Pasta for Four

Hey again so here I am ready to share our PASTA MAKING NIGHT with you.

What can I say.... There were four of us involved in the fun - CJ, my 5 year old son, my 18 month old and myself. Now you need to know that none of us are great PASTA lovers. We don't eat a lot of Pasta at home, actually I didn’t eat much pasta at all growing up so I never really got into making it as an adult. The only pasta I ate as a child was our famous Canadian Macaroni and Cheese (with ketchup of course. I still love it but that's probably as far as I go with Pasta). I occasionally cook it for the children if I need a quick meal during a busy week.

I know many of you enjoy your pasta so I thought it would be an interesting little project for us to report on. Plus I was hugely inspired by Jamie Oliver and the 15 minutes it took him to make fresh pasta from scratch with sauce. Amazing!

I can report that we had a lot of fun making it. My son had a ball with the dough, kneading and winding it through the machine. It did take us a little longer than the 15 minutes Mr. Oliver dazzled us with. We were slightly slowed down by my 18 month old wanting to take part - she was however partially satisfied with the raw pasta we gave her during the process. From start to consumption it took us........are you ready.......40 minutes! Now that’s not bad for the first time with interruptions.

I can't say that any of us have become instant pasta lovers but I must say that there is a definite difference between fresh pasta and store bought packaged pasta. We are all in agreement that the fresh is definitely worth the effort. I can't even really say effort because it was rather effortless. I'm not quite sure why anyone would buy pasta after having a go making it. Jamie Oliver was right, it's easy, it's fun to make, the family can get involved and you can make it however you want you just need to be a little creative.

Here's the recipe we used:

Ingredients
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup water
1 egg
1 Tbsp salt

Method
Mix it together
Once it's fully mixed put it on a floured surface and knead it well
Put in the pasta maker and start to wind. Make sure you keep the pasta maker and pasta well floured so it doesn't stick to the machine or together. Keep putting through the machine as per the instructions and desired pasta.


Sauce
2 cloves of Garlic
1 chopped red onion (red is really good but use brown if that's all you have)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 can chopped tomatoes
Chopped basil leaves
Cook only until heated

Cooking
Put the pasta in boiling, slightly salted water and cook for approximately 5 minutes (watch it you don't want to over cook). Drain and pour sauce over pasta and mix through serve in individual bowls. Shave fresh parmesan cheese over each bowl and ENJOY.


(PS – don’t be afraid to add something to it – try ravioli with some interesting filling. It may seem like a big job but trust us it isn’t....just have a go)

©The Family Room 2006