Homemade Pasta

[BrissyGal]

Has anyone made their own homemade pasta?

I have a pasta machine that I've never used and I was thinking about giving it a go. I know it's a lot of trouble to go to but I have plenty of time on my hands at the moment and I love to cook.

[Heather]

Have never done it myself....but when you watch shows like Ready Steady Cook ( the UK one) it can be done in minutes.
The taste of jomemade pasta far outweighs the ready made...gorgeous.:d:

[BrissyGal]

I bought some pasta flour today so I'm going to give it a go tomorrow. I guess the more you do it the easier and faster it becomes. I think I have a pasta book somewhere so I'll have to find a nice recipe to go with it cause I don't want anything too overpowering.

[Rachel]

My and my partners best friends are Italian and we are practically members of their big extended family so I am lucky enough to have homemade pasta and homemade sauce pretty often and I love it!!! I hope that yours works out well for you :)

[Naomi]

Yes we used to all the time, I bought a pasta bike for my husband's birthday one year (he does the cooking mostly). My tips would be, use semolina (is that what you mean by pasta flour?) ... the pasta dough is less sticky than if you use plain flour (I found that when we used plain flour, the pasta clumped together more when we cooked it). Also, have somewhere to hang the pasta after you've rolled it and cut it. I used to hang it over a clothes horse :hehe: It just keeps it neater and it's easier to transfer it into the saucepan when it's not all twisted and clumped up.

Enjoy! It is really yummy :) We really only stopped making ours because we started buying fresh pasta from the supermarket or deli. Much cheaper to make your own though ;)

[BrissyGal]

It just says its a 'Fine Italian "00" Flour and it's made in Italy. It was the only flour I could see that looked anything like a pasta flour and it has a recipe for focaccia and pasta.

My and my partners best friends are Italian and we are practically members of their big extended family so I am lucky enough to have homemade pasta and homemade sauce pretty often and I love it!!! I hope that yours works out well for you :)

Thanks Rachel

[BrissyGal]

I finally had a go at making my own pasta today. I wasn't able to bolt the pasta maker to the bench so that took a bit to get the hang of but eventually I worked out a system. Like with everything, the more you do it, the easier it would be but it was pretty easy really.

I then made a yummy pasta sauce using fresh tomatoes, bacon, onion and chilli.

Here's some pics...

[Naomi]

Oh yum!! It looks delicious ... I might have to drag our pasta maker out and have another go at it :)

[BrissyGal]

Thanks Naomi :)

Have you ever tried flavouring your pasta with anything?

[Heather]

Well you said the sauce was yummy....what about the pasta?

[BrissyGal]

oh the pasta was yummy too and it tasted even better knowing that I had made it myself. For a first go I was really rapt with how easy it was and the quantities worked out perfectly i.e 1 egg to every 100g of flour. The traditional way of mixing it together is on a flat bench but next time I'm going to use a bowl cause that was a bit messy.

[Kekka]

The best "homemade" pasta I ever had at a restaurant (does that make sense?) was:

Scallop ravioli in a cream & bubbly sauce with a little truffle oil.

Man, it was good! I asked for a roll to soak up the remaining sauce. The restaurant used to be JoJo's on Cockle Bay or Darling Harbour....sadly it closed down. I had the meal a few years ago.

[BrissyGal]

Ohhh that sounds so nice. I love scallops.

We have a JoJo's up here, but not sure if it's the same people. I think this one is run by Stefan's (the hairdressor) sister.

They have four different kitchens in their restaurant...Thai, Pizzas, Italian and Reef/Beef.