Build your old fashioned cooking skill list

We love eating pasta at our house. Or more accurately, we love freshly homemade egg pasta. The flavour and texture are amazing, and nothing beats that sense of accomplishment that you get from turning flour and eggs into a meal. So why not try it?

Making your own pasta is easier than you might think. All you need is some flour, eggs and possibly a pasta machine. At first, it might take you some time, but the more you do it, the faster you will get. And before you know it, you will whip up some freshly made homemade egg pasta without blinking an eye. Just imagine how awesome it would feel if you never have to worry about running out of pasta again.

By learning how to make your own pasta, you will never want to go back to premade dried pasta. Because fresh egg pasta has so much more flavour, and its texture is so much better. A meal that would before be considered mundane. Becomes something artisanal and lavish just by swapping your premade dried pasta for some fresh homemade egg pasta.

One of my favourite ways to make pasta when I want something quick and easy is to coat my homemade egg pasta in some eggy carbonara sauce. It’s a great way to use up a lot of eggs quickly and everyone loves a good carbonara. Especially when you’ve made the pasta that carries the sauce yourself.

No pasta machine?

If you don’t have a pasta machine, don’t despair, you can still make your own fresh egg pasta. It will simply require some more elbow grease. But that means that if you’re the type who goes to the gym you can skip a trip. For years I didn’t have a pasta machine and still made my own homemade pasta and ramen. All I needed was a floured kitchen counter and a rolling pin, I also used a knife to cut my pasta sheets into strips.

When you’re cutting your pasta sheets into strips, just make sure you’ve floured your pasta liberally to prevent any sticking. Since I find that this tends to be the moment that your pasta might stick if you’ve not floured it liberally enough. If it does stick and become one big messy ball, you can always start over and roll your dough out again. And soon you will make beautiful tagliatelli without any problems. For practice makes perfect. Right?

And if you find that you enjoy making your own pasta as much as I do, then you can save up for a good quality pasta machine. It’s what I did after a cheap supermarket brand gave up on me after a year of intense use. And while I was saving up, I mastered making egg pasta the old-fashioned way, with nothing but a rolling pin and a knife.

Tips for perfect egg pasta

Your dough can be too wet, in which case it will be nice and pliable but also rather sticky. Which means you will need to add more flour to your dough. Because when your dough is too wet, the pasta machine cannot cut it properly into strips. And the dough is liable to stick to the rollers, creating a big sticky mess. 

However, if your dough is too dry, you will find that it isn’t very pliable and that the pasta machine can’t get a hold of the dough very easily. If this is the case, you can add a small splash of water and knead it some more with your hands.

Knead your dough well so that it becomes elastic and smooth, without being sticky. If you’re making a big batch then you can also cut up your dough into smaller bits of dough, which will make the kneading easier.

If you don’t want to use eggs, you can replace your egg with 50 ml of water. This will also create a lighter pasta that won’t be as filling as regular egg pasta.

If you prefer to use wholewheat, then you can use it instead of plain flour, at the same ratio. Although you might want to add a tablespoon of water. Since wholewheat tends to be a bit thirstier than white flour.

How to make egg pasta

Nothing can beat the taste of fresh homemade egg pasta. You can turn it into almost any pasta you fancy, like tagliatelle, fettuccine, tagliolini, ravioli, or great sheets for lasagna. Once you’ve made this recipe for egg pasta once or twice, you will be able to whip it up in no time whenever you want to enjoy some fresh pasta.

This recipe is for one portion for a single person, that way, you can easily scale up.

Makes 1 portion
Prep: 15 minutes
Cooking: 1 to 4 minutes

Ingredients

• 100 gr plain flour
• 1 medium egg

Preparation

Weigh your flour into a bowl and add your egg/eggs, mix it well with a wooden spoon.

Take your dough out of the bowl and knead until your dough becomes nice and smooth with an almost elastic feel to it. 

If it is too dry, add a little bit of water. If it is too wet, add a little bit more flour.

Once you’re happy with your dough, you can leave it covered in your bowl on the counter for at least 20 minutes or so. This will help the dough to fully hydrate and the gluten to relax, giving a better texture and taste.

