Homemade pasta

No fuss, no additives, delicious just plain with butter and grated parmesan or a simple tomato based sauce.

What you’ll need for 4 persons:
– Mixing bowl
–  400 grams (organic/ Tipo 00) flour
–  4 large (free range) eggs at room temperature

– Pasta Machine
– Room to lay out and dry the pasta sheets a little

For the simple tomato sauce:
– 1 onion, finely chopped
– 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
– 1 can chopped tomatoes
– 4 tablespoons mascarpone
– 3 handfuls freshly grated parmesan
– handful fresh basil

Homemade pasta:
Put all the flour in the bowl; make a well in the middle. Add the eggs, one by one, in the middle of the well, whisk the eggs slowly mixing the flour bit by bit. The easiest way to do this is to work from the middle outwards, eventually combining it all. If it gets too dry, try add a few drops of water.
Knead the dough into a, soft but sturdy consistency, set aside for about 10 minutes, I like to wrap it in cling film to keep it moist.

In the mean time, get a frying pan on the stove, medium heat. Add some olive oil and add the chopped onion. When the onion is soft, add the garlic, fry until its fragrant. Add the tomatoes and turn the heat down to a simmer. Stir occasionally

Take out the pasta machine. It’s time to rumble!
Shape the dough into a fat cylinder, slice off a piece of about 10cm by 3cm work the dough through the machine, step by step, I like to stop at 5 for spaghetti and 6 for tagliatelle. At this stage you only have the sheets of dough, as you go along pay them out on your flour dusted table. Here your dough will rest a little.
Put you pan with water on the stove, add some salt and bring it to the boil.
Start at the first slab you put on the table, take it through the machine again, this time on the past setting you want. Make sure you don’t bunch up your homemade pasta too much or it will stick together before you put it in the water.
As soon as all your pasta is made, add it bit by bit to the boiling water, give it a quick and gentle stir.

Your tomato sauce should have reduced nicely now, so it’s time to add the mascarpone. Stir the mascarpone into the sauce, season with salt and pepper to taste, turn off heat. Add torn basil leaves.

The pasta should also be done; this should take only about 4 minutes. Drain the pasta; add a dash of olive oil to prevent sticking. Add the pasta to the sauce, combine well, sprinkle parmesan and enjoy!