Make your own fresh pasta

If you’re wanting to expand your cooking skills, you might want to take on a cooking challenge and make your own fresh pasta. Homemade pasta is such a good choice for these moments. Firstly, pasta requires minimal ingredients: flour, water, and salt.

If you want to venture off into more complex directions, you can add eggs or olive oil, but that’s it! Secondly, you can make some incredible meals and it’s a very simple, cheap, and therapeutic activity, which you also can eat. Some people are unnecessarily intimidated by making fresh pasta, but with the aid of a pasta machine (not essential), pasta making is literally child’s play. All you need is patience, a little care and quality ingredients and there’s no going back once you’ve made your own homemade pasta.



Good pasta, just like bread requires kneading until the dough is smooth and shiny.Here are a few tips to help you on the road to perfect pasta: If the mixture feels a little soft, add a little more flour. If the mixture seems too hard, add another egg yolk.

Always cover sitting dough with cling film or a damp tea towel to prevent it drying out. Do not add olive oil to the cooking water. It is a fallacy that it prevents sticking and is therefore a complete waste of oil; glaze the pasta with a little olive oil after cooking.

My basic pasta mix*The best flour to use is semolina flour: a hard, very fine wheat flour. Doppio zero is the most highly refined but it is sometimes difficult to obtain, so you will probably have to visit a specialized food store to find some, but don’t worry too much, general plain flour can also be used.Ingredients: serves 6350g plain flour (*Doppio zero)2 whole eggs6 egg yolks2 tbsp Olive oil1/2 tbsp Warm waterPinch of saltPinch of saffron powderMethod Put the flour, salt and saffron into a food processor.

Add eggs and the yolks.Blend until the pasta begins to form a ball. Add the olive oil and water.

Place on a lightly floured surface and knead until the mixture is smooth.Cut into four equal sized pieces and wrap tightly in cling film and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.Take the pasta from the fridge and remove the cling film.

Roll out on a very lightly floured surface as thinly as you can. You want to end up with a rectangle shape. Turn the dough regularly and sprinkle with a tiny amount of flour if it begins to stick.

Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect. Cut the pasta into wide strips – you’ll need to make them roughly 2.5cm/1in wide and around 30cm/12in long.

Arrange the strips on a tray, keeping each strand a few millimetres from the next.The pasta can be left to dry for a few hours at this point or used immediately. If your trays get too full, cover with another layer of baking parchment and a sprinkling of flour then create another layer.

Cook the pappardelle in boiling salted water until "al dente" (3-4 minutes).Drain the pasta in a colander and return to the saucepan. Toss with a little olive oil and seasoning or the pasta sauce of your choice.

Below the recipe for the Linguini with crab, chilli and cherry tomatoLinguini with crab, chilli & cherry tomatoServes 4-6250g linguini pasta170g Fresh white crab meat1 small red chilli; finely chopped2 Shallots; finely chopped2 Cloves garlic; finely chopped1⁄2tsp fresh ginger; finely choppedJuice of one lime50ml dry white wine50ml cream250g cherry tomatoes; halved20g Fresh basil20g Fresh flat leaf parsley20g Fresh coriander4tbsp olive oilSeasoningMethodSweat the onions, chilli, ginger and garlic in a heavy-bottomed frying pan with the little olive oil for about one minute. Add the cherry tomatoes and wine and turn up the heat to reduce the liquid by half, while this is reducing cook the pasta in lots of rapidly boiling salted water for about 6-8 minutes until al dente.Drain off the pasta and season with a mix of olive oil and flor de sal.

Place in the middle of the serving bowls. To finish the sauce, add the cream, lime juice, fresh crab, and all the fresh herbs. Season well and pour over the hot pasta.

Serve immediatelyGood pasta, just like bread requires kneading until the dough is smooth and shiny.Papardelle with lobster, truffle and chivesServes 4300g pappardelle pasta1 x 750g cooked lobster50g unsalted butter1 tbsp olive oil2 garlic cloves, crushed250ml cream1 tsp tomato purée (paste)2 tbsp chopped chives200g Parmesan, freshly grated1 black truffle (optional)Sea salt and freshly ground black pepperMethodIt really doesn’t get any more decadent or more delicious than lobster and truffle! You can substitute the pappardelle for almost any kind of fresh pasta.Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the pappardelle pasta until al dente (check the instructions on your packet for cooking time).

Meanwhile, cut the lobster in half and crack the claws open. Remove the meat from the shell and cut into chunks.Heat the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan over a low- medium heat, add the garlic, then stir in the cream and the tomato purée (paste).

Simmer for about 2 minutes, until reduced and thickened.Drain the cooked pasta and add to the sauce along with the lobster meat, tossing to coat in the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then transfer to a serving bowl and scatter over the chopped chives and freshly grated Parmesan.

Finally, grate over the black truffle to taste and serve immediately.Spaghetti Carbonara.Simple Spaghetti CarbonaraServes 4400g spaghetti150g guanciale or streaky bacon, diced1 fat garlic clove, crushed2 large eggs, and 2 extra egg yolks100g Pecorino or parmesan cheese, grated1 tbsp olive oil2tbsp creamFresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)Salt and black pepper, to tasteMethodCook the spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the diced guanciale or streaky bacon and cook until it becomes crispy and golden brown and add the garlic clove and cream.In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks and grated Pecorino cheese until well combined.

Season with black pepper.Once the pasta is cooked, reserve a small cup of pasta cooking water, and then drain the spaghetti. Add the hot, drained pasta to the pan with the crispy guanciale or bacon.

Toss to combine.Remove the pan from the heat and quickly pour the egg and cheese mixture over the hot pasta. Toss the pasta and the egg mixture together.

The heat from the pasta will cook the eggs, creating a creamy sauce. If the sauce is too thick, you can add a bit of the reserved pasta cooking water gradually until the desired consistency is reached. Garnish with additional Pecorino cheese, black pepper, and chopped fresh parsley.

Serve immediately..