Thursday, November 4, 2010

Tasty Tuesday: Homemade Noodles

Let me start by saying that I had never made homemade pasta before. In fact, I had no desire to make homemade pasta.  Noodles are cheap. I often get them for free. Leighton loves noodles -- rotini, penne, rigatoni, farfalle. His favorite though is egg noodles. He's mentioned making them from scratch before, even offering to buy me a pasta machine. But like I said, no desire. I was making homemade chicken noodle soup and feeling guilty about not making the noodles too. I love being in the kitchen. I love making my family happy. It was time to give in and make them from scratch.

Egg Noodles
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour    
1 pinch salt                            
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Add the beaten egg, milk, and butter. Knead dough until smooth, about 5 minutes. Let rest in a covered bowl for 10 minutes.
2. On a floured surface, roll out to 1/8 or 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired lengths and shapes.
3. Allow to air dry before cooking.
4. To cook fresh pasta, in a large pot with boiling salted water cook until al dente.

I have seen this done many times on Iron Chef America. If you would have been looking in my window though, you would not have seen an Iron Chef. Sure, the dough came together easy enough. It even rolled out just fine. It did not, however, want to release itself from my counter. I'm assuming that I did not put enough flour down beforehand. It took a long time for the noodles to dry out this way. Eventually they did though, and all was well.




She said, "I'm making pizza!"

Jake said it looked like an alien head.

Using a pizza cutter to slice the noodles.

Closeup

We served it with homemade rye bread.

I had determined that once was enough, and that I would just go back to processed noodles. That is until I tasted them. Now, it is inevitable that I make them again. Next time, I think I'll make fettucini alfredo (assuming I can get it off the counter!) If you have any tips on making homemade pasta, please let me know. I and my family will thank you!

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3 comments:

  1. I can offer no help in noodle making. I have done it 3 times and vowed I won't do it again! lol
    I even have the pasta attachment on my Kitchen Aid... Your soup looks yummy though. : )

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  2. whenever i am in the mood to make a mess i make pasta, it's one of the few things that i like to do in the kitchen. you don't have to let it dry out before you cook it. and you don't want to smother your counter in flour. roll out small batches at a time, since you don't have a pasta machine, and if you find that it is starting to stick, you just lift up the dough and dust a little more flour under it.

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  3. Small batches! I will try that next time. Thanks, Paula!

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