# Do you make your own Pasta?



## letscook (Mar 21, 2018)

I don't always make my own, mostly for lasagna and raviolis. occasionally tortellini and noodles for soup.

My favorite is from America's Test kitchen 2 cups AP flour & 3 eggs
I have tried Laura Vitale's with good success but I tend to go back to ATK recipe.

I am wondering has anyone tried adding in herbs, have any pros and cons on it.

What is your favorite pasta recipe. 

Have a great day everyone.


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## dragnlaw (Mar 21, 2018)

My sister gave me this recipe but I have no idea where it came from. 
I package it up into individual servings and freeze. Take out what I need when needed!

In a Food Processor - combine 

2 cups Flour
3 Eggs
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp  Salt
Dump the mass out and pulling off Walnut size pieces, feed back into the FP.  If necessary add 1 or 2 Tbsp of warm water.  (I usually only use 1 T.)
Gather together, cover and let rest about 30 minutes. 
Cut into 6 balls, wrap and freeze.

Speghetti's:-
I find the size is perfect for my size serving. Depending on what is needed it could be 4 large or 8 small servings. 

Ravioli:- 
about 32 - again depending on fillings and end size of ravioli wanted. 

I have pressed some herbs in - tarragon leaves and parsley - was good, their flavours came thru nicely!  thanks for the reminder I should do some more!


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## Andy M. (Mar 21, 2018)

I got a pasta machine for Christmas last year and have made pasta a few times.  I find it rewarding.  It's better than boxed pasta.

I've tried several different recipes.  The basic recipe is a cup of flour and an egg. Sometimes a dash of olive oil. I tried the ring of flour with the egg in the middle, then fork it around and knead by hand.  I have a bum wrist so I now make it in the Kitchen Aid.  Works great.

I haven't tried flavoring the pasta yet.

I may make the pasta for our Easter dinner of chicken marsala with fettuccine.


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## tenspeed (Mar 21, 2018)

I have a Philips automatic pasta machine, which gets used a few times per month.  I like the texture of the larger shapes, such as tagliatelle or penne.  Way, way better than anything out of a box.  Weigh the flour and add to the machine, hit the start button, add water or eggs, and a few minutes later the pasta will start coming out.  All that is required is to cut to length as it extrudes.  A half kilo of flour takes 15 minutes start to finish, lesser amounts take even less time.  Cleanup is a breeze.  I've had other automatic machines in the past, but the Philips is far and away the best.

  I made spinach pasta once, and decided it wasn't worth the effort.  Philips recommends using one of their pricey juicers, but I ran the spinach through a blender and then strained the result so that pieces of spinach wouldn't get caught in the die.  I haven't played with adding any spices or herbs to the flour.

  There is a lasagna die, which extrudes approx. 3" wide strips.  I've made ravioli a couple of times, but that's a fairly time consuming process.  I like the strips to make manicotti by rolling the pasta around the filling.  I'll cut the strips into 3" squares, and I can roll them fairly quickly.  No need to cook fresh pasta as is required if using tubes from a box.

  It was a bit pricey, but BB&B runs promotions on them from time to time, and their 20% off coupon can be applied, so it was 33% off list.  It's so easy and quick to make fresh pasta that I feel it's well worth the purchase price.  I doubt that we would have fresh pasta very often if I had to use a manual machine.


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## medtran49 (Mar 21, 2018)

We make spinach pasta by cooking fresh spinach with very, very little water, squeezing all the liquid out until it is very dry, then putting the spinach in with some flour in a food processor and processing until the spinach is extremely finely chopped.  

We've also made pasta with chiles in it. 

A couple of times we made imprinted pasta with herbs. You run the pasta through a pasta machine until it's fairly thin, then place herbs like basil, parsley, thyme, even the little flowers from basil and thyme or chives, pretty close together, cover with another sheet of thin pasta, then run through the pasta machine again.  It's really cool looking but obviously you have to serve it in big rounds, squares, or rectangles on top of whatever you are serving it with.

