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| Wow this is easier than I thought! |
Today I demonstrated how to make fresh fettuccine using my mother's antique pasta machine. She bought the pasta machine, many years ago, for our restaurant on one of her many return trips to Italy to visit her family. It was used continuously until the restaurant sold about three years ago, after thirty seven years in business. Until a coworker asked if I could teach her how to make homemade pasta the pasta machine has been sitting on a closet shelf. Today was our pasta lesson. I retrieved the recipe and told Nancy what to provide. I like using semolina flour in my pasta because it makes a firmer, more flavorful pasta. She was so cute searching everywhere for semolina flour and she finely found it in an ethnic grocery store. Fettuccine can be made with just flour and be delicious but the semolina flour is a nice addition. To show the different taste we made a batch of pasta with just flour and another with half flour and half semolina flour.
The basic recipe is very simple. The first step is to put a large pan of water on the stove to boil with a dash of salt and some olive oil. Next to this pan place another pan with cold water and ice cubes to chill pasta after it is blanched. Assemble ingredients, three eggs, two cups of flour, three tablespoons of olive oil, half teaspoon of salt and a smidgen of water. Dust the counter top with flour so the moist pasta does not stick.Just break eggs into the food processor add flour, oil and salt and blend adding water {slowly} until the dough form a nice moist ball. Prepare the dough ball for the pasta machine by hand forming it until it is thin enough to fit through the largest setting of the roller. Repeat this process gradually reducing the thickness dial. As the pasta thins you will need to cut into sections to continue thinning. We stopped at number three. Now we take the thinned and sectioned pasta slabs and roll them through the top pasta cutter to form the fettuccine noodles. At this point you can dry the fettuccine for use on another day. Blanch, chill, and freeze the fettuccine in portion size zip lock bags; or hold the fettuccine in the chilled water for immediate use.
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| Fettuccine Al Fredo |
We decided to chill the fettuccine and make some Al Fredo sauce. To use this pasta it must be cooked until tender in the boiling water again. I am sure Nancy is laughing as she reads this post as this is the step I forgot in our lesson and we ate the Fettuccine Al Fredo with the blanched pasta before I realized my mistake. Prepare the Al Fredo sauce by melting butter and whisking in some flour to form a roux. Add some pepper and Parmesan cheese and slowly thin with milk until the sauce has a thick creamy consistency. Toss in the cooked fettuccine and mix until it is thickly covered with the sauce and place in a baking/serving dish and sprinkle with some more Parmesan cheese. Bake until the top starts to brown and enjoy. To make it less time consuming you can just pour the warm sauce over the warm pasta and it is simply delicious, as well.
Learning new cooking skills in the company of food !
