Fresh homemade pasta

Just back from a week in Italy where we ate lots of very simple, very delicious, fresh pasta dishes.

I’m now considering buying myself a pasta machine and making my own, but am not too sure whether the difference in taste and quality is worth the extra effort of mixing, kneading, resting, rolling, and drying the dough.

Anyone here make their own pasta? How easy or time-consuming is it really? Can you recommend any pasta machines? Amazon look have a decent selection from about €20 to about €100. Will a cheaper one do as good a job as the more expensive ones?

Thanks for any opinions/advice,
Stevo

It tastes different from your regular store bought dried semolina pasta, as it is generally made with eggs and therefore has a different flavor. In my opinion it is well worth it to buy a machine, the possibilities are endless: you can make any shape you want, you can make filled pasta (ravioli, tortellini, etc) with any filling you like, and best of all: it's very easy and fun.

Usually, I use 2 eggs per 200 grams of flour, which makes enough pasta for 2 people. I mix these together (no oil!), shape the dough and let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. (It is firmer and easier to handle after that.)
Then, you can make your shapes!
Cook in boiling salted water for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes

sauce idea: simple and fast pesto which takes 1 minute to make

1 crushed garlic clove
olive oil
handful of fresh basil
pepper/salt
handful grated Parmesan cheese

bash this up in your pestle&mortar - another good thing to buy if you don't have one!

hmmmmmm, getting hungry here!

Thanks, sounds good. Do you also dry your pasta before cooking it?
I've read a couple of recipes that say you should hang the cut pasta on a dowle or clothes rack to dry(!) - is this step really necessary?

I think I'll definitely get a machine, even if i only end up using it on weekends when I have a bit more time.

And the pine nuts???

I usually don't dry the pasta before cooking it simply because it's faster. I don't think that step is absolutely necessary, I have let it dry a couple of times but didn't notice a big difference in taste.

@ bigenglish2009: indeed, make sure to roast some pine nuts and bash those up as well!
completely forgot those...

I've made fettuccini a couple of times without drying it. Used it immediately and it was fine. I really should use the pasta machine more - it's in the basement and I keep forgetting about it.

Is it essential to have the machine? Does the machine contribute to the kneading or is it just for making the shapes?

I have bought the flour and plan to make ravioli - some recipes suggest oven-baking, which seems weird. Can I boil or steam homemade ravioli? Anyone any experiences?

The machine just helps you roll out the pasta dough very thinly. You could do the same thing with a rolling pin but it's a lot of work. Not impossible though and ravioli wouldn't be that hard to make by hand. Normally you would throw ravioli into boiling water to cook it but it suppose you could bake it if you wanted it crunchy. I have seen some recipes like that, but I think they were boiled first and then brushed with oil and baked.

How do you keep the pasta from all glutin-ey (if thats the right way of putting it!) I'm a reasonable cook but Ihave never had any luck with making my own pasta.. It always turns out bloated and slimy.

Far easier to open one of those tins of Lidl ravioli.

I've found my pasta machine invaluable; it gets the boring work of rolling out the paste again and again over with pretty quickly.

BIG TIP: they really need to be stuck down properly to work. Mine has a sort of vice-like grip, for which you need at least a couple of inches of table or overhanging kitchen side in order to attach it properly. Without that it WILL NOT WORK.

Then yes, you need some sort of rack / back of clean chairs / whatever to hang your rolled-out paste on. It grows, beware! LOL. I know I'm a rubbish pastry cook on the whole (hot hands) so I handle it as little as possible, and roll it out as thinly as I can. This prevents it from being slimy.

You can get ravioli moulds, but they're not necessary. And it looks more impressive when your ravioli are evidently home-made! just use two sheets of rolled-out paste, put the filling at regular intervals on one sheet, put the other over the top, seal the middle bits and cut. Simples. I always just boil them for a couple of minutes, then. Baking is an extra layer of hassle - who needs it?

Definitely worth it. I cook all sorts of stuff but home-made pasta has got me the most admiration, for some reason. Strange, but who am I to argue?

Seconded! A vital component. Also, the Parmesan must be very finely grated - a Microplane is great for this. Keeps in a sealed jar in the fridge for weeks

K

I think proper pasta flour will stop this as it absorbs less water during cooking. If you already use that then I have no idea.

Right. I've made pasta with regular flour but it's best to use the Italian tipo 00 if you can get it and I see that Aurora has now come out with a Spätzle und Pasta Mehl. I haven't seen it in the supermarkets up north yet but it may be available in other areas. Using too many eggs could also make the pasta mushy, I suppose. The dough is supposed to be very stiff and needs to rest before you roll it out.

Thanks for the tips i will give them a try. Although I will have to roll the past a by hand as I gave my pasta machine away in a bit of a tantrum!