An Offering to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pasta!
Today I made homemade pasta for the first time. To be truthful I've always been intimidated by the idea of doing this, but I came across a recipe with step-by-step instructions and photos and thought I'd give it a try. Here is a photo of the naked noodles after being cooked:
I am surprised and proud of how well the noodles kept their shape. (Many of them were over a foot long!) I'm also wowed by how easy this was to do without a pastamaker--it took about 15 minutes of active preparation time.
So that you, too, may pay homage to the FSM, here's the recipe I followed (as reinterpreted from Cooking Light magazine):
1 C AP flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1/4 t salt
5 T water
2 T olive oil
2 large eggs
Mix dry ingredients in a food processer.
Whisk wet ingredients together, then add through chute while food processer is running.
Run the processer until a ball forms.
Transfer the dough ball to a lightly floured surface and knead 5-6 times.
Form into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and allow to rest 30 minutes.
After resting, roll out the dough into a large, thin rectangle. (This step may require some extra flour if the dough gets sticky.)
Dust the top surface of the sheet and then fold its sides to the middle.
Again dust the surface that is showing, and fold in half so you have a log four layers thick.
Cut the log along the perpendicular every 1/4 inch to make your noodles. Make sure to use a thin/sharp knife!
Unfold each noodle and dust with flour if needed.
Boil the noodles in salted water for approximately 90 seconds, drain the water, and serve with the sauce of your choice!
Bonus Fact: This recipe weighs about 0.75 pounds prior to cooking, and costs about 40-50 cents for ingredients. This compares very favorably to the cost of dry whole wheat pasta at the store!
PS: If you're reading this, it's lights out time!