We are indeed living in a very hectic time and one of the best ways to unwind and rest after a hard day at work is to prepare a meal with your family. Fresh Italian pasta can be easily made and is something that the kids really enjoy to help with. The needed ingredients are:
- 500g of white flour
- 3-4 eggs
- a pinch of salt and some water
Take a big bowl and pour the flour into it. You can decide upon using a clean work-bench or make it on your kitchen table as well. Also add a pinch of salt to the flour, and then crack the eggs (NB: There is no uniform rule about the exact number of eggs but it all depends on the taste you wish to obtain. If you like your pasta a bit more on the eggy side, than feel free to add more eggs. You can also reduce the number if you are not a fan of that particular taste). Use a mixer to mix it all up into a wonderful combo.
Pour the mixture onto your working surface and start kneading the dough with your hands for around 5 minutes. Keep stretching it out and reshaping it until you get the dough to feel smooth instead of the rough one that you had at first. Use all your muscle to do this, and this is a good place to let your kids help you. They simply love doing this! Afterwards, let it sit for an hour at room temperature and roll it in cling film so as to prevent it from becoming dry.
Pour some flour again onto your working surface and get the dough out from the cling film. Knead it a few times again and then use a rolling pin to spread it all over your surface. Do this until it gets very thin and silky. Take a food cutter or a knife and slice it into identical rectangle shapes.
Grab your pasta making machine and clamp it to the table. Make sure that you secure the machine well so as to avoid any shaking while employing it later. Dust the rollers gently with some flour so as to prevent your dough from getting stuck to it. Take your rectangle pieces of dough and start running them gently through the machine.
Do it slowly so as to avoid any tearing of the long thin slices. In addition, use the settings on your pasta making machine to adjust how narrow you want them to be. As you can see, we did not use the narrowest option but opted for having them a bit wider.
All that remains is to cook your pasta in boiling water. After it has finished cooking add cheese, or some other item of your own liking and enjoy your meal with the whole family.
