Fresh Pasta has such a sexy reputation for being unattainable to the home cook. The culinary myths surrounding this two ingredient staple are staggering and yet I am here to tell you with a little practise you’ll be a pro in no time.

Having the right equipment can make your job easier but it’s not critical. A wooden board and a rolling-pin will ultimately produce the same fresh pasta that a stand mixer or food processor and a pasta laminator or hand crank pasta machine will. The pasta you see below was produced with a food processor and a Marcato hand crank pasta making machine.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with different proportions of eggs to flour, different flours, egg yolks versus whole eggs, with water and without and finally landed on today’s recipe for a solid, tender but sturdy all purpose pasta.This is my go to for all the long cuts such as tagliatelle, fettuccine, linguine, spaghetti and pappardelle. Once you are comfortable making fresh pasta, try experimenting with flavours like cracked black pepper, curry powder, fresh spinach and tomato pasta, to start.

FRESH PASTA – serves 6

• 300 grams or a scant 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 extra-large eggs and 5 extra-large egg yolks
• Fine semolina flour for dusting

THE STEPS:

1. Put the flour in a food processor or stand mixer
2. Add the eggs and yolks, and blend until it makes dough. You have to trust me on the ratio of flour to eggs. Your mixture may look granular if you use a food processor. If it does, just dump your fresh pasta out on a wooden board and squeeze it into a ball.
3. Cut into 2 pieces and wrap each portion in cling-wrap and place in the fridge for up to 2 hours. I let my dough rest for 1 hour.
4. Remove 1 piece of fresh pasta dough from the fridge, remove from the plastic wrap and dust lightly with all purpose flour on both sides.
5. Put the pasta machine on its widest setting and roll the dough through the first setting twice, folding the sheet into 2 each time.

6. Note: Every pasta machine is different. My hand crank has 1 as its widest setting but some start with 8. Just be sure to start with the widest setting and work your way, one number at a time until you reach your desired thickness. Remember that fresh pasta will swells, as it cooks.

7. Once you have reached your desired thickness, lay your fresh pasta on a floured wooden board while you attach the pasta cutter.
8. Feed the pasta dough through your cutter then toss it in semolina and place on a baking sheet until you are ready to cook it. If you are not cooking the fresh pasta right away, cover it with a clean tea towel and place in the fridge.
9. Cook your fresh pasta in a large pot of heavily salted water until it floats. Approximately 2 minutes.
10. Serve immediately with your favourite sauce.

THE LOVE: Take your time and remember practise makes perfect!

Stay safe! Stay home and cook.