Easy Recipe Finder
Recipe Feeder
Plain, spinach, and tomato pasta, making, cutting, cooking & storage
Servings : each batch should be approximately enough for 1 pasta dish for several people
Prep time : 20 minutes
Cook time : 5-10 minutes
Total time : 25-30 minutes
Ingredients:
Basic Pasta
2 cups flour
3 large whole eggs
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Spinach Pasta
3 c. flour
1 egg
1/2 bag fresh spinach
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Tomato Pasta
3 c. flour
1 egg
4 T tomato puree
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
You can also use beets, squid ink, spices, herbs, citrus zest, saffron or cocoa to flavor your pasta.
Directions:
To mix pasta dough by hand, place flour on a worktop and make a hole in the middle for the eggs. Crack eggs into the hole. Beat the eggs with a fork and gently mix in the flour from the sides. Start mixing the ingredients together until the mixture becomes elastic. Now start kneading the pasta on a surface sprinkled with flour with the palm of your hand. If pasta becomes too dry or crumbly, spray with a little lukewarm water. When the required texture has been reached, about 10 minutes, form a ball and leave to rest in a bowl for about 10-15 minutes. Cover with a dishtowel to keep it from drying out. After resting prepare as desired. Don't use an automatic machine. Pasta rolled out by hand or put through a crank machine has a more satisfying texture.
The key to light, resilient pasta is gently stretching and pulling the sheet of dough as you roll it thinner and thinner. Whether with a rolling pin or hand-cranked pasta machine, work with only a quarter of the dough at a time, leaving the rest loosely covered.
Lightly flour a large surface and use a rolling pin to roll out one piece of the dough at a time, repeatedly giving it a quarter turn as the circle grows. Continue, flipping the dough over occasionally, until it reaches the desired thickness. For ribbon pastas, such as fettuccine, the dough should be about 1/8" thick, thin enough to detect the outline of your hand through it. For filled pasta, the sheets should be as thin as paper - sheer enough to see your hand clearly through it. You can roll out with a rolling pin and cut into desired shapes and hang to dry on a noodle rack or cut into small shapes and let dry on counter.
When working with a pasta machine, set the machine's rollers at the widest setting. Work with one piece of dough at a time. Lightly flour the dough and pass it through the rollers 3 times, folding it over onto itself before rolling it each time. Sprinkle flour on the dough any time it threatens to stick. Guide dough as it comes out of the rollers with the palm of your hand, held flat to protect the dough from being punctured by your fingers. To make the dough thinner, set the rollers one notch closer together and repeat the rolling process another 2 or 3 times. Stop flouring the dough when it is no longer sticky. The dough should go from lumpy and holey to a satin sheet. As this happens, begin to stsretch the dough gently as it emerges from the rollers. Continue to notch rollers closer together and roll the pasta through them until you reach the desired thickness.
Spinach Pasta
Boil fresh spinach and squeeze all the water out when it is cooked, then mash into a puree. You will need 3/4 cup of the spinach puree. Depending on how much moisture you have left in your spinach you may need to add more flour. Mix egg and tomato together and prepare as done above with egg pasta.
Tomato pasta
Cook the tomato puree in a saucepan flavoring with salt and pepper. Use 4 T for 3 cups flour. Prepare as done above with egg pasta mixing the tomato puree with egg and then adding to flour.
Experiment with this before you put in your first dish. If you are like me you will never be dissapointed with this recipe. It always tastes better than storebought.
When cooking, my pasta tends to cook faster than store bought, and may vary from cook to cook, so cook in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes, but do check early. Cook till just al dente in most cases. If you are going to be baking it in lasagne or cooking it further at all, then you want to cook it short of being fully cooked.
