Homemade Fettuccine

   Pasta, for me, is one of those foods I CANNOT get enough of. There are so many different kinds, with different sauces, that I could eat it for every meal and it would never get old. However, because of my love for pasta I have always been terrified to try and make it from scratch. I always told myself it was too complicated, or that I wasn't qualified. But don't let those thoughts get to you. YOU CAN DO IT. Yes, there may be a few times during the process that you have no clue what you are doing or what it is supposed to look like, but keep with it. The same things happened to me and it still turned out so good!  Recipe can be found here. If you click on the link there are pictures that accompany the recipe that might be helpful.

   1. This recipe calls for semolina flour, however, all I head was white flour and sorry I wasn't going to run and buy a thing of four that I only needed a half of a cup for. I think this affected the process a little, making the dough a little too dry, because I couldn't incorporate all the flour during the kneading process. But just incorporate all the flour it allows you to.

  2. You will be kneading for a long time. To the point where your wrist will start to cramp up, or I'm just super weak hah. The dough will eventually get smooth and stick together. It took a solid 10 minutes of straight kneading for me to get to this point. The entire time I kept telling myself that I was doing it wrong, that I was over kneading, and my noodles were going to be tough. But it needs to get to the point where it is smooth. If yours gets to that point before 10 minutes by all means STOP. If your dough starts to stick together earlier don't feel that you have to keep kneading it just because the recipe says for roughly 10 minutes.

  3. I found that letting the dough rest for the 30 minutes really helped it calm down and stick together more. This step is actually very important to get the dough to start behaving like dough. So I really recommend not skipping this step.

   4. I do not have a pasta roller, cutter, or anything, so this part is hard! Rolling the dough out with a rolling pin is a workout. I'm not kidding! I broke into a sweat trying to get the dough down to 1/16th of an inch. Boy it took a long time. My dough probably wasn't even there because I couldn't get it to go any thinner. I would definitely recommend that if you have a past roller to use it. However, I am living proof that you don't need one to make pasta, it is just a little bit harder.

   5. The folding and cutting directions are kind of confusing. Basically you are going to lay your 1 foot long pasta sheets on top of another. I only had 2 because I choose not to cut mine in half. Mine were not quite long enough to cut and make two, one foot long sheets. So I left them being a little bit longer than a foot. Fold the layered pasta sheets into about thirds or fourths. Then cut into 1/3 inch strips. I cut mine a little bit too thick for my liking. So go thinner than you would think because as you get cutting the strips slowly start getting thicker and thicker. (at least for me they did, more focus could prove otherwise ha). If you have a pasta cutter this step is a lot easier.

  6. After they are cut and have sat out for around 10 minutes they should be a little harder. Place in boiling water to cook. It says 3-5 minutes, however, I cooked mine for 5 minutes on a high boil and I think I could have cooked mine longer. At around 3 minutes my noodles started rising to the top of the water, but this doesn't necessarily mean they are done. Take one out to test it before taking them all out.

   I threw my noodles into a pan of homemade alfredo sauce and it was amazing. A big hit. The recipe is easy to follow for the most part and once you do it once, it will get easier. You will be able to understand the process a little bit more the second time and the results will be that much better.

 

HOW TO MAKE FOOLPROOF FETTUCCINE

SERVES 6-8

Ingredients

1 cup flour

¹⁄₂ cup semolina flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cornmeal, for sprinkling

Thinly shaved Parmesan, for serving

Instructions

Make the pasta: Stir together flour and semolina in a large bowl, and form a well in the center; pour eggs into well and stir with a fork until dough forms. Transfer dough to a work surface and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

Uncover and halve dough; using a pasta roller or rolling pin, roll each piece of dough until it's ¹⁄₁₆" thick. Hang pasta sheets on a rack to dry slightly for 5 minutes. Slice pasta sheets crosswise into lengths of one foot and stack, one on top of another, sprinkling cornmeal in between, then roll into a cylinder; cut crosswise into ¹⁄₃"-thick ribbons. Unravel fettuccine and toss with semolina to separate; let dry for 10 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat, and add pasta; cook, stirring, until al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta and add to a bowl of desired sauce; toss to combine. Divide among serving bowls and garnish with Parmesan.