Fresh Pasta

A couple of months ago I first made fresh pasta and was amazed at how easy it was to do - it requires just two ingredients and can be done in 15 minutes. In the summer my Mum’s hens lay more eggs than she knows what to do with at times and this is a delicious way to make use of them.

+ 175g 00 flour
+ 2 medium eggs (the fresher the better)
+ 25g fine semolina (or 25 more grams of flour)

If you don’t have any eggs or want to make vegan pasta, you can simply swap the eggs for 200g of water.

The method is to simply mix the ingredients together, then wrap in clip film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling out and cooking. To mix the ingredients you can either use your hands (takes around 10 minutes) or blitz it in a food processor for 30 seconds. At first, it seems like the dough will not come together, but just keep mixing - it will get there eventually.

After refrigerating, you just need to roll out your pasta into whatever shapes you like. The easiest is most likely tagliatelle - you just need a rolling pin, a knife, and some elbow grease. You can also get a pasta roller for fairly cheap which will roll your sheets out in seconds.

One last thing to note is that fresh pasta cooks much quicker than dried pasta - if you chuck this in this boiling water, it’ll be ready within 5 minutes. Also, you can leave the dough in your fridge for up to a week before using it.

My carbonara skills aren’t quite where I want them to be yet - I’m prone to scrambling the eggs when mixing everything together - but the flavor is that of some of the best pasta that I’ve had.