Homemade Spaghetti: Pasta al' Uovo (Fresh Egg Pasta)

Now correct me if I am wrong, I may be making a huge generalisation here, but I would say pasta is one of those go-to staple dishes for people to fix up in a hurry. Boil the pasta, make a quick sauce and Giuseppe's your uncle no? For the most part I agree, but there is something uber special about a pasta that has taken hours of preparation and cooking, with recipes that have been found and passed down. 

As a child home-made pasta was a big treat, my mum and Nonna never really made it and it was normally Dad's aunty who would send some down for us. I loved it, it was smooth and velvetty and it just tastes different without being so different from store bought pasta if that makes sense. As you probably know cooking with Italians is not for the faint-hearted. One weekend last year Mum and I decided to make pasta and when Italians cook they can't just seem to cook for one meal, we had to make pasta for the WHOLE family including a batch to freeze and let me tell you, when you're using a rubbish manual pasta machine - Barilla wins everytime... hands down. Since getting my gorgeous KitchenAid I have been looking up all the different gadgets and accessories and before the mixer had even arrived I had the pasta attachment in my hot little hand, all automatic, pasta in less than half the time? Sold! 

Last weekend my Nonna and I decided to give the pasta attachments a go and see what all the fuss was about, oh there was a fuss! My Nonna, bless her cotton socks is quite the food judge but as those silky strands came out she even stated in her little accent how beautiful they were. Now I know what you're thinking, it is not all about the machine, and you're absolutely right, the machine means nothing unless you have a good recipe to go with it, well rest assured I think I have found the best! I had my 28 years of pasta experience and my Nonna's 79 years and we're pretty sure this is the one and only pasta recipe you need. I found the recipe in the most beautiful cookbook we had at home affectionately called 'Mangia, Mangia.' This book is like the bible of Italian food, so it's definitely a good one to have at home. 

I used the recipe from Mangia, Mangia, but since I was feeling lazy I used my own method which involved far less kneading and still turned out fabulous! This time I have made a little video to accompany the post. Stay tuned for a post on the sauce - Sugo al Ragu. Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

Please see video above for method.

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Fresh Egg Pasta (Pasta al'Uovo)

by Master Chefette via Mangia Mangia April-28-2015

Probably the best homemade pasta recipe ever!

Ingredients

• 700g Plain Flour (preferably 00 flour)
• 100g Semolina
• 5 Eggs
• Generous Dash Olive Oil
• Pinch Salt

Instructions

1. Place flour and semolina into a mixing bowl, combine and make a well.2. Add 5 eggs to the well followed by oil and salt and 1/2 cup of water.3. Mix on low speed until combined.4. Roll out onto a floured surface and knead for approximately five minutes or until combined and no longer sticky.5. Leave dough to rest for approximately 30 minutes.6. Run small amounts of dough through the KitchenAid lasagne attachment to flatten it out and make sheets. Start at number one which is the thickest, gradually thinning out to number four on the dial.7. Pass the lasagne sheets through the spaghetti or fettuccine attachment and allow to rest on a floured surface. 8. Cook until aldente or for approximately 5 minutes and serve with your favourite sauce.

Details

Prep time: 1 hour Cook time: 5 mins Total time: 1 hour 5 mins Yield: 6-8