Homemade Pasta

Homemade Pasta

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My family loves pasta! Any kind of pasta, but a good homemade pasta is hard to beat! Fortunately I was given the right set of pasta tools! Thanks to my mother-in-law that lives in Italy a majority of the time, and my somewhat Italian husband, I have a great set of pasta tools. First time around, it was a little labor intensive, but once I became more familiar with the Atlas Pasta maker, it became super easy. The ingredients are so straightforward: eggs and flour! That’s it!

Tools needed: Atlas Pasta Maker, kitchen scale (measuring grams), and a fork!

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Measure out 100 grams of organic all-purpose flour per 1 egg. I used 400 grams of flour and 4 eggs for this batch.

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First you measure the flour into a large mixing bowl. Make a crater in the center of the flour, and crack in the eggs. Slowly stir your fork into the center, slowly incorporating more flour from the edges, until the eggs are nicely mixed in. You can then transfer the mixture onto a floured surface, and kneed the dough, until eggs and flour are well incorporated. Next you divide the portions into fourths. Using your Atlas Pasta maker, on setting “zero” (which has the widest space), run the dough through the mixture. On the Atlas, the higher the number on the dial, the thinner the dough. If the dough is too moist it will stick to the surface of the rollers, so add some more flour. If the dough is too dry, it will pass through and crumble out, so add a big of water and kneed the dough again. I run the dough through several times, adjust the width, so that I end up at the fifth (5) setting for pasta, or seventh (7) setting for fettuccini.

Taca-pasta-drying rackatlas-dough-dry Once you have 6 strips of thin pasta dough, you can now add on the spaghetti/fettuccini attachment, and run the dough through the spaghetti roller. I also purchased the Atlas Drying rack in order to hang the pasta, until you are ready to cook.

Meanwhile put a hit pot of water on to boil, and be sure to add enough salt, since the dough is not salted. Cook the pasta for approximately 4-5 minutes. I’m at altitude so it takes a bit longer to cook, so it might cook a bit quicker. Be sure to only cook it al dente.

Add your favorite spaghetti sauce and serve! Must be eaten immediately.

Ricotta Pasta with Tomatoes

Ricotta Pasta with Tomatoes

 

Ricotta Pasta with Tomatoes, basil, garlic and mozzarella

Here is a fun, lighter spaghetti dish with ricotta, mozzarella, basil, garlic, cherry tomatoes and parmesan. My son loves ricotta and if he has his preference he would pretty much add it to anything.

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup Olive oil
  • 6 cloves chopped Garlic
  • 10-15 cherry tomatoes (slices in half)
  • ½ cup chopped Burrata (or fresh mozzarella cheese)
  • ½ cup of whole milk organic Ricotta cheese
  • ½ tsp Red Pepper Flakes (chili)
  • 1 cup Roasted tomatoes sliced
  • 1 box of spaghetti (barilla or other Italian brand)
  • salt as needed
  • 10 leaves of fresh basil sliced
  • ⅓ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Boil pasta water (making sure to salt after boiling). In a small sauce pan, add the oil and garlic and cook at medium heat, making sure garlic does not brown. Mix together cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, ricotta, red pepper flakes, and roasted tomatoes. Add ¼ tsp salt and stir. Cook pasta. Strain pasta, saving some of the water. Add olive oil and garlic to ricotta mixture. Stir in pasta to mixture to coat spaghetti well, add additional salt if needed. Serve into shallow pasta bowls, sprinkle with basil and parmesan cheese and serve.   Makes 4 Servings.

 

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