"She refused to be bored, chiefly because she wasn't boring." Zelda Fitzgerald

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Pasta From Scratch.....Check!


Yay for accomplishing two year long resolutions! Woohoo!!! I made pasta, real Italian pasta, for the first time in my life. It was yummy, and easy and I feel cool and our new pasta machine is extremely cool. If any of you out there are considering getting one, I recommend our hand cranked Atlas. So sleek and classic and old world and it has only three parts. That makes this mommy very happy. There are plenty of parts to Legos and Tinker Toys....I like three part machines.
 

But, ahem....back to pasta. So I pressed out sheets of pasta between the rollers and then cut them. The dough making is very similar to making German noodles like I learned as a girl, except there is a long kneading process to make it all silky and springy and then of course the shapes are different and the product generally more thin and delicate. Speaking of...I think I got slightly carried away on the "thin and delicate" front and rolled this batch of dough a little too thinly. Next time I want to try a more rustic, full bodied pasta.

ANYWAY....after the machine rolls the dough to thin sheets you cut it into shapes...I cut some into thick strips with my pizza wheel and made papardelle pasta and then ran the rest through the cutters on the pasta machine which will make either fettuccine or spaghetti.

 
I went for fettuccine.

 

And then I went for some cream, some baby peas, some grated parmesan and a little garlic. YUM.
It was great. I am inspired. Next up: ravioli!




I spent most of my day running errands today, not really gorging on cream pasta....I promise.
When we dropped A off at work, I had to stop and snap the hoar frost on the ivy leaves outside his office door. You never know where Beauty will suddenly smack you in the face.



After we were off on our first errand, I noticed, once the boys were out of the car and we were halfway across the parking lot, headed towards the first store....that Ru had snuck along his umbrella. Never mind that it was another golden sunshiney day...he had found his umbrella and was determined to use it. At least he shares it happily, right? When I questioned him, he defensively stated that he "doesn't like the sun on him so much."

Silly boy.

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7 comments:

  1. Ooooh I've always wanted to make my own pasta! Your dish looks SO YUMMY!

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  2. Try it! Its super easy! I feel so empowered now!

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  3. I used to live with my ex-fiancé, who was Italian, and his family in Germany. His Mom would make me get up early on Sat. and Sun. to help her make pasta. It was a lot fun and very tasty!! Ravioli was the easiest and my favorite to make. Have lots of fun!!!! That will be one healthy baby coming out of you! LOL!!!!

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  4. Nina, you make me laugh! And ravioli's really easy? Rock on. I'm so excited to make some. You have such a colorful life...I didn't know you lived in Europe and got up with a genuine Italian mama to make the family's pasta. That's amazing.

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  5. Thanks, Carlie! Being an Army Brat had it's perks. :) Met a lot of great people and went to a lot of great places. I should blog about that!! :)

    And yes, ravioli was really easy and fun because you can put whatever you want in there!! So yummy!!

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  6. When things get back to somewhat normal I will walk you through Grandma Schallhorn's pasta, it is so fun!! Until baby number 3 arrived with problems I made everything from scratch, breads, buns, pasta, crackers. I will try to locate some of those recipes for you if you want them.

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  7. I'll take anything you throw my way Aunt Jacie! Thanks!

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