Pasta

I have to admit that not always do homemade versions of things that you'd probably ordinarily buy work out better, pasta however is definitely one of the things that does. I'm quite the carnivore, but when we feel like having a real treat dinner, the sort of sit at the table and light the candle type, then one of the tastiest meals we do is also one of the cheapest - pasta al pomodoro.

Now if you're lucky enough to have a pasta machine like me then you're probably pretty adept at making pasta already, for those of you without though there is the alternative method of using a rolling pin. I should stress though that the best results will come with a machine. Buy one, it's honestly a good investment.



Making the dough

All you need is eggs and flour. Get the 00 grade pasta flour. Weigh out 100g of flour, make a well in the centre and crack 1 large egg into it. I find that a 1 egg pasta will feed 2 people, so delicious home made pasta really is quite affordable.



Now scramble the egg and start working it into the flour, get your fingers in and work it into a dough. Kneed it as you would bread dough, a bit of worked gluten will make the pasta much easier to roll thinly. Keep adding flour to the surface and working the dough in it until it is not at all sticky or tacky. Pasta dough must be totally dry to the touch and not stick to anything.

Once that's done wrap it in cling film and leave it in the fridge to cool and rest. After 15 mins or so it'll be ready to get out and put through the pasta machine.



Cut the dough in half, take one of the halves, flatten it a bit and run it through the lowest setting a few times.



Now work down through the grades to however thin you want, if you're feeling dexterous try looping it. Eventually you should have a nice long thin sheet of pasta.



If you've rolled out a sheet of pasta that you're not going to work on just yet then flour the surface under it to stop it sticking and put some cling film over the top to stop it drying out. Any off cuts from your pasta can be bunched up together and run through the machine again. If you like, you can make pasta a couple of days in advance, leave it to dry (hanging over coat hangers is a good way) and store it in an airtight container. As it contains egg I tend to keep the container in the fridge.



Now here's a few of the things you can do once you've got a basic pasta down...

Tagliatelle

I find this to be the most versitile pasta. It's great with a simple sauce or with something a bit richer like carbonarra. To make it you just roll out your sheet, the fix the cutter attachment to the machine.



I've seen some pretty cool rolling pin type things as well that cut to size as you roll. So if you don't have a cutter, or you've chosen to roll the pasta out with a rolling pin then you could invest in one of these. If you've made your pasta well it'll just cut to a bunch of nice neat ribbons.



Mushroom and garlic tortellini

Finely dice some mushrooms and fry them in garlic butter with salt, some parsley, black pepper, a dash of lemon juice and a pinch of sugar.



Cook them right through, and when they're cooked turn off the heat a add a desert spoon of pasta flour to make it into a sticky paste. This will make it easier to spoon into the tortellini.

Roll out the pasta to quite thin. You should be able to see your hand through it. Take a round cutter and cut a circle out of the pasta sheet and add a small amount of the now cool mushroom mix in the centre.



Brush some beaten egg around half the outside and fold the other half over and on to it to make a semi circle. Don't use water to glue it by the way, it doesn't work.



Now bring the two ends of the semi circle round to meet each other and fold the top back to complete the tortellini.



Cook them straight away or dust them with a little flour to stop them sticking and keep them in a tub in the fridge ready to cook.



Oxtail ragu on pappardelle

For the pappardelle, roll out the pasta to your desired thickness. Quite thin would be good but this will be a fairly gutsy dish so don't worry about it being paper thin. Now cut into strips about 3/4 - 1 inch wide.



For the ragu you will need:

100g Pancetta
50g Butter
A carrot
A stick of celery
An onion
3 tsp dried oregano
3 tsp dried thyme
1 kg of oxtail, of beef short ribs, or if you can't get that 600g chuck steak
100ml white wine
450ml Beef stock
2 tbsp Tomato purée
Salt
Pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg


For my ragu I used the slow cooker. I started off by cooking the pancetta in the butter on a high heat for about 10 mins.



Then I added the mirepoix (carrot, celery and onion diced) and the herbs. I cooked these until the onions were sweated. Then I stirred in the tomato purée.



The beef I seared in a frying pan until browned all over. This looks like a lot of beef but there is bone and fat in this and both those will be removed from the final dish.



After my oxtail had been seared I added it in to the slow cooker, then cleansed the pan with the wine before adding that as well.



I let everything get back up to full temperature before pouring in the beef stock and seasoning with the salt, pepper and nutmeg.



Then I let it get back up to temperature again and turned the heat down to medium. The ragu will need a good 6 hours. During cooking skim off any excess fat which will rise to the surface, remember to be responsible and put the fat in a container and bin it, don't pour it down the sink. As the beef cooks the meat can be shredded from the bone using a fork and spoon, I managed to remove 200g fat and 250g bone. The sauce will reduce if you leave the lid off for a bit. When it's done just cook the pappardelle in a bit of water with a spoonful of olive oil, which wont take long, and spoon the ragu on top.



Another one that's great to make with the kids is pasta bows

To make the pasta bows roll out the pasta and cut small rectangles that are twice as long as they are wide. Simply pinch the top to the bottom to make a bow. My daughter is a very fussy eater and she licks the bowl clean every time we make her pasta, there's nothing better than good homemade pasta.