Also, we've made butternut squash ravioli with a chicken marsala filling and sauce.  The butternut squash has to be baked, mashed, lightly salted, then drained for a couple days in fridge or cooked over medium heat, stirring nearly constantly until it's very dry and then cooled before using in the pasta dough.


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## di reston (Mar 21, 2018)

Yes. I make tagliatelle, fettucine, lasagne pasta and other types of pasta. It's a matter of course in Italy.

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast    Oscar Wilde


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## msmofet (Mar 21, 2018)

medtran49 said:


> We make spinach pasta by cooking fresh spinach with very, very little water, squeezing all the liquid out until it is very dry, then putting the spinach in with some flour in a food processor and processing until the spinach is extremely finely chopped.
> 
> We've also made pasta with chiles in it.
> 
> ...


 Sounds like that would make cute raviolis.


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## dragnlaw (Mar 21, 2018)

medtran - love the idea of the marsala filling! going to go on my to do list!

Admit I wasn't very inventive when I did the herbs...  Just sandwiched them, cut the strips really wide to suit. A carbonaira type sauce.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Mar 21, 2018)

I used to, back when I ate pasta.  I only made regular egg pasta.


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## JustJoel (Mar 22, 2018)

If I had a pasta machine, I’d probably make it as often as I bake bread (which is *way* too often). But the rolling and kneading and rolling again until it’s thin enough is daunting for me to do by hand on my bench. So, my birthday’s in July... Just kidding!


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## blissful (Mar 22, 2018)

I generally am too lazy to make pasta, but, say for instance, I decide to make lasagna noodles? I hate buying them as I get 12 pieces which is 3 pieces too many for a panful, or I buy them and like yesterday I got 22 pieces (still a lb), enough for 2 + panfuls. So I make them--how should I store them? Dried and in a container, or frozen fresh? What works best?


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## Andy M. (Mar 22, 2018)

blissful said:


> I generally am too lazy to make pasta, but, say for instance, I decide to make lasagna noodles? I hate buying them as I get 12 pieces which is 3 pieces too many for a panful, or I buy them and like yesterday I got 22 pieces (still a lb), enough for 2 + panfuls. So I make them--how should I store them? Dried and in a container, or frozen fresh? What works best?



It's simple to just keep leftover dry pasta in the box in your pantry.  It'll last forever. Much easier than making and storing handmade pasta. Once you make lasagna three times, you'll have enough saved leftovers to make a fourth.

If you want pasta that you can make and dry for later use, make it using just flour and water (no egg). Then dry it.


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## medtran49 (Mar 22, 2018)

Craig brought home some edible flowers, as well as some hen of the woods and oyster mushrooms from the ritzy market in Palm Beach, which is where Trump's resort and mansion are for those not aware.  We may have to try imprinted pasta again.


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## blissful (Mar 22, 2018)

Andy M. said:


> It's simple to just keep leftover dry pasta in the box in your pantry.  It'll last forever. Much easier than making and storing handmade pasta. Once you make lasagna three times, you'll have enough saved leftovers to make a fourth.
> 
> If you want pasta that you can make and dry for later use, make it using just flour and water (no egg). Then dry it.



Ah thank you. I never would have thought of just making it with flour and water.


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## Addie (Mar 26, 2018)

I have made pasta quite often. Lasagna mostly for my daughter to use. I have a jar of Italian seasonings and often add 1 tabl. to the flour at the very start. I does give the pasta strips flavor. I have also used just 1 tabl. of freshly ground pepper to the flour. Absolutely divine if you like black pepper. We just happen to. You can add any flavor you want to hand made pasta as long it enhances the rest of the dish.


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## taxlady (Mar 26, 2018)

When we make pasta for lasagna, we don't cut it into strips. We use the wide pieces that come out of the machine, less overlapping needed.


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