Homemade Pasta

The Pasta Class that I had the other night was seriously awesome! Yes I would consider it well worth the price that I paid for it. So now the hunt was on for Semolina Flour. Now even though we have 2 Safeway grocery stores in town, nether one had any nor would they be getting any back in stock until at least Tuesday or Wednesday (and even that was iffy). So I thought about it today and it dawned on me that our local Health Food Store should carry that kind of product. So I called and guess what...they have it! I took Hannah with me and I went downtown and picked up 2 packages. I plan on making noodles and using that pasta machine that my Mother gave to me last year. Hannah is excited about getting to play with the pasta machine. The one that I have is the Marcato Atlas 150 (it's made in Italy). I remember watching my mother make homemade spaghetti noodles using that machine. One of the many fond memories from my childhood. Now to me, this is one seriously FUN kitchen toy! I have the ravioli attachment for my Kitchen-aid stand mixer, I found it on clearance over at Herberger's earlier this year and let me tell you it was CHEAP! The retail price on the Kitchen-Aid Ravioli maker is $125, now believe me when I say that there's no way did I would ever pay anything near that! I got mine for under $30, no joke! It was seriously marked down and yes it was brand new in the box, never been used and everything was there (even the warranty information card). I can hardly wait to use these toys today...and I'll have my camera in hand snapping pictures as I go along. OH now for me to see how many eggs I have on hand as each reipe take 4 or 5 eggs. The pasta recipes are simple...

Basic Pasta Recipe
2 cups all purpose flour
4 eggs

this recipe is used for noodles like Fettucini, Angel Hair, Linguine and Spaghetti

Beat eggs lightly with a fork. Place flour o kneading surface and make a well in the middle of it. blending gradually in with the flour by puling off all of well. Mix until thick paste is formed, then incorporate the remaining flour to form a rough ball of dough. Knead for 10 minutes (do not skip this part, it's the most important part). Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 20 minutes as the dough now need to rest and become firm.

Now the other
Basic Pasta recipe
1 cup Semolina Flour
2 cups all purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon E.V.O.O. (extra virgin olive oil)
pinch of salt

same directions. This kind of pasta using the semolina flour for those stronger boodles such as Ravioli, Lasagna, Tortellini, Manicotti, and those large shells that you stuff with ricotta cheese. Just thinking about this is making me hungry for pasta!

Oh if the dough is crumbling, add 1 table spoon of ice water at a time while kneading until it is a smooth dough ball.