by Jess M
If I were to have to pick a specialty in cooking, it would be "dough." I'm decent at following recipes, but not very creative. Give me a bread dough challenge and various cookbooks and websites to read and I'm set. I really get excited about cooking/baking anything that requires the mixing of flour and liquid into a dough, maybe kneading it with my hands, and turning it into something delicious.
When I was pregnant with my third baby, my nesting took the form of cooking, and more specifically: dough centered foods. I spent time reading bread forums and baked all of our own bread for a while (that didn't last!). I made muffins and cakes and scones and cookies on the regular. I had to start buying flour in 10-pound bags because I was going through the 5-pound ones too quickly. And it was during this time that I decided I was going to learn to make my own noodles. After some trial and practice I decide it was worth a little investment and so for my birthday that year I got The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles and an Imperia pasta machine.
Before I decided to commit to another kitchen unitasker, I experimented making pasta by rolling it very thinly with a rolling pin and cutting it with a butter knife. I wanted to make sure that it was worth going to all this trouble for. And yes, yes it is.
For me, making my own pasta is a weekend, special occasion kind of dish. It's a little too much effort to go to for a weeknight meal. But when you want to make especially delicious fettuccine alfredo - or really any pasta dish - then this is the way to go.
Following the instructions from Cooks Illustrated, I used my food processor to mix up the dough. The dough for egg pasta is simply 2 cups of flour and 3 eggs. Pulse in the food processor until mixed. Then dump it out onto the counter and knead it for a few minutes until it forms a nice smooth ball. Let the dough rest for a little while (15 min to 2 hours). Then divide the dough into 6 parts and feed each piece through the rollers of the pasta machine, changing the setting so that it gets progressively thinner each time. When it gets to its thinnest, run it through the cutting attachment.
Boil a large pot of salted water and cook the noodles for just a couple of minutes, they will be done very quickly.
Alfredo Sauce
1 1/2 c heavy cream
1 stick of butter
Nutmeg
1 1/2 - 2 cups parmesan cheese
Combine the butter and 1 cup of the cream in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Simmer until the liquid is reduced a bit, about 10-15 minutes. Then add in the remaining cream and nutmeg, turn off the heat and stir in the noodles and Parmesan.
This recipe is a blend of the Cook's Illustrated cooking method and Pioneer Woman's ingredient quantities. Basically I am using the most amount recommended of each of the cream, butter and parmesan. And spring for the good kind of heavy cream, mine came from the local creamery, but even if you can just get the best one from the grocery store it will taste better.
Now.
In the interest of full disclosure I have to say that the night last week I made this it didn't go quite as smoothly as I'm describing here. I HAVE had noodles go very smoothly. Making the dough is quick! And it only takes 20ish minutes to roll and cut them! But last week, possibly because my dough was too sticky, after the first bunch went through the cutter, it got jammed. Dough backed up and the more I tried to feed through the worse it got. I had to throw out some of the more mangled pieces I pulled out. And there are STILL dried pieces of dough sitting in my pasta machine for me to go back and extract. I cursed at it, I maybe threw some dough and I was very disappointed. Dinner took way longer to make than it should have and I was really sad about it because I spent way too much time fooling with my pasta machine. I ended up cutting the last few sheets of dough on the counter with a pastry cutter just so I could be done and we could eat. AND! My kids did that awesome thing kids do when they look at something you've just spent 2 hours working on to get dinner on to the table and they turn up their noses at it and say "ew." Using the already hot pasta water I boiled them some dried spaghetti noodles which they ate with powdered kraft parmesan.
So, yes, you should make your own noodles. Yes, as with anything new or challenging in the kitchen it sometimes can end up being a(n almost) complete flop. But when it goes well: you will have delicious, tender, silky noodles with cheesy, buttery alfredo sauce. And that is a win.
~~~
Sometime I'm going to also try my hand at ravioli (and avoid that whole pasta cutter getting jammed up thing!). Ariel shared her adventures in making her own ravioli here.
(Photos from: me)
I am officially inspired!
Posted by: Lalania Knowlton | December 13, 2012 at 02:55 PM