound of pasta.) Fresh pasta takes considerably less time to cook than dried, usually 1 to 3 minutes, so watch it carefully. To test, remove a noodle with tongs or a long-handled fork and take a bite.
Why is my homemade pasta gummy? ›
Using a pot that's too small
Additionally, this will create a higher starch-to-water ratio, which causes the pasta to stick together. In conclusion: Avoid clumpy, mushy, and sticky pasta by using the right pot! Stick to a pot size between 6 and 8 quarts, and fill it up about ¾ of the way for 1 pound of pasta.
How long do you let pasta dough rest? ›
Rest. Place the dough in a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or up to overnight in the fridge – this is an extremely important step, so don't skip it! 4.
What is the formula for fresh pasta? ›
1 large egg per cup of flour used, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons of water as needed. That's it, really. Egg, flour, and maybe water. The flour could be all-purpose, whole wheat, semolina, our pasta flour blend, or a combination of these.
Why add eggs before flour? ›
Not to be dramatic (????), but eggs are transformative. When combined with flour, they add to the structure and texture of cakes, cookies, and breads. Egg wash is the secret ingredient for beautifully caramelized pie crusts and challah; it can even be used as a kind of edible glue for slivered almonds or sesame seeds.
How long should fresh pasta sit before boiling? ›
If your dough is too sticky, place your dough on a flat floured surface, dust with flour and leave to dry for 15 minutes. Once cut into shapes, you can leave the pasta to dry for a further 15 minutes before adding it to boiling water.
How long to leave out fresh pasta to dry? ›
You will need to let your pasta completely air dry. This can take anywhere from 12-24 hours or longer, depending on the temperature and humidity of your kitchen. You can use a fan to help speed up the process—simply aim it toward the pasta and use a lower speed to create a gentle breeze.
How long should I boil fresh homemade pasta? ›
When you do cook it, remember that homemade pasta cooks much more quickly than the dried pasta you buy in stores. Give it about four minutes in salted boiling water, taste it, and keep checking in one-minute increments until the pasta is al dente. Ready?
What is the best flour for pasta? ›
Pasta dough also needs some plasticity for it to be moulded into all of those wonderful shapes. All-purpose flour does what it says on the tin, so it's perfectly fine to use for making pasta. However, most pasta recipes will recommend either semola or “00” flour.
White Flour Is Best for Egg Pasta Dough
Italians make fresh pasta using a particular type of lower-protein white flour called doppio zero, or 00 flour, with a talcum powder–like grind. Its protein content is similar to that of all-purpose flour, but the proprietary blend of wheat makes a difference.
Should I put olive oil in my pasta dough? ›
Olive oil lends great flavor to pasta, but it makes the dough brittle and prone to cracking if it dries. It's best not to use olive oil if you are shaping the dough into tortellini or ravioli. If you want to add olive oil for flavor, you can add just a little—about 1 teaspoon per cup of flour is a good ratio.
Can you overwork fresh pasta dough? ›
Fortunately, pasta dough is fairly forgiving. While it can dry out if you knead too long, it's not as easy to overwork as standard bread dough.
What happens if you don't let pasta dough rest? ›
The resting period allows the flour to continue to hydrate, and the gluten network to relax. Most experts will tell you that if you tried to roll out your dough at this point, disaster would ensue—your dough would be too dry and too elastic to roll out.
How much fresh pasta per person? ›
Typically, Italian guidelines recommend the following quantities of uncooked pasta per person: 60-100g of dried pasta. 70-120g of fresh pasta.
What is the ratio of flour to eggs for pasta? ›
1 egg per 100 g of flour. i.e. for 4 people, use 400 g (3 cups) of flour and 4 eggs.
What is the ratio of egg to flour when making pasta? ›
Chef's tip: When you make fresh pasta, the ratio is always 1 egg and 100 grams of flour per person – so it's easy to scale this recipe up or down.
What is the ratio of egg yolks to flour in pasta? ›
Ultimately, the sweet spot that I, and my blind-tasters, settled on was one whole egg (1.4 ounces white and 0.6 ounce yolk) and two yolks (1.2 ounces yolk) for every five ounces of flour.
How many eggs do you need to thicken 1 cup of liquid? ›
Use a whisk or fork to rapidly beat your egg yolks.
Beat the yolks until they appear consistently smooth and slightly frothy. Use 2 to 3 egg yolks per cup of liquid sauce you want to thicken. The more egg yolks you use, the thicker the resulting sauce will be.
