Homemade Pasta

My Parents got me the pasta attachment for my Kitchen aid for my birthday

I am so stoked about this

We used to have a pasta maker.. but it was this weird bread-machine like thing, and it more or less, just extruded the pasta out of a hole... Pretty cool because you could make macaroni and other hole-y pastas... But it was a bitch to clean... Like you could spend an hour making pasta, and then the next 2 days cleaning the thing. So it made the pasta not worth making, because it was a huge undertaking.

I always wanted one of the hand cranked ones, but I have never lived in a house with a counter that you could actually clamp it onto anything... AND I ALWAYS have and ALWAYS will, live in a house with Animals... And I don't thing anyone (including me) wants to eat cat-hair pasta.

But then I got a Kitchen Aid for Christmas 2 years ago

And they have pasta attachments

Swoon

super-expensive (at least for me) Pasta attachments

Less-of-a-Swoon

But My mom found these on sale and totally scored it for me, and so it was my birthday present!

SCORE

I have made homemade pasta exactly 100 times in the last three weeks. (that may be an exaggeration)

BUT if you haven't had Homemade Pasta.... get on it... you don't need the pasta attachment, it just make life so much more easy.... and your rolling pin might feel a little neglected.... but your pasta attachment will feel loved... you can make cinnamon buns with the rolling pin another time.

Did I seriously just type that? wow

ANYWAY, I have been using Chef John's "Homemades" Pasta recipe pretty much exclusively. I will try some other ones eventually, but for now, I stick to this one. It is easy, fun, and He has a video that you can watch to help guide you through it... I brought my laptop into the kitchen and tried to not get flour on it.

The only thing I changed in the recipe, was using less Flour.  So here it is:

Homemade Pasta

2 cups Flour (All Purpose)
2 large eggs  (I crack them into a bowl in-case I mess up and get shell in, but you can crack them right into the well you created in the flour)
1 teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/3 cup Water

Clean your counter top really well, and then measure your flour into a pile
Make a well into the flour pile
Add the salt and the oil to the well, and then the eggs
using a fork, slowly whisk up the eggs
Pay attention to your edges and make sure there is not any weak spots... hold your other hand if you think the wall might give way.
Add in the water, and keep mixing.
Gradually (and carefully) add in more flour as you go
When the liquid starts to look more like a thick cake bater, you can ditch the fork, and just use your fingers
Mix everything until it is smooth and elastic. Add more flour if you need too

Let the dough rest for about half an hour... just put a bowl over top and let it sit there on the counter

Cut the rested dough into small pieces, and feed through the pasta roller, until it is at the thickness you want.

Let dry, for a few hours.... OR (if your like me) Boil some water and use all the little scrap pieces for a taste test...

Watch Chef John's video, He is much better at explaining these things than I am.