Tuesday, October 02, 2012

In My Kitchen: October 2012

Warning! This post contains actually cooking. By ME!

Soooo, I've been to a few cooking classes lately where we were shown how to make pasta. Truth be told, at the first class I kinda zoned out thinking "as IF I am EVER EVER EVER going to make Pasta. EVER"!  During the second class we had a chance to jump in and get our hands dirty and I thought "hey, perhaps this isn't so hard after all".

So I rushed right out and bought myself a pasta machine. Meet "Jamie"!  Isn't he HANDSOME!


I was told by my husband that I was NOT to make pasta whilst he was in the house (we had a traumatic "baking incident" {there were tears, mine} a few years ago and he had visions of me having a similar pasta-related meltdown in the kitchen). This weekend he left the state and the coast was clear for me to whip Jamie and of his box and give him a whirl around the kitchen.

Every pasta recipe I've ever seen has been different - no two are alike.  The ones from the two classes were both quite different to each other so I went back to my trusty Australian Women's Weekly cookbook as it seemed to be the most simple recipe on the planet.  We got this book two years ago for our wedding, but I've really only started cracking it open in the last few months - as I become more interested in learning the basics of cooking.


The ingredients are pretty simple - just 2 cups of super fine flour, 3 eggs (free range of course) and 2 teaspoons of salt. I combined the flour + salt in a bowl and made a "well" for the eggs and then brought the whole lot together with my "magic" fingers. The mix was a bit dry so I added a tad of warm water into the mix and an extra egg...totally freestyling.

Once the mix comes together into a dough ball (technical term) you have to knead it until it becomes "smooth and elastic". To be honest I could've kneaded my dough ball for a 1000 years and it still wouldn't have been smooth or elastic so I wrapped it up in some Glad Wrap after about 10 minutes of fondling and bunged it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.


Hmmm, so I have to say that Jamie really didn't come to the party when I came to rolling out my dough. For the first few goes through the machine everything was going GREAT - making pasta was EASY! It was as the dough got thinner and thinner that Jamie and I really came to blows. I mean LOOK at the mess below? What the heck is going on Jamie? Why are you betraying me like this - I LOVED you. Let's just say half the dough ended up in the bin.

I was later told by some of my twitter friends that the dough was probably getting a bit moist so was sticking to the rollers - next time I should dust the sheets with flour each time it goes through the machine.


Finally - after about 27 years (or an hour or so) I managed to get a few sheets of nice, not smooshed, pasta.  Jamie has a fettuccine attachment so I whipped my perfect sheet of pasta through and VIOLA - fettuccine.

I didn't hang the pasta up to dry so it kind of all clumped together in a big Fettuccine Ball but I ate it anyway...with a splash of olive oil, a clove of garlic, salt, pepper and some parsley from my garden.


Wow - that was an EFFORT! Thank goodness I have Latina pasta in the freezer for the next time I need a carb hit.

Thanks to Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for hosting this blog hop. Check out what everyone else is up to in their kitchens this month --> here!

32 comments:

  1. you inspire me and make me want to attempt to do this myself!

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  2. That pasta machine looks like a wonderful contraption! I think your pasta looks lovely :D

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  3. It's a good work out for food! If it helps, I like to use 125 grams of flour to 1 egg. :) works every time! N of course some water.

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  4. Love making pasta from scratch! One of the easiest & best things to make. Glad you finally nailed it :)

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  5. You so clever! I love Jamie, sounds like he does the trick. You MAY have convinced me to give this a go myself..

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  6. Teehee I read that book title as the "The Aww Cooking School". Good on ya for making a batch of home made pasta! It looks lovely :) I've been meaning to make some for a long time but haven't invested in a pasta machine yet..

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  7. A couple of months back; on the back of the news I had 2x pasta rollers, I was the host of a pasta party. I did diddly squat while my guests made the pasta, and... it was the same outcome. It was ... clumpy squide. and whats worst, the wallies didn't salt the dough so we ate bland glue with marinara.

    YUM! not.

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  8. Good work Miss Piggy...hang in there and try it again. Practise and all that! It looks great and all the better for creating it with your own hands and a little help from Jamie!

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  9. Hi, I have a pasta machine but rarely make pasta, it just seems like so much effort. I do use it to make Lavosh though

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  10. What are you complaining about? Your pasta looks perfect! I'd be v. happy with that. ;)

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  11. Jamie and your fettuccini both look gorgeous. Congratulations on making it through the first attempt intact!

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  12. Great job with your pasta! It looks so silky and delicious :D

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  13. Very impressive! Don't reckon I'd ever have the patience to make pasta from scratch.

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  14. Wow! You must be proud of yourself. The pasta dish looks delicious.

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  15. Well done Mel! Pasta making takes a little practice, but once you've made it fresh and mastered the art of it, you won't want to buy store bought too often. Great job. And it only took you 27 years (an hour)! LOL.

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  16. Mel, pasta making was our culinary bugbear for years until Steve Manfredi finally showed us how to do it. I've never had much luck with OO flour - plain flour was much easier to work - and you have to throw lots and lots of flour around to keep everything from sticking. Thanks for sharing your kitchen with us! :)

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  17. I think you're very brave giving this a go. My husband still remembers my risotto disaster of 2009 and likes to bring that up every time I try a new dinner dish.

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  18. Ooh Jamie is so shiny and handsome! Good job persevering, it looks delicious :D

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  19. Looks good, Piggy, but your dough ball could be smoother. I'll find a date to show you and Tara how we've been taught.

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  20. wow! i am impressed! i am usually too lazy to make my own pasta but well done you!

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  21. it is a beautiful machine, before you know it you'll be best friends. i generally use 1 egg for 100g flour and then add a little water for the right consistency....

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  22. Hey, look at you! Congrats on your effort! And don't worry, it'll get easier with time.

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  23. Think of the energy you used winding that pasta through the machine; it must mean you can eat twice as much just to replenish the calories used. It looks delicious.

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  24. I make my own pasta quite a bit at home and after a lot of failed attempts and brat attacks I realised it was my machine that was the problem. The Jamie Oliver pasta machine is TERRIBLE and the dough always sticks, no matter what you do! The Italian ones are much, much better.

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  25. Nice blog work. I came across your blog while “blog surfing” using the Next Blog button on the Nav Bar located at the top of my blogger.com site. I frequently just travel around looking for other blogs which exist on the Internet, and the various, creative ways in which people express themselves. Thanks for sharing.

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  26. Well isn't Jamie a handsome piece of equipment! I haven't made pasta in ages, my machine (sadly not named) is in the back of one of my cupboards. Thanks for the inspiration to whip it out and have some home made pasta fun, and maybe even name it :)

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  27. I love homemade pasta!
    I should get one of those machines, since I roll mine out by hand and it is really a LOT of work.
    Yours looks great- and your writing style is a lot of fun! Thanks for posting on IMK!

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  28. Oh, god yes! Is is wrong that I slather my pasta in butter once it's cooked and eat it just like that? Sometimes with just salt or parmesan. Does anyone else have disgusting eating habits like me?

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  29. I haven't made any pasta for a long time... I might have to sort that out!

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  30. Ohhh.... bless your heart! That sounds traumatic. I've only made pasta once before and it turned out ok, but it was harder than I'd planned. You're brave!

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  31. Wow Mel - your pasta looks fantastic! I hope it inspires many more (trauma free) hours in the kitchen : )

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  32. I use my pasta machine a few times a month! You need a lot of flour on the pasta to make sure it does not stick - I have a flour shaker to help me :) Good luck and have fun.

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