Ever since I started cooking seriously, I wanted to make my own pasta. This year, for my birthday, my boys got me a pasta machine and I've been making pasta ever since! There's something extra delicious about soft, handmade pasta that I love.
I've been following a simple two-ingredient base recipe that produces amazing, thin pasta. While it's true that it does take a bit more effort to prepare than just opening a packet, I don't think shop bought pasta can hold a candle to the homemade stuff. On pasta-making days, I usually prepare the dough in the morning while Callum's napping and then about an hour before dinner, I run it through the machine and allow it to rest again before tossing it in boiling water for just a minute or two.
To celebrate my love of pasta and my amazing new pasta machine, I've got a new giveaway for you guys: pasta lover's giveaway! You can find more information about it and enter to win at the bottom of this entry. Jess from The Hungry Harps and Holly from Mess Makes Food are also running this giveaway with me, which means more opportunities for you to enter! In fact, your name can be entered up to 105 times into this giveaway.
Ingredients:
For the pasta
1 egg
1 egg yolk
140g gluten free bread flour
For the zesty tomato sauce
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 can tomatoes with herbs
3 garlic cloves
zest of 1/2 a lemon
sprinkling of Italian herb mix*
parsley
pinch of sugar
All right, let's cook:
To make the pasta, put the flour into a food processor along with one whole egg and the yolk of one egg.
Whizz until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
It shouldn't be dusty (too much flour) and it shouldn't be clumbed into a gooey ball (over whizzed).
Tip the bread crumb-like mix out onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball, scraping up any leftover bits with a dough scraper.
Knead quickly, only for about 1 minute. Your dough
should be hard to knead and stiff. Once kneaded, wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for an hour.
When rested and about an hour before you're ready to serve, remove the dough from the fridge and cut in half with a dough scraper.
Using your palms, roughly flatten one half of the dough.
Fold over in thirds and pass through the machine at its widest setting.
Refold the dough, turn clockwise 1 turn (make the bottom, the side) and pass through machine.
Repeat about 7 times, until dough is rectangular and shiny. Change the setting on the machine and repeat the last 2 steps until you are at the last setting of the machine.
Flour both sides of the dough and pass the dough through the noodle attachment, cutting the dough with kitchen shears once you have reached the desired length. Allow the dough to rest in a bowl, covered with a dish towel for about 30 minutes to an hour.
Meanwhile, make up the zesty tomato sauce by combining the extra virgin olive oil, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt and garlic in cold saucepan.
Stir together while you gradually heat it to medium. Saute about a minute until ingredients are fragrant.
Stir in tomatoes along with a pinch of sugar a d heat to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat.
Add the lemon zest and juice, saving some zest to garnish each dish.
Did you think I forgot about the Pasta Lover's Giveaway????
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| Freestanding Pasta Server |
Of course I haven't! Here's your chance to win two amazing pasta-related tools! Both prizes are from my new favorite home gadgets shop, Exit Interiors. The first is a stunning freestanding Koziol Gina pasta server provided for by the lovely people at Exit Interiors. They've nicely donated this prize to us and I think it's fab! As the pasta server has been donated, the winner will receive it in green.
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| Dough Scraper |
The second prize you can win today is a Koziol dough scraper, also from Exit Interiors. This dough scraper is perfect for making your own pasta (or bread)! I'm purchasing this dough scraper, so the winner will be able to choose from the range of colors available on the Exit Interiors website.
Are you ready to win? You have one week to enter and loads of chances to get your name in the hat, too! :) Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
