A little Sunday cooking

So the beach didn't happen this weekend. I'm definitely not driving 2.5+hrs if I see the thunder cloud and lightning bolt on the mobile weather app. Good decision on my part, as we have yet another rainy Sunday. I made it out for a decent run this morning before the skies opened up. Early morning activity always supercharges my appetite, so with laundry, Job1 work, and other tasks to catch up on, I wasn't going to let the rain hold me prisoner. Time to cook!

I've previously mentioned on this blog my love of Italy, especially the food, since traveling there last year. I'm not really a pasta person- never have been- but the stuff I had there was melt-in-your-mouth fabulous! Having really good, authentic food in the actual country will create an instant food snob of anyone going forward (guilty). I talked about making my own pasta from scratch several times, and well... today I did it! As always, thanks to my Canon EOS Rebel XS 1000D for the lovely pics.

 I literally Googled "how to make pasta from scratch".  No fancy stuff here. I get my ingredients and tools all ready.




                                                                  
                                                                    
 This is an image widely seen on any cooking show.  I'm unsure of the significance of the whole 'mound of flour with the egg mixture in the middle', but something about it screams authentic and old country... I'm a wannabe authentic, but definitely not old country.

Next was the fun of kneading the dough. There is a technique to this, and it took about 5 minutes for me to figure it out. The website I was using was not technique-specific.

                                                                 

Floured up the counter and rolling pin and got to work. I finally bought a rolling pin recently after a laborious effort involving Christmas cookiedough from scratch and a pint glass serving as a makeshift rolling pin (effective, but not recommended).

My goal is to flatten this to 1/8", so I keep rolling...heavy on the flour.

After your dough circle is flattened to the desired 1/8", your supposed to roll it around the pin and slide it out, so you have a cylinder of dough prime for cutting.

I use my favorite 'murder knife' (kidding) to slice the dough. It's slightly thicker than I want, but I'd rather this than everything breaking and falling apart after all this effort. Angelhair, this is not.

In the pot it goes, 3-4min for an Al Dente result

Finished result! A little sauce made in my food processor with tomatoes, basil, olive oil, garlic, and pepper, as well as some sweet basil from my own plant. It certainly had the fresh taste you don't find from the box pasta, but it was a little too firm for my liking. I have a whole bunch drying, so I'd adjust the cook time accordingly next round. Not bad for less than an hour of work. I'll save this effort for my next dinner party. I'm not doing all this on a weeknight after getting up at 5am  : )