Making fresh pasta wasn’t as hard as we thought it was going to be and it can be a great rainy day activity with the kiddos. My niece and my daughter did a great job making the dough and putting it through the pasta machine.
Kneading the flour and egg mixture was a lot like playing with Play-Doh.
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1 egg
- up to 1.5 tbsps water (depends on the wetness of your dough)
Pour 1 cup flour onto your working surface (this could be a baking sheet).
Make a volcano by using the egg to put a well in the middle of the flour. Crack the egg into the center of the volcano, then use a fork to scoop flour on top of the egg and mix until it’s sticky then knead the dough with your hands. You want to knead the dough (fold it into itself) until it’s smooth like a mozzarella ball.
Pasta Machine
Next flatten the dough until it’s a longish oval, then run it through the pasta machine, keep reducing the thickness until you get to the 1 setting. Pasta machines vary so read the instructions for yours to determine what thickness to end for fettuccine.
Once you run it through at the 1 setting, cut the long sheet into thirds or about 3 equal pieces. Then use the cutting attachment, cut the sheets into fettuccine noodles, feeding in the narrow end first.
Once you get the noodles cut, sprinkle with flour to prevent sticking.
No Pasta Machine
If you don’t have a pasta machine, you can put the dough in between 2 sheets of parchment paper and use a rolling pin to roll the dough thinner and thinner. Once you get it to the right thickness, use a pizza cutter or knife to hand cut the noodles to the right width. Once you’ve cut the noodles, sprinkle with flour to prevent sticking to each other.
Cooking Fresh Pasta
While you are cutting the noodles, put a pot on the stove add enough water so that when you add your noodles, it will cover your noodles, add a generous amount of salt. The salt will make the noodles float and won’t get stuck to the bottom of your pan.
Once it’s boiling, add the fettuccine noodles. When you add the noodles, it will cool the water a little, you want to leave the noodles in just long enough for the water to come to a boil again. When it starts boiling again, use tongs to remove the noodles from the water and serve.
Serving Suggestions
- Use Rao’s Tomato Basil sauce, this line of tomato sauces doesn’t have added sugar, just the ingredients if you were to make it homemade
- Basil Pesto, I like the one from Costco
- Tip: Open the jar when you get it home and separate into smaller mason jars, then freeze
- Alfredo Sauce – recipe coming soon
- Marinara Sauce – recipe coming soon
What are your thoughts?