Pasta Making in Pictures

A few months back I finally caved and bought myself a pasta machine. I've attempted to make pasta a few times with a rolling pin, but I've never gotten the lovely silky consistency and it was either too thick or just fell apart. I also have the book, Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver that features a number of deliciously tempting fresh pasta recipes. If you haven't tried very fresh pasta, you are missing out, it is amazing. The pasta is very tasty and you have so many flavour options too. Basic pasta dough is nothing but flour and egg, I made one batch of plain spaghetti and another spinach dough, where I replaced one egg with pureed spinach.

I've had all the photos I took during a few pasta-making sessions on my camera and have finally downloaded them to share.

Below is the finely sieved tipo 00 flour that Jamie recommends in his recipes. I used this flour for the spinach pasta and unbleached all-purpose flour for the unflavoured pasta and both worked well.



THIS...



IS COMBINED TO BECOME THIS...



THEN GETS ROLLED MANY TIMES AND FILLED WITH GOODNESS....




AND MAKES IT ONTO THE PLATES AS.....My version of Jamie Oliver's recipe for Raviolini of Celeriac and Thyme.



I also used up the leftover dough to make fettuccine served with a tomato pasta sauce.





I also used the dough recipe that came with my machine to create spaghetti.






To end off, just a few tips on making your own pasta.
1) Dust with lots of flour after each rolling to prevent sticking and to help prevent the formed noodles from sticking together.
2) This is a great activity for letting loose some frustration/ energy
3) You need lots of patience, which is almost counter-intuitive to tip 2, but very much required.
4) Making your own pasta takes time, but I've also frozen leftovers and found that the cooked frozen pasta is still tastier than dried.
5) Have fun, experiment and enjoy!!!!