After gorging myself on meat, meat and more grilled meat (and no, there’s no double entendre hiding in this sentence) over Memorial Day weekend, my body was about to break into a protein-induced coma. A veggie-laden meal was exactly what the doctor, literally, would have ordered.
And what could complement fresh spring veggies more than homemade egg pasta? Nate sauteed zucchini, oyster mushrooms, fresh spring garlic and yellow cherry tomatoes while I kneaded and churned out the pasta. Oh yeah it made me sweat. And oh yeah I liked it.
I’m telling ya, you need to hop on this bandwagon. Can I tell you how easy the recipe is? 3.5 cups flour (most recipes call for AP, but I like to throw in some finely ground semolina), 4 large eggs, and a few pinches of salt.
Grab the biggest bowl you have, combine the salt and flour to form a large volcano hole, moving the flour to the outer edges of the bowl (think mashed potatoes and gravy) to pour the eggs into. Gently start beating the eggs with a fork and slowly begin to incorporate the flour on the edges of the volcano hole. Continue with this until the dough becomes very tough and a fork is no longer helpful.
Empty the extra flour onto a clean working surface and begin to knead by hand, incorporating as much flour as possible. This part takes some muscle, and should take about 10-15 minutes to slowly use up the flour. Once the dough becomes very smooth and firm, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let sit for at least 20 minutes. If the dough is much stickier when you take the plastic off, then try to incorporate some more flour.
Now, if you have a pasta machine, great! If you don’t, just roll out the pasta as thin as possible on a well-floured surface and cut it to your liking. Spaghetti? Linguini? Pappardelle? Decisions, decisions! Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can use this ricotta dough recipe and form gnocchi by hand. Then boil in salted water as usual, but don’t overcook it! Cooking should only take a few minutes, depending on the thickness.
Was it worth it? Was. It. Worth. It.