Take the dough out of the bowl and flatten it a bit. Either with your hands or a rolling pin. If you’re making multiple portions then you might want to cut your dough up into multiple balls, which will be easier to work with.

Making your egg pasta with a rolling pin & knife

Make sure to keep your work surface and rolling pin floured to prevent anything from sticking.

Roll out your dough as thin as you can until it is about one to two millimeters thick. You will be able to see your hand through the dough if you hold it up to the light with your hand behind it.

Lightly fold up your dough lengthwise and cut with a sharp knife into strips. Loosen the strips and either hang them up on a coat hanger (or a proper pasta drying rack, if you have one) or flour them and keep them in a loose ball of pasta.

Making your egg pasta with a pasta machine

Make sure that your pasta is well floured to prevent any sticking.

With your pasta machine turned to the lowest setting, feed your dough into it and turn your handle.

Continue to turn the settings up, one by one, while you continue feeding the dough into your pasta machine. Until you reach your desired thickness. I prefer setting 6 myself, but you might prefer more delicate or thicker pasta for yourself.

When you have your pasta sheets to your ideal thickness, you can feed them into your cutting rollers. If you want to make tagliatelle, you can feed them into the wider roller, and if you want something like tagliolini, you can feed them into the thinner roller.

If you hold a stick (or the back of a spoon) underneath your cut pasta once you’re halfway through your sheet, you can easily transfer it to something like a coat hanger. That way, you can dry them for a day or possibly two, Which will allow you to store them for longer. Or just keep them hanging there until you’re reading to cook them that day.

Cooking your homemade pasta

For fresh pasta that you prepared that day, you will be able to cook it in just a couple of minutes. If your pasta is thinner, you might be able to cook it within 30 seconds to a minute. But if your pasta is thicker, it will more likely be 2 to 4 minutes. You can use a fork from time to time to take out a piece of pasta to taste if it is to your desired doneness. Once done, you can strain the pasta and serve with your favourite sauce.

If your pasta is dried because you’ve let it dry for a day or two, you will want to cook it for a bit longer. For thinner dried pasta, you might want to let it cook for 1 to 3 minutes. And for thicker pasta, you might want to cook them for 4 to 6 minutes. Then strain and serve with your favourite sauce.

Recipe for quick and easy carbonara

I love a good quick carbonara sauce for when I make some fresh egg pasta for dinner. It is so easy to make, and with the leftover egg whites, I love making a good meringue as dessert.

Makes 4 portions
Prep: 5 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 eggs yolks
• 60 gr of old cheddar cheese or a nice parmesan
• 4 to 6 tbsp of cream or full-fat milk
• 1 small onion
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 250 gr or 10 rashers or bacon

Preparation

Fry your rashers in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil don’t overcrowd the pan. Just fry them a couple at a time and take them out once done to fry the next ones. Leave them to rest on your chopping board. Once all the rashers are fried, you can slice them into thin strips.

Dice your onion and mince your garlic, then fry in the same pan that you fried the rashers in. That allows you to use the fat from the rashers, which will impart a lot of flavour. After you’ve sliced up your rashers, you can add them back into the pan and leave them on low heat until your pasta is done cooking.

While everything is frying away, you can combine your egg yolks, grated cheese, and cream in a small bowl. Keep it to the side until your pasta is done cooking.

When your pasta is done cooking, you can add your egg mixture to your pasta and mix well. If you find that the pasta is a bit dry, you can add some more moisture. By adding another little splash of cream or milk.

To serve, either sprinkle your bacon on top or mix it into your pasta. I also like to cut up some arugula when I have it on hand and sprinkle it on top.

Enjoy a good meal with family or friends

Now you can sit down at the table and serve your family and friends delicious freshly homemade egg pasta with carbonara sauce. Enjoy a nice glass of homemade wine along with your homemade pasta and revel in the company of your friends and family. What could be more Italian than a scene like that?

I would love to see your homemade egg pasta, so please tag me if you post a picture on Instagram. And of course, send me a DM if you have any questions.

Pin it for later:

• 

• 

•