Filled Pasta Shapes
For filled pasta, such as ravioli or canneloni, trim pasta sheets into long strips, approximately 4 inches wide or leave as wide as the strips coming out of machine. For canneloni, cut strips crosswise into 4 inch squares. Fill the pasta while it is still fresh and moist enough to fold and seal. For ribbons and unfilled shapes, let the pasta sheet dry on a lightly floured counter until it feels leathery but not at all stiff about 20 minutes. Use a sharp knife, pizza cutter, or a pastry wheel to cut it into ribbons, strips, or squares or create crimped edges for lasagna. Separate the stips and dry the cut pasta further in an airy space on large baking sheets covered with aluminum foil and dusted with flour or drape them over a pasta drying rack until no longer moist but still flexible. Once cut fresh pasta should rest at least an hour before cooking.
Farfalle
Cut pasta into rectangles about 1 1/2" x 1 inch, using notched pastry wheel. And pinch each one together in center.
Fettuccini
Cut long strands a little wider than 1/8'.
Lasagne
Cut rectangles 8"4" inches
Pappardelle
Cut ribbons about 3/4" wide
Tagliatelle
Cut ribbons less than 3/8" Wide
Storage
To store fresh pasta ribbons and similar shapes, dust with flour to prevent sticking and roll a few strands at a time into loose coils. Place coils on wire racks to dry further until ready to cook. Or, to store in refrigerator, line large baking sheets with aluminum foil and spread out the pieces so they do not touch. Refrigerate, lightly covered with lint-free cloth. Turn pieces occasionally and use within 24 hours.
For longer storage let coils dry completely (they will break with a snap) and store in plastic bags. They must be completely dry or they will mold. Once dried, home-made pasta will keep for several days. It will become brittle and break easily so handle carefully.
To freeze, fresh fettucini and other ribbons, line large baking sheets with foil. Arrange coils on sheets and freeze for 1-2 hours, until firm. Handling them carefully, put the frozen coils into heavy-duty freezer bags and store in freezer for up to 1 month. To freeze shapes such as farfalle or ravioli, spread out the pasta on the baking sheets so that the pieces do not touch, and freeze overnight. Then carefully put the pieces into heavy freezer bags and seal, leaving some air in the bags to protect the pasta from being crushed. Pasta can be cooked while it is still frozen.
Servings : each batch should be approximately enough for 1 pasta dish for several people
Prep time : 20 minutes
Cook time : 5-10 minutes
Total time : 25-30 minutes
Ingredients:
Basic Pasta
2 cups flour
3 large whole eggs
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Spinach Pasta
3 c. flour
1 egg
1/2 bag fresh spinach
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Tomato Pasta
3 c. flour
1 egg
4 T tomato puree
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
You can also use beets, squid ink, spices, herbs, citrus zest, saffron or cocoa to flavor your pasta.
Directions:
To mix pasta dough by hand, place flour on a worktop and make a hole in the middle for the eggs. Crack eggs into the hole. Beat the eggs with a fork and gently mix in the flour from the sides. Start mixing the ingredients together until the mixture becomes elastic. Now start kneading the pasta on a surface sprinkled with flour with the palm of your hand. If pasta becomes too dry or crumbly, spray with a little lukewarm water. When the required texture has been reached, about 10 minutes, form a ball and leave to rest in a bowl for about 10-15 minutes. Cover with a dishtowel to keep it from drying out. After resting prepare as desired. Don't use an automatic machine. Pasta rolled out by hand or put through a crank machine has a more satisfying texture.
The key to light, resilient pasta is gently stretching and pulling the sheet of dough as you roll it thinner and thinner. Whether with a rolling pin or hand-cranked pasta machine, work with only a quarter of the dough at a time, leaving the rest loosely covered.
Lightly flour a large surface and use a rolling pin to roll out one piece of the dough at a time, repeatedly giving it a quarter turn as the circle grows. Continue, flipping the dough over occasionally, until it reaches the desired thickness. For ribbon pastas, such as fettuccine, the dough should be about 1/8" thick, thin enough to detect the outline of your hand through it. For filled pasta, the sheets should be as thin as paper - sheer enough to see your hand clearly through it. You can roll out with a rolling pin and cut into desired shapes and hang to dry on a noodle rack or cut into small shapes and let dry on counter.
