Homemade Pasta – Snow Day Fun and Yum!
Last Christmas my son asked for a pasta maker. When I got over my shock, I thought, GREAT IDEA! I immediately got online to see what was involved in making homemade pasta – I had never made pasta from scratch. Of course, I was thrilled that he wanted to do something that did not involve “Call of Duty” or some other war obsessed video game – he is 17, so not much trumps the computer or the cell phone.
I discovered that Marcato makes a quality machine. It is an easy to use hand crank, metal machine (it comes in fun colors too) and makes spaghetti and linguine and angel hair pastas without the need for other attachments. My research also lead me to a few accessories that seemed fun and helpful in making the pasta. The most important accessory for us has been the flour shaker which lets you keep the dough from sticking – we use it liberally. I also purchased ravioli stamps, a pasta cutter, a drying stand and a rolling pin.
Today we had a little snow storm (little by New England standards – about 10 inches) and school was cancelled. Perfect day to make some pasta and video blog about it! I am a bit camera shy but Ben is very at home making the pasta and in from of the camera.
I have included the recipe for the pasta dough at the end of this post. We thought a video might be the best way to show how easy it is to make the pasta! Making it is even more fun than eating it. I have to say, once you have eaten your own homemade pasta you will never want to eat it from the box again. It probably has something to do with the many many eggs that go into the dough! Enjoy our snow day activity.
- 2 cups of Semolina Flour + extra for flour shaker
- 2 cups Italian style soft flour
- 5 eggs
- water
- It is easiest to watch the video of Ben to see how it is done - or for a slower version - the Marcato video is very helpful.
- After some research, we have decided that for making the spaghetti, linguine and angel hair and bowtie pastas, we like to use half semolina flour and half soft flour for the best result. We use the semolina flour (more coarse) in the shaker to prevent sticking.
Mary says
Bravo, Chef Ben! Well done, and so speedy!
Pip says
Every time I watch it I crack up – I especially like the music!