How To: Basic Pasta Dough

Homemade Pasta > Store Bought Pasta

There is nothing quite like it. It's hard to describe--that flavor...Mmm, and that texture...Yum! It actually has flavor, and it actually has texture. 

AND you can control the flavor--that's the biggest advantage I see to making pasta at home. You want spinach pasta? Add a little spinach. Want herby pasta? Add some herbs.

The dough is very versatile and you can make whatever kind of pasta you want to out of it (ravioli, spaghetti, tortellini, etc..)

It's very easy, and it doesn't take too long either! 

Basic Pasta Dough

Printable Version
Recipe by Tyler Florence


You'll need:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Cornmeal, for dusting

Get your mise en place all ready.

Mise en place means 'everything in its place', meaning measure all your ingredients and have them handy before you start cooking. The first step to mise en place is always to read the entire recipe from start to finish, so you know what to expect.

Dump the flour onto a clean working surface, mix in the salt

Make it into a pretty little mound, then create a little well in the center

Beat the eggs (Oops, I forgot to!) and

Add the olive oil as well...

Start to lightly beat the eggs, gradually draw flour into the mixture while beating.

Slowly, but surely, draw more and more flour into the mixture until a firm dough starts to form.

Then, start kneading the dough.

If the dough is too dry and hard to knead, add a little hot water.
Knead until elastic-ey, form into a ball. Dust the tabletop with cornmeal as needed to prevent sticking.



If you're using an electric mixer...It's even easier!

Put the flower (oops) flour in a mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment...

Add the eggs and mix on low.

Slowly drizzle in the olive oil...

Mix until it comes together as a dough, then dump out onto a floured/cornmealed surface.
Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic-ey.

This is what a picture looks like with horrible lighting.

Roll the dough into a ball.

Orrr...

A butt! Bahahaha.

Then cover it with plastic and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Ta da! Pasta dough.

To use the dough, simple roll it out into a thin sheet & cut it into whichever shape you'd like.

To cook homemade pasta--it takes MUCH less time. Cook in boiling, heavily-salted water for 3-4 minutes until al dente. Serve with your favorite pasta sauce, pesto, or simply butter & parmesan cheese.

Bon Appetit!

Pancake Omelets...Errr, Crepes.

I had been missing out on the deliciousness that is a crepe for the first 22 1/2 years of my life.

I had my first crepe experience when the iHOP came to town. (Don't get me wrong, I had eaten at an iHOP before, they had plenty of them in Michigan--but when the first iHOP came to Louisville, people went CRAZY for it.)

So, although I hadn't been missing out on iHOP, I had; however, been missing out on crepe-ness.

The idea of this pancake thing, which is kind-of like an omelet too...kind of like a pancake omelet...a pancake omelet that can be filled with delicious pastry cremes and syrupy fruit with whipped cream and goodness... or that can be filled with melty cheddar, and salty ham, and topped with a sinful hollandaise and some grilled veggies..... That idea... it's ridiculous.

Ridiculously fantastic.
And ridiculously easy.  Ya dig?


Follow me here...

Basic Crepes

(Printable Version)
All you need for these delicious pieces of heaven is:
1 cup of all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Measure milk...

Flour..

And water.

Get 2 eggs...

Add it all to a bowl:

Add 1/4 teaspoon on salt...

Then add 2 tablespoons of melted butter.

Mix it all together.

It should be a thin batter.
If it's not, then you messed up.


Next, heat a small non-stick saute pan on medium-high heat. Lightly spray the pan with cooking spray.
Once the pan is hot, ladle some batter into the pan.

Swirl the pan around to spread the batter evenly on the bottom of the pan.

Allow the batter to swirl a little bit onto the side of the pan. This will make it easier to flip later.

Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes on the first side
Start to loosen the edges of the crepe with a spatula...

Shake the pan a bit to loosen the rest of the crepe, if it releases evenly from the pan, it's ready to flip.

To flip the crepe, hold the pan in one hand push it away from your body, then quickly pull back to your body.

I had to call the Boo in to help photograph the flipping.

Let me just tell you, it's hard to take pictures while demonstrating cooking. Weird, twisted, angles and limbs occur frequently. This recipe was particularly hard because the batteries in my flash were dying, so it took about a minute for the flash to charge again. Half of my pictures turned out completely black. Oy

Okay. Rant over.
After the Boo took his picture, I decided to give it a go myself, you know, so you could see it from my perspective.

Not bad, right? I was proud.

Phew. The hard part is done.
Now, just let the crepe cook for another 2 minutes on the second side, until its just a little bit brown.

Flip it out of the pan and get started on the next!

This recipe will make about 8 crepes.


Mmmm....

You can serve these as dessert crepes--with whipped cream, powdered sugar, and fresh fruit.
Or you can stuff them with chicken, and sprinkle cheese on them with fresh vegetables.

Delicious. Versatile. Crepes.

Don't fret, I'll have a delicious recipe to use the crepes with tomorrow!

How To: Chop an Onion

[From a lefty's perspective. If you're a righty...just pretend.]

What you will need:
A sharp knife
An onion
A cutting board


Grab an onion. A simple, yellow onion will suffice.

Chop the non-rooted end off.

Chop it in half.

Peel it down to the shiny-whites.

Lay it flat and put your palm on it. (Fingers & thumb up!)

Put a good slice in it, parallel to the cutting board. Watch those fingers!

And another, a little further up--still parallel to the cutting board.

Keep slicing it, all the way to the top.
Turn the onion 90 degrees so the rooted side is away from you.


Start slicing it--perpendicular to the cutting board now.

Slice it all the way across

Rotate the onion 90 degree again, back the way it was when you started.

Slice it, perpendicular to the cutting board, but parallel to the last slices.
Like a grid.
So much math involved in this.

Keep going, you're almost there.

Done!

Discard the rooted-ness.


Now you try! 

Let me know how it goes.