When working with a pasta machine, set the machine's rollers at the widest setting. Work with one piece of dough at a time. Lightly flour the dough and pass it through the rollers 3 times, folding it over onto itself before rolling it each time. Sprinkle flour on the dough any time it threatens to stick. Guide dough as it comes out of the rollers with the palm of your hand, held flat to protect the dough from being punctured by your fingers. To make the dough thinner, set the rollers one notch closer together and repeat the rolling process another 2 or 3 times. Stop flouring the dough when it is no longer sticky. The dough should go from lumpy and holey to a satin sheet. As this happens, begin to stsretch the dough gently as it emerges from the rollers. Continue to notch rollers closer together and roll the pasta through them until you reach the desired thickness.
Spinach Pasta
Boil fresh spinach and squeeze all the water out when it is cooked, then mash into a puree. You will need 3/4 cup of the spinach puree. Depending on how much moisture you have left in your spinach you may need to add more flour. Mix egg and tomato together and prepare as done above with egg pasta.
Tomato pasta
Cook the tomato puree in a saucepan flavoring with salt and pepper. Use 4 T for 3 cups flour. Prepare as done above with egg pasta mixing the tomato puree with egg and then adding to flour.
Experiment with this before you put in your first dish. If you are like me you will never be dissapointed with this recipe. It always tastes better than storebought.
When cooking, my pasta tends to cook faster than store bought, and may vary from cook to cook, so cook in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes, but do check early. Cook till just al dente in most cases. If you are going to be baking it in lasagne or cooking it further at all, then you want to cook it short of being fully cooked.
Filled Pasta Shapes
For filled pasta, such as ravioli or canneloni, trim pasta sheets into long strips, approximately 4 inches wide or leave as wide as the strips coming out of machine. For canneloni, cut strips crosswise into 4 inch squares. Fill the pasta while it is still fresh and moist enough to fold and seal. For ribbons and unfilled shapes, let the pasta sheet dry on a lightly floured counter until it feels leathery but not at all stiff about 20 minutes. Use a sharp knife, pizza cutter, or a pastry wheel to cut it into ribbons, strips, or squares or create crimped edges for lasagna. Separate the stips and dry the cut pasta further in an airy space on large baking sheets covered with aluminum foil and dusted with flour or drape them over a pasta drying rack until no longer moist but still flexible. Once cut fresh pasta should rest at least an hour before cooking.
Farfalle
Cut pasta into rectangles about 1 1/2" x 1 inch, using notched pastry wheel. And pinch each one together in center.
Fettuccini
Cut long strands a little wider than 1/8'.
Lasagne
Cut rectangles 8"4" inches
Pappardelle
Cut ribbons about 3/4" wide
Tagliatelle
Cut ribbons less than 3/8" Wide
Storage
To store fresh pasta ribbons and similar shapes, dust with flour to prevent sticking and roll a few strands at a time into loose coils. Place coils on wire racks to dry further until ready to cook. Or, to store in refrigerator, line large baking sheets with aluminum foil and spread out the pieces so they do not touch. Refrigerate, lightly covered with lint-free cloth. Turn pieces occasionally and use within 24 hours.
For longer storage let coils dry completely (they will break with a snap) and store in plastic bags. They must be completely dry or they will mold. Once dried, home-made pasta will keep for several days. It will become brittle and break easily so handle carefully.
To freeze, fresh fettucini and other ribbons, line large baking sheets with foil. Arrange coils on sheets and freeze for 1-2 hours, until firm. Handling them carefully, put the frozen coils into heavy-duty freezer bags and store in freezer for up to 1 month. To freeze shapes such as farfalle or ravioli, spread out the pasta on the baking sheets so that the pieces do not touch, and freeze overnight. Then carefully put the pieces into heavy freezer bags and seal, leaving some air in the bags to protect the pasta from being crushed. Pasta can be cooked while it is still frozen.
