Have you ever thought about making your own homemade pasta from scratch. No, I don’t mean the whole dish. I mean the actual pasta noodles. Oh, I know. Why bother with all of that when you can just buy a package of dried noodles in the store and spend time on the important part–the sauce.

How many of us have spent hours next to a beautiful, finely manicured pot of bubbling goodness only to dump it on some old dried out noodles that have been sitting on the store shelf for a year. I know, the store bought stuff has always tasted pretty good in the past. I think most of us wouldn’t even think of making our own because we’ve grown accustomed to just grabbing a package of noodles and the stuff to make a sauce, and we’re on our way.

People don’t make their own pasta anymore for a number of other reasons as well. People’s perception of making pasta by hand is that it must be either difficult to make, tedious, or requires a special machine (pasta maker). The convenience of the store bought pasta is so easy to take advantage of because it’s ready to go and can be stored on your shelf for another year! Others figure there’s probably not much difference in the flavor anyways once you put a good sauce on it. If you get stuck on what sauce to use and are willing to try some sauces that will enable you to exclaim, “I HAVE LIVED!” check out [http://www.bestpastarecipes.com] ! We have a number of incredible pasta sauce recipes which are easy to prepare and can be downloaded or printed out free of charge, without having to sign up for anything. The truth is however, that once you taste fresh made pasta from scratch, with your incredible sauce, you’ll never go back to its dried out store bought cousin again.

You won’t go back for several reasons. First, it’s fun to do something that very few people (in modern times) have ever done (it’s fun to experiment too). Second, it really wasn’t very difficult, tedious, nor that time consuming! Lastly, most people say there’s just no comparison between the two in taste. Try making your own one time. You’ll be amazed at the difference and I think you’ll find it wasn’t that difficult to make.

Notes: All-purpose flour is great to work with for the first few times. Once you have the feel for it, try Semolina Flour which has a more “authentic” or “traditional” texture. Also, once it’s gone well a time or two, feel free to experiment with different herbs mixed in to the batch. The possibilities are endless.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups torn spinach leaves

2 tablespoons water

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:

Slowly boil water, salt, and spinach, till tender.

Put cooked spinach in blender with egg and blend thoroughly.

Put in a bowl and add enough flour to make a dough that can be kneaded.

Knead for 1 minute on a lightly floured surface.

Roll out flat (very thin) on a floured surface.

Set aside for 20 minutes.

Make into golf ball size pieces.

Roll out final time into the thickness of the pasta you want.

Cut into desired shapes

(For one easy shape—roll or fold up and cut lengthwise into ¼ inch Linguini strips)

Spread out on a rack to dry for 2 hours.

Cooking time will vary with thickness.
Cook to taste by boiling 8-10 minutes then sampling every few minutes.
Enjoy.

Source by Mike Kazmark