Pasta is one of life’s simple delights. Most pasta only has two ingredients: eggs and flour. If you have never eaten fresh pasta before, it is time to give it a whirl, because even dummies (aka our own Bill Menard) can make it successfully, and the taste difference is incredible.

On Wednesday, Bill taught us how to make tagliatelle. For the next two Wednesdays, November 12th and 19th, we will make chitarra and ravioli – come join us by RSVPing through Eventbright: http://goo.gl/PdqNNk. We also have recipe cards explaining the whole process with measurements in-store, come grab your 00 flour and a card soon!

To make pasta properly you really must use 00 flour — it finer than normal flower and makes the texture of the pasta smooth, not dough-like.

After measuring out the correct amount of flour, you make a little nest for your darling egg. Then smash it with your hands!  This is a step that we all wanted to do as kids and is very fun yet mildly gross as an adult.

Then the egg is whisked into the flour, kneaded, and formed into a ball. We let the ball rest for 15 minutes while examining our flour-ed cloths and wishing we remembered an apron. During this time you can also get your pasta sauce started.

Next the rolling technique. Bill shows us the correct Italian technique, which he has learned from the Italian masters and a lot of practice.

We roll out the dough, fold and slice it up, and then wait for it to dry about 20 minutes. This is the perfect time to return to the sauce you started to make and finish it. Then we boil the pasta for about five minutes. We topped ours with our spicy arrabbiata sauce.

Fresh pasta is more tender and delicate and almost buoyant on the tongue than the packaged stuff. We could get used to this.

 

— Via Umbria