Well, here we are. Another year, another suggestion for STAY IN COOK TOGETHER rather than a restaurant date on Saturday night. This year: project food. 
I love project food. You might have noticed. I think that restaurants are GREAT, but I really also think that restaurants are annoying on any holiday, and especially a day dedicated to...love? making single people feel bad? I really don't know.
How FUN, though to make something that you'd usually buy in a box totally from scratch and then eat it together in your pjs and uggs from the comfort of your home with no shitty service and overpriced 3-course specials to make you annoyed? Very fun, that's what.
I've been dying to make pasta forever, and we decided that Valentine's day was the perfect time to show you how it's done. As a note, I did ALL of this by hand. No mixer, no food processor, no roller. Actually, not even a rolling PIN because I don't own one, but that's neither here nor there. Overall, I couldn't be more thrilled with how this turned out, and it wasn't hard at all! There's definitely some manual labor involved, but none of the steps take a ton of time and you can switch off kneading and rolling the dough when your arms get tired. #teamwork
For the actual pasta, you need eggs, flour, and salt. That's it! There are recipes that call for different types of flour for different textures, and feel free to experiment with those, but I wanted to go super simple for my first go at this. 
Now, we'll make the dough first. You just put the flour on a big board and make a well in the middle of it, then crack the eggs right inside. 
Then, use a fork to get things going - kind of scramble the eggs, incorporating flour a little bit at a time. 
Interestingly, this is where I had a hard time - my well walls weren't high enough, so the egg ran around the cutting board. But just scoop some flour around the egg and keep mixing until the dough forms. Then switch to your hands. 
Knead! We need to work the dough for 10 minutes, maybe more if you stop a lot to rest like I did. Weak arms from all the yoga? Who knows. Just mash the dough away from you, then fold it over itself, then keep repeating. Be rough! And also. Take your rings off. I'm still picking pasta dough out of mine. 
When the dough gets smooth and soft, make it into a pretty disk and take a picture of it. Totes instagrammable. 
Now, wrap the dough in plastic wrap really tightly and let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Or, in my case, 3 hours while you go to a court hearing for a patient partially covered in flour. True story. 
When you're ready to make the pasta, cut it into 2 or 3 pieces to make life a little bit easier on yourself. 
One at a time, roll out the dough as thinly as you can - use as much flour as you need to avoid the dough sticking on your board, and keep at it - it takes awhile! I use a drinking glass to roll things out. It's fine. 
When the dough is as thin as you can manage, roll it up gently so that the long edge is what's rolled up - so that when you cut the noodles they're as long as possible. 
Then, gently cut noodles! 
Now, we want to cook these quickly OR cover them with a damp towel so they don't dry out, which can happen fast. 
Boil the noodles for 3 minutes, and we're good to go!
Now, I did the most simple sauce ever because I really wanted to taste the noodles - I made them, after all! So, I did plum tomatoes, butter, and garlic. Just for a few minutes until soft. 
Then the noodles are done! I take them straight from the pot to the sauce so that some of the pasta water gets in the sauce. 
Add some parsley, and the end. 
Guys. The pasta. It puffs a ton in the water, which I kind of love, but that's 100% why we want to roll it as thin as possible, which takes some time without a pasta roller. 
BUT THE FLAVOR. I can't tell you how good it is. So fresh, and really eggy and delicious. I'm still kind of in awe of how easy this is and how great it turned out. There is some patience and muscle involved, but the steps are really simple if you have an hour or two to play with your food. 
What a fun home-date, right? Happy Valentine's day!
Recipe
Homemade Pasta + Fresh Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- FOR THE PASTA
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 whole eggs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- FOR THE SAUCE
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 plum tomatoes chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ½ cup reserved cooking water from pasta
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- salt to taste
- fresh parmesan for garnish
Instructions
- For the pasta, mound the flour on a large board with the salt. Make a well in the center of the flour, and crack in the eggs. Use a fork to combine the eggs with the flour, switching to your hands when the dough becomes too stiff to stir with a fork. Form the dough into a ball, and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth, adding extra sprinkles of flour of the dough is very sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let chill for at least 30 minutes.
- When the dough has chilled, cut it into 2 or 3 even pieces to make it easier to work with. On a floured board, roll the dough out as thin as you can get it - it'll puff up when it cooks! Using lots of flour to keep the dough from sticking, roll up the dough very loosely and slice it thinly crosswise to form long noodles. Cook the noodles in salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes until they float to the top of the water.
- For the sauce, combine the butter, tomatoes, and garlic in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook for 4 minutes until the tomatoes have softened and the garlic is tender, then add the noodles, cooking water, and parsley. Toss for 2 minutes and taste: add salt if needed. Serve with extra parsley and parmesan.
Mary Frances says
This is great! Who says you need a fancy machine to make homemade pasta? Thank you for sharing your recipe!