The Best Fresh Pasta
You will need a pasta maker to make fresh pasta. These are simple relatively inexpensive machines and easy to find.
Buy or Find
Flour, 250g, ‘00’ Pasta Flour
Eggs, 2 and 2 yolks
Olive Oil, 1 tbs
Salt, a pinch
Do
Add flour and salt to a flat-based mixing bowl and stir to combine.
Create a well in the centre of the flour.
Add the eggs and whisk, using a fork, in the centre of the bowl, until combined.
Gradually incorporate the flour, retaining the well shape for which the opening is getting larger and larger as you incorporate the flour. Do this until roughly half of the flour has been incorporated.
Mix in the remainder of the flour, using the handle of a wooden spoon, until there are no dry crumbs visible in the bowl.
Tip the flour out onto lightly floured work bench and knead for 3-5 minutes.
Cover the dough with a bowl and leave to sit for 30-60 minutes. (You can leave these to sit for up to 6 hours as long as the room temperature is below 22 degrees celsius. The longer you leave the dough to sit, the stretchier it becomes.
Cut the dough into quarters.
Take one of the quarters and dip it in flour on the workbench.
Press into a small rectangle, using your fingers.
Roll from 1-6 in your pasta maker. Dip the dough in flour between each successive roll.
The rolled sheets of dough can be stored flat in the fridge inside a plastic container or within a snap lock bag for several hours before you cut them. Sheets of fresh pasta also freeze well for up to a month. (Make sure you flour both sides of each sheet well if you are storing them in the fridge or freezer.)
Cut the pasta into the desired shaped, using your pasta machine. When cutting into shape using your pasta machine, lightly pull on the pasta from the top as it is fed into the machine.
Cook the pasta in slated water for 4-5 minutes or until soft but a little al dente.
Serve with your favourite pasta sauce and parmesan cheese. Our favourite for this type of pasta is Pomarola Sauce.
Try this as a ravioli filling. Zest of 1 lemon, 300g Ricotta cheese, 2 egg yolks, 1 bunch of English spinach , wilted and squeezed, pinch of nutmeg. 1 tsp is good amount of filling for medium sized ravioli.