Food Academy- Making fresh Pasta

This is easy if you have a Pasta Rolling machine. 

You also need to use High grade flour with lots of gluten in it. 

I wilted some spinach, then blended it up to make a spinach puree. I added some of this to my dough which turned it green. You could alternatively use tomato puree, pumpkin puree, even squid ink to colour and flavour the dough.

Make sure you have lots of flour on the thin sheets of dough before you cut it into spaghetti or fettucini.

Remember to cook your pasta in lots of salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Add some olive oil to the pasta after you have drained it, this will stop it sticking together.

Making Pasta

Egg Pasta

Ingredients

·      Strong flour (lots of gluten), 1 cup

·      Salt, ½ tsp

·      Olive oil, 2 tsp

·      Eggs, 2 (beaten)

Method

1.    Sieve the flour and salt together.

2.    Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the oil and beaten eggs.

3.    Mix and knead to form a smooth dough.

4.    Cover the dough and allow to rest at room temp for 30 minutes.

5.    Roll out and cut into required shapes.

Basic Tomato sauce

Ingredients

·      Onions, ½ ,diced

·      Garlic, 1 clove, crushed

·      Tomato, ½ tin

·      Bacon pieces

·      Fresh basil, 3 leaves, chopped

·      Salt and pepper

·      Olive oil

·      Parmesan cheese, ¼ cup

Method

1.    Heat up a small fry pan.

2.    Add a little olive oil and then fry the onions until soft.

3.    Add garlic and tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes.

4.    Add the Basil leaves, season and remove from the heat.

5.    Boil the fresh pasta for about 3-5 minutes in lots of salted water and drain.

6.    Arrange on a plate and pour the sauce over the top.

7.    Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top and serve.