Food & Swine

pasta sunday

Making fresh pasta with my daughter has to be one of the highlights of my life.  I am working on recipes for an upcoming class and tonight we focused on the pasta itself.  Here are some of the photos… it is always eventful when working with a 5 year old, but certainly never dull!

Homemade Papardelle with Semolina (I’ll share recipes someday, I promise.)

A little A/P flour and Semolina with a ‘well’ in the center.

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You should invest in one of these (super serious) fancy egg-crackers, its a good thing.

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Drop those beauties in the well, carefully so you don’t bust the sides down.

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Incorporate, like your Grandma taught you…

(I even had a little help with photography.)

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Keep gathering flour from the well and dragging it to the center.

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Kneading pasta dough is not as enjoyable as kneading bread dough… it’s tough work!

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TOUGH work!

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Time for the big hands to get to work.  (Good picture for a 5 year old.)

Kneading

Finally, the dough has reached the consistency we need.  It feels like the skin on a baby’s bottom.  (I swear I was in a FULL sweat from doing this, no need to workout tonight. Time out for a clothes change.  Seriously.)

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Fresh outfit. Ready to roll out on the machine… Throwback: One of my best friends and little cousin were here this summer during the State Fair where we rolled out pasta sheets until 1:30 a.m. for a big cooking contest that we ended up winning.  Those times in the kitchen are never forgotten, even though we could not see straight!

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With some help on the crank, we rooooooooooll.

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This is a normal sized sheet… the thickness not quite right, so we rolled it out 1 notch thinner.

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I asked: “Please close your eyes and crank until I say stop.  Then, open them.” (Evidently she thought that was one long pasta sheet.)

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We cut the sheets down, folded them and made “Pappardelle”, like thick flat ribbons.

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I’m dangerous with a chef’s knife in my left hand.  NOT natural.

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Pappardelle.  So fun to say, more fun to eat.

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She wanted to hold them and said “they’re smooth and soft Mom”.

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We used the pasta cutting attachment to make some linguini too.  Plastic hangers make great and inexpensive pasta drying racks.

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Sometimes tea towels work too. (Although it is better when the dry air can reach the pasta from all sides.)

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Recipes to come, for now… we feast!

I hope you have enjoyed your weekend and are surrounded by the ones you love.

Cristen

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6 Comments

  • Reply robin January 20, 2014 at 3:39 am

    You gonna give me lessens? This is on my to do list for my Monster. I just need the know how and time.

    • Reply mikeandcristen January 20, 2014 at 1:30 pm

      I will be posting a full recipe in month or so. We’re going to be running into a few busy times so it may be a while. You can always call my husband and I’ll walk you through it! :)

  • Reply Aunt Carol January 20, 2014 at 5:39 pm

    You make this look easy!! or at least do able..!!!

    • Reply mikeandcristen January 21, 2014 at 2:19 am

      Thanks Aunt Carol! When can you come do this with us? Or we can bring the machine up someday! I also have the KitchenAid attachment to try out too. Thanks for following my blog, love you.

  • Reply robin January 21, 2014 at 1:33 am

    Thank you Thank you Thank you. We can’t wait to dig into the noodles you sent! And I would love lessens!

    • Reply mikeandcristen January 21, 2014 at 2:19 am

      You bet! I didn’t know if Monster could eat them because of the gluten, but maybe you can! Take care Robin, thanks for all you do!

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