Eglu Cube Coop and Accessories

[Mrs Webmuppet]

Advice needed. Little Miss Webmuppet made pasta at school the other day and in her words ' mum it's dead easy we ought to make it at home' so has anyone made pasta at home and does anyone use a pasta machine ( and if so which one) or just make pasta freestyle?

 

And does anyone have an idiot proof recipe? LMW said the school recipe was way too salty.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Space Chick]

I've been making my own pasta for years

 

Recipe.... 1 large egg, 100g of OO grade flour

 

(stick in a food processor with a dough blade and just leave it come together)

 

Rest for half an hour in the fridge (I pop it in a sandwich bag)

 

You can roll by hand using a rolling pin, but it is hard to get it thin enough, so a pasta maker is great. It also has the cutters for spaghetti and tagliatelle However, if you wanted to try it before investing in a pasta maker, use a well floured chopping board and roll, when the pieces are getting too big for the board, cut them down to roll them down further. You will need to get it quite thin to make decent pasta, then slice into strips to make ribbons.

 

I use a pasta maker from Argos, but mine is a few years old now, so don't know if they still do them. Will look and dig out a link if they do.

 

Another top tip.... When we have a glut of eggs I make LOADS of pasta balls, the vacuum seal them individually and freeze them... Helps get through times when eggs aren't as plentiful. In fact I have one ball left in the freezer following using them during the winter egg drought.

 

Good luck with it... We haven't bought pasta in years, fresh is so much nicer

[Space Chick]

They do still do one

 

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9057281.htm

 

My recipe 100g, 1 large egg is enough for two, so you'd need to increase to feed a family.

 

One thing I forgot to say, is you will then have no end of options for pasta sauces too

 

I have some gorgeous simple firm favourites here.... Smoked salmon, ham and mushroom, spicy prawn, scallop and chorizo, as well as more traditional bolognese etc

[Purplemaniacs]

DS loves making pasta. I had one of these

 

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/12417/Pasta-Machine

 

but I think he has taken it with him when he moved out

 

DS found it great fun the only tricky bit he found was what to do with it before he cooked it, does it need drying? Not sure not a pasta making expert.

 

Didn't know about freezing the pasta dough.

 

Chrissie

[Space Chick]

I've never dried the pasta.... once rolled I cook it immediately.

[SylvisMum]

I love making homemade pasta. My pasta machine is the Imperia and I have just bought another for my eldest daughter's birthday on Saturday. She thinks it would be a fun thing to do with friends, to get together and have a pasta making party and then eat the pasta! A colleague of mine did this but the dog helped itself to the first batch while it was hanging up.

 

100g flour to 1 egg makes enough for one, in our family, although we can sometimes squeeze five servings out of 400g and 4 eggs with a splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt. I use 00 pasta flour and I am experimenting with using different proportions of semolina in with that to give the pasta a different texture.

 

Remember to flour the dough lots before it goes through the rollers. There are also a lot of films on UTube showing how to use the machines which are basically similar.

 

When making spaghetti or tagliatelle I find it helps to hang the pasta sheets up for 10 - 15 mins to let them dry a little before putting the sheet through the cutters. Don't dry them too much though because they will be too brittle. If you cut the pasta immediately after rolling it it tends to stick to itself, however you can toss the strands in some flour while you are getting ready to cook them to keep them separate. Happy pasta making! It's delicious home made.

[Mrs Webmuppet]

I popped into Lakeland in Ipswich and they have a pasta machine. Apparently if I buy their machine and don't get on with it I can take it back for a full refund so I am tempted. Thank you for all your words of wisdom, making pasta could be a good way of keeping the Webmuppet egg mountain to manageable proportions too!