Author Topic: Pasta  (Read 2551 times)

Worlock

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Pasta
« on: March 30, 2009, 08:24:58 PM »
Getting a pasta press and wondered if anyone out there had any recipes?

Pretty dogon cheap if ya ask me.  Little flour, an egg and blaam! Fresh pasta.  Whoodathunkit.

Tea

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Re: Pasta
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2009, 08:40:38 PM »
Hi Worlock we make pasta occasionally.  You can substitute the flour with wholemeal flour, and you can also add finely chopped herbs to the pasta.

Worlock

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Re: Pasta
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2009, 09:28:00 PM »
hmmm.... sounds yummo.  Looking forward to making spinach pasta too... just gotta play around with it I reckon.

linuxboy

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Re: Pasta
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2009, 09:49:20 PM »
I kinda wing the quantities. I just mix eggs and flour and sometimes a bit of water until it's the right consistency. I used to follow a strict recipe of measuring out 2 eggs, adding enough water to make 1/2 cup, then adding a teaspoon of salt to the liquid and dissolving, then making a mound of 2 1/4 cups flour, and mixing until incorporated. Nowadays, I add the eggs, and then add flour until it feels right, and then either add more flour or water to adjust.

One of the main reasons I don't follow a recipe is because many of my pastas have added ingredients, like pureed vegetables, and those don't always have the same water content. Sometimes, I dehydrate veggies, puree them, and add the veggie flour to the normal flour.

Key with pasta is to keep it basic and fresh. Puree carrots, onions, celery, like for a soup stock, and add a bit for flavor. Or add in some bullion instead of salt, or make a sourdough starter and do a sourdough pasta (make a sour starter, then add an egg and enough flour until it doesn't stick to the rollers). Or use whey instead of water. Or use a mashed up potato added to the flour for a potato pasta. Or use only egg yolks... so many options.

Worlock

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Re: Pasta
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2009, 09:54:38 PM »
My head officially hurts now.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Pasta
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2009, 12:03:25 AM »
Worlock semolina flour make a big difference! Get a bag of Bob's Red Mill you don't need alot.


Egg Noodle Pasta

About 3/4 cup unbleached flour
¼ cup semolina flour
2 large eggs at room temperature

1) Pour flour on a work surface.  Form a well in the middle of the flour. 

2) Put the eggs in the well and poke with a fork to break the yolks and whip them up some.  Slowly incorporate flour from the sides of the well until the eggs are no longer runny.  Mix in the remaining flour into the egg flour mix and knead at least 8 minutes -- if dough is sticky add a little flour to the work surface as you knead.

3) Roll out the dough until very thin or roll into sheets with a pasta maker gradually working from lowest (thickest) setting to highest (thinnest setting). 

4)  If rolling sheets with a pasta machine, coat the sheets with a thin layer of flour and allow to rest/dry on a flat surface for about 20-30 minutes so the sheets will be easier to cut in the pasta machine. If making ravioli or other stuffed pasta, you can just coat the sheets with a thin layer of flour and begin filling/shaping into ravioli as each sheet is made from the pasta maker.

5)  Cut the sheets into the desired pasta shape (linguini, fettucini, capellini, etc.) and place on floured cookie sheets to rest until ready to cook. 

If your making lasagna just roll out the dough , square it off with a knife and cut it intil strips about 3 inches wide.

You can add fresh chopped herbs or 1/2 10oz. package of thawed frozen spinach, cooked and well-drained  or 1 lb. of raw spinach cooked and well drained-- be sure to squeeze out as much water as possible(placing spinach in a cheese cloth helps do this).  Mince the spinach very fine with a knife. 

Place 3/4 cup flour on work surface-- form a well- place 1 egg and spinach in the well and proceed as for egg pasta above.  You can also make red pepper pasta by pureeing some roasted red peppers and using them in place of the spinach.


NOTE: Add about 1 Tablespoon of milk if making filled pasta like ravioli, capallacci, tortellini, etc..

Worlock

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Re: Pasta
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2009, 12:18:32 AM »
Thank you very much Debi :)

Oh and linuxboy I didn't mean that in sarcasm earlier, I truly meant that all of the options available can really make your head swim.  Kind of like cheese, you can do just about anything you want to get great custom pasta!

Thanks again folks  :)

linuxboy

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Re: Pasta
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2009, 02:11:31 AM »
It's kind of mind boggling to see not only the ingredients, but the different types.

Here's a pic of just a few dozen http://www.fisher.k12.il.us/italy/Shapes.jpg

I like to go to the store to look at fresh pasta in the fancy, expensive section, and then go home and make the same thing for 50 cents/lb :).

There's also a pasta store here in the local market, and I like to try and replicate the various types of spaghetti they have.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Pasta
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2009, 03:21:00 AM »
I kind of read this quickly eariler as I was on my way out the door but didn't want to leave without leaving something for Worlock to sink his teeth in.

Did you notice he mentioned adding whey? I tell you it works great in soo many things! Anything with flour, veggies, gravies, pickles you name it!

Back to pasta. Once you get "a feel" for making your pasta experiment with things you like. I had an Aunt that used squished crab in her pasta and everyone said it was wonderful. I can say I'm allergic but I saw the eyes roll!

Start with something basic. If you like making all those shape Popeils machine makes somewhere around 25 or 30 different shapes and styles. And I course hand cutting is always fun for larger pastas. Have fun hon!