Fresh pasta
This recipe requires preparation in advance!
Having the benefit of free range chickens, this recipe is often used and is far superior to even the very best shop bought fresh pasta.
It's easier with a pasta machine, but by no means impossible without. Use Jamie Oliver's trick, with a rolling pin, roll the pasta into a few sheets at the thickness you require, then slice into rustic strips with a knife. Simple.
| Fresh pasta | |
|---|---|
 |
| Blended until 'rice-like' | |
| Servings: | Serves 2 |
| Calories per serving: | 67 |
| Ready in: | 20 minutes plus 30 minutes drying time |
| Prep. time: | 15 minutes |
| Cook time: | 5 minutes |
| Difficulty: | 
|
| Recipe author: | Chef |
| First published: | 22nd July 2013 |
|
Best recipe reviewCan't go wrong 5/5 Makes great pasta - I can't be bothered with a machine, I just roll it and cut it into strips. |
Ingredients
Printable 🖨 shopping 🛒 list & 👩🍳 method for this recipe
- 100 g Italian grade 'OO' flour or plain flour
- 1 whole free range egg
- 1 free range egg yolk
Method
- Add all of the flour into a food processor and give it a whizz
- Add the whole egg and the yolk and blitz it until it resembles rice grains, about 2 minutes or so
- If it turns floury add a tiny drop of water
- Likewise, if it stays as wet dough, add a little more flour
- Once it's rice-like, knock out onto a lightly dusted worktop and knead into a ball, place in a bowl and cover with a dampened tea-towel for an hour or so
- Divide into 3 or 4 balls, placing unused balls back in the covered bowl
- With a rolling pin, roughly roll out each ball so it fits into your pasta machine, and repeatedly run through the machine, from the thickest setting, to the final thickness
- It's useful if you can hang the pasta over a skewer until it's ready to use or it tends to stick together
- In the biggest pan you have (10 pints water / 1 lb pasta) bring water with a pinch of salt, to the boil - no oil required
- Once on a rolling boil, add the pasta, a quick stir with a chop-stick or long spoon to prevent sticking
- The texture you should be aiming for is al-dente - a little resistance when you bite; rabbit like! This only takes a few minutes with fresh pasta
- Once al-dente, remove, drain and serve
By weight: ratio of flour to eggs
To calculate the exact amount of eggs to flour, by weight, use 3 parts flour to 2 parts egg. To make a rich Royal pasta dough, use only the egg yolks, reserving a little of the white should you need to moisten the dough a little.
If using this method, weigh the eggs first and then multiply that by 1.5 to calculate the amount of flour you will need.
Variations
A handful of spinach leaves will produce green pasta, tomato puree - red; experiment with colours. You may need to add slightly more flour if your additions already contain water (as with spinach)
To make whole wheat pasta use three quarters of durum wheat flour and one quarter of chickpea flour with a little bit of water and olive oil, no eggs.
Whole wheat flour and spelt flour can be used as well, always with a little bit of water and oil. Once you have done the dough, leave it in the fridge for half an hour: it will be easier to roll it out. Follow instruction above. Whole wheat pasta has a slightly harder texture and it's ideal for pasta e fagioli.
Drying hand-made pasta
Since this recipe was written, I've found a far easier way to dry hand rolled pasta, especially if you're just going to rustically hand cut it. Shake a generous amount of fine yellow cornmeal onto a work surface and lay the pasta sheets on the cornmeal once it has been rolled out to your desired thickness. Leave it an hour or more to dry out and then you can then cut it to any shape you want. The cornmeal prevents it from sticking to the work surface and unlike flour, most of the cornmeal falls off as you handle the pasta. What doesn't fall off, separates during the boiling process.
Dried pasta
Dried pasta is fresh pasta that has been air dried to remove all moisture. Most dried pasta is not made with egg so will keep for years. If pasta has been made with egg it will only keep for a few days and should be refrigerated whilst it is being stored.
Cooked rice and food safety
Cooked pasta and cooked rice is a primary source of bacillus cereus food poisoning. Once pasta or rice is cooked it should be promptly consumed or kept hot (over 60°C [140°F]) or refrigerated (below 4°C [40°F]). It must not be left at room temperature.
How much does one cup of pasta weigh?
Estimated US cup to weight equivalents:
| Ingredient | US Cups | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dried Pasta | 1 Cup | 100 g | 4 oz |
| Cooked Pasta | 1 Cup | 200 g | 7 oz |
Conversion notes:
Every ingredient has a cups to ounces or grams conversion table. Search for the ingredient, cup to weight conversions are at the end of each ingredient page.
We also have a generic conversion table and a portions per person lookup.
See also
- Gallery of pasta types
- Pasta cooking times
- A varied selection of Pasta recipes
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