Fresh pasta

Good afternoon, all!  Kathryn, here :)  One of my absolute favorite things to make is fresh pasta.  It can go with anything and everything and is great as a main dish or side.  Pasta is one of the first things I learned to make from scratch, and I very rarely buy a boxed pasta these days.  The pasta itself is so easy to customize.  You can make it regular, whole-wheat, gluten-free, multi-grain, or flavored just about any way you can imagine (great way to sneak in veggies!).  This recipe is also fun to do with your children.  My 4-year-old likes to help me turn the crank on the pasta roller to roll the dough and then cut it!

The method I'm going to show you uses a food processor to mix the dough.  You can, of course, do it by hand if you do not have a food processor or just don't feel like getting it out.  I have done it by hand enough to know that it is much easier done in the food processor.  As for rolling it out, you can also do this by hand, with a rolling pin.  Again, I've done it by hand enough to know that investing $35 in a pasta roller/cutter is money well-spent.

Without further ado, let's get started!

The ingredients you'll need for about 1 pound of pasta are:

3 cups whole-wheat flour (substitute all-purpose if you prefer)
4 eggs
a few tbsp water, as needed

First, put your flour in the food processor, fitted with a dough blade (steel blade will work, but dough blade is better).  Next, add the eggs.  Process till they are combined.  Most likely your dough will still be very dry, especially if using whole-wheat.  Add water a tablespoon at a time and process till your dough begins hold together.  You want it to be a smooth dough but not sticky.  Sometimes when you make it in the food processor, it doesn't look like it's coming together at all (it'll be in a million small pieces).  If it forms a nice ball when you pick up a handful and squish it together, then it's perfect.  See the picture on the top right below.

Once you've formed your dough in a nice ball, cut it into 6-8 even pieces.  Flatten these pieces and run them through the pasta roller on the thickest setting.  Run the pieces through the roller on each setting on down to the third thinnest (#3 on a Villaware roller).

At this point you'll want to bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Once at a boil add some salt if you like.

Roll each sheet through the desired cutter.  Most pasta machines come with a fettucine and spaghetti cutter.  In the photo below, I used the spaghetti cutter.

Drop the cut noodles into the boiling water and boil for about 4 minutes or until desired doneness is achieved. 

It's as simple as that!  Fresh, homemade pasta can be on the table in less than an hour (including the distractions from children asking questions!), and you know exactly what's gone in it :)