Fresh Egg Pasta

I shared a little while ago about semolina and durum wheat pasta - which isn't often made at home. Fresh egg pasta on the other hand is more often made in home kitchens.
I tried my hand at this a few times - once without a pasta machine (or more correctly, a roller) and a few times with this gadget. I must say that obtaining evenly rolled and cut pasta is much easier with the right tool. The hand rolled ones were too thick and chewy but the pasta I made with the roller looked like the real thing!

Fresh egg pasta is made with all purpose flour rather than hard semolina flour and cooks in a flash (it's a fasta pasta than-a instanta noodles!)



Ingredients:

• 3 3/4 cup all purpose or soft wheat flour
• 4 eggs, room temperature

1. Mound the flour on a smooth work surface (wood, laminate, marble). Make a well in the centre. Break the eggs in a bowl, lightly beat to mix and pour into the centre of the flour. Gradually work the eggs in until a dough is formed. It should be fairly stiff.
2. Knead the dough, vigorously until smooth and even, about 10min. (it is pretty hard work, which may explain the ample arms of big Italian mamas).
3. Wrap with cling film and let rest for 30min (so that the gluten will relax and make rolling easier)
4. Dust the work top with the same soft flour and take a piece of dough about the size of an orange. Press it out with fingertips.
5. Set the pasta machine to its widest and roll the lump of pasta through. Go down the next setting and pass the dough through again. Now fold it into half and bring the setting back to the widest and repeat the process a few times till you get a nice oblong sheet. It should feel really silky smooth.

Now roll it out properly. Pass it through progessively narrower settings till you get to the desired thickness. For tagliatelle, fettucinni it should be about the thickness of a beer mat.
Once you have achieved the desired thickness, pass it through the cutters, collect it as it comes out, dust with flour and spread it out to dry.
Once thoroughly dry it can keep in the fridge for a week or two, or freezer for a month.

Cooking fresh pasta: bring to boil plenty of well salted water. Toss in the pasta and cook till al dente - it should take less than 5 minutes. Drain, toss into desired sauce or olive oil, salt and pepper.

The day we made fresh pasta, we had some left-over pan roasted duck breast in red wine sauce. So we heated the meat through and served it on top of the noodles.

Enjoy!