Fresh Pasta

When Mike gets a craving for something, you can be sure he makes it happen. Today I followed the sounds of the food processor to the kitchen to find him whipping up some fresh pasta.

We used up two dozen fresh eggs from Farm Girl Natural Foods for the workday, so Mike was disappointed when he opened the fridge and found none. Not to be foiled, he spotted half an avocado on the counter which was left over from the pork tacos we ate for brunch this morning. It would have to do for an egg substitute.

Into the food processor he eye-balled amounts of flour, water, avocado, salt, pepper and fresh cilantro until it whizzed into a nice ball of soft dough. Then he dusted it with flour and patted it into a pancake so that it could fit through the pasta maker. He sent it through the flattening slot multiple times, decreasing the opening with each pass to get a long thin piece of dough.

 

Once flattened, he floured it a bit more and sent it through the spaghetti-sized noodle option on the pasta maker. (The other option is fettuccine.) Another quick dust of flour and he dropped it into a pot of boiling water. The cooking time is short - just a few minutes - or else the noodles lose their consistency.  Without egg to firm them up, these were soft but still held their shape. Once drained, Mike tossed them in a tablespoon of melted butter with pepper and grated cheese. Simply delicious.

The beauty of making your own pasta is that you can flavor them with all sorts of additions. Throw in whatever you have around, whatever will compliment your meal or whatever you want to sneak into your kids' diets. Dough can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the fridge for a couple days. If you don't have a pasta maker you can use a rolling pin and a pizza cutter. They may not look perfect, but they'll still taste great.

February 25, 2013