I am hosting/catering a work party for around 50 people in a few weeks. Lasagna is on the menu (always great for a large crowd). Vanessa, one of my co-workers, was kind enough to come over to share her grandmother’s technique for making egg pasta.
In Pictures
Vanessa, our blog’s first ‘special guest star’, shows how to make the well in the flour.
The flour and salt mixture is slowly incorporated into the beaten eggs. (The next time that I make this, I will take an image to show what the final dough consistency is supposed to be.)
After resting, the dough was divided into 4 pieces and passed through the pasta rolling machine. (Please ignore the mess in the kitchen. Unlike cooking shows where everything is always perfectly tidy, the reality is quite different and messes happen.)
The final product. (These last couple of pieces were mine. Vanessa’s were much tidier. Of well, that’s what knives are for….)
Egg Pasta Recipe
(…for non-Italians only. According to Nonna: “If you’re Italian, you don’t need a recipe!”)
Ingredients:
- 3 – 3 1/2 cups of flour (multi-purpose or OO will work fine)
- 4 eggs (room temperature is best)
- generous pinch of salt
Instructions:
- Heap flour onto work surface and make a large well in the centre.
- Sprinkle salt over flour.
- Crack eggs into well and use a fork to beat the eggs.
- Using your fingertips, slowly incorporate the flour into the eggs. When the mixture becomes too thick to easily incorporate more flour, form the dough into a ball and knead to continue to add more flour (until you have a firm, slightly dry dough). NOTE: Not all of the flour may be required.
- Knead the dough until it becomes more elastic (3 – 5 minutes or until your arms can’t take it anymore).
- Wrap in plastic, cover with a tea towel and let rest for at least 20 minutes before running through a pasta machine.
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