Practice Makes Perfect (Pasta)

One (okay two) of the amazing gifts I got last christmas was this pasta and ravioli maker-- neither of which have seen the light of day since December. In the great unpacking, I decided there was no good reason not to break it in. I'll spare you my lamentations-- I didn't read or follow the instructions very closely in my feverish desire for handmade noodles. It turns out I am as impatient and haphazard a pasta-maker as I am a baker. The pasta dough (very simply, 2 1/4c. flour + 3 eggs mixed, kneaded, rested) seemed incredibly hard and impliable. I didn't run it through the machine on its fattest setting 10 times before I started thinning it. I made fettuccine instead of spaghetti (I was too scared of them jamming, sticking, becoming a giant mess that I'd have to convince everyone was spaetzle!).

And yet it all turned out deliciously!!!!!!!!! I may have screwed myself into having to make fresh pasta from now on. Sure, it's a bit cumbersome, but the REWARD! Here you can see the evolution of my technique from the overfloured, crumbly noodles at the bottom right to the delectable longer noodles to the left.

Zips made up the sauce while I did the noodles. They literally cooked in boiling water for like a minute. ONE minute. Maybe one and a half.

Later that evening, with the handful of noodles left over (and okay that I hid from everyone else) I whizzed up some of my pesto and had a midnight snack!

And today I busted out the ravioli attachment. I decided to mix it up and follow the recipe for spinach pasta (whiz up a cup of wilted baby spinach with a tablespoon or two of water, mix the spinach paste in with an egg, then mix yer green eggs into 2 c. of flour, knead, rest) and add a simple ricotta cheese filling.

The ravioli attachment requires a more refined hand than I had. Although my pasta-rolling skills have improved exponentially from yesterday, I still had sheets that weren't quite wide enough to accommodate the ravioli-filling rollers. It was a mess. Technically, it still is a mess, since I haven't pulled myself up from my pasta coma to go clean up.

Zipper was fascinated. Interested in the machine itself (since I was paying more attention to it than her). Interested when I cut the raviolis apart. Really interested in the ricotta filling.*

The spinach-ricotta ravioli was another smashing success. I think tomorrow or soon I will whip up a ton of noodles and let them dry for us to use or freeze. It's really exciting.

* full disclosure: I couldn't keep Zips out of the ricotta. And I still ate these raviolis.