Well, I'm all caked out. Is it just me or are you caked out also. There is so many types and styles and yet when you get down to the nuts and berries it's still just cake. So this week I'm onto something else. I decided I would make dinner food not just dessert. They say you can make pasta with simple flour but if you have your hands on semolina flour then you should do fifty, fifty. So I did one cup normal flour and one cup semolina flour.
I tried my hand at pasta. For being Italian I can't believe I hadn't tried this earlier. I even decided to be a little bold and tried to infuse it with spinach. Which means I added spinach puree to instead of that third egg. I love pasta and as I write this the pasta is chilling in my fridge. So know I have to wait in anticipation for two things, one that I did it right and when I put it through the pasta maker it actually makes pasta, the second thing is I really hope it taste good. Have you ever made something and were really excited to eat it then you take that first bite and it's not good? I know I have. It makes me so nervous every time I make something new that it will turn out horrible. Not to say this happens often but anyone that does something for a living has their moments of, "I could have done that better." So I have ten more minutes to find out if my pasta will become food.
Well, I rolled out the pasta... It did not work the first time around. As you can see the picture on the left, I just kind of pushed the dough through the machine like everyone says and it did not work. So I tried to roll it out which is what your supposed to do if you don't have a pasta press. Once I got it thin enough to not have to shove a big ball through a machine it worked so much better, hence the picture on the right. Once I got the dough thin enough I cut it in half and began to fill it. The filling was ricotta, fresh basil, mozzarella, and some seasoning. Then you have to brush around the filling with an egg wash so the top layer will stick. Then I smooched the two doughs together with my fingers. Apparently air is bad inside the ravioli don't ask me why that's just what all the pasta people say. Then you cut it out with either a pasta cutter or a knife would work. Thanks to my boss leaving before me on Friday I snagged the pasta cutter since I didn't have one and work did. No, I didn't steal it I will return it next time I'm in. Boss if you'r reading this thanks.
Not going to lie I ate the first batch and they weren't bad. Not to say they are the best I had but for the first try I liked it a lot. After I ate I tried my hand at the other types of pasta the machine would make. Can I just say after I tried all the types I think ravioli is the easiest type of pasta. Which is a surprise to me I would have thought that it would be hard. It is always more expensive when you eat out I guess we now know that is because of the filling not the actual pasta its self. Right now I have fettuccini and angle hair hanging in my kitchen drying. Hopefully I don't have to cook it all tonight. The ravioli you have to at least par bake or the two pieces will get mushy and separate. The others I am assuming you can hang until dry and then just store. I guess we will find out, Ill let you know if thats not the case. Though if it's not and you decide to make pasta invite people over or you will have way to much.
After my new experience I have a few things to come away with. One the spinach infusion was a good idea and worked out well. Two homemade pasta is very time consuming I think it would be faster if you found an Italian who either lives in Italy or knows someone that does. Then pay them to fly fresh pasta in. Plus bonus you can say, "I got my pasta in Italy." Finally the third thing I learned is unless I am planning a special dinner this fresh pasta will not happen. The idea of eating fresh pasta all the time is cool but not spend all Saturday afternoon in my kitchen cool. This brings me to the fact that I will not be on a pasta kick still next week.
I am not sure if I will get back to my cake kick. I guess you will have to come back next week and find out what I'm cooking up. Haha that was a play on words I didn't even mean to happen. My husband thinks I should move onto pie. Meat pie specifically, I think he is hinting at the fact that he wants dinner food. We tend to only have dessert in our fridge. So for all of you I would say you should try making your pasta from scratch. You should always try something at least once.
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