When it comes to cooking, we all have foods that we are comfortable with and that we return to again and again. And then there are those foods that we are not so comfortable with. Maybe we've made them once and that was all we needed to know that it wasn't going to happen again. Or maybe we're so intimidated by the work involved that we never even try making it in the first place.
Homemade pasta is one of those foods that I've never been very comfortable making. I felt intimidated by the process and put off by the amount of time I thought was involved. But earlier this year, I decided I was going to make a real effort to expand my horizons in the kitchen and now it's time to tackle pasta. And that's why this is Pasta Week! Each of my posts this week will show you a different kind of homemade pasta. They may not be perfect, but they're delicious and gosh darnit, I made them myself. And if I can do it, you can do it.
When it comes to a pasta like fettuccine, while you can certainly roll it out yourself and cut it by hand, using a pasta maker is the easiest way to go. I have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer (my wedding gift to myself--yes, I bought myself a wedding gift, why not?!) and one of the many, many things I love about it is that it has a wide array of attachments. Attachments such as… pasta rollers and cutters! Yes! If you have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, you can use it to make homemade pasta!
I know a lot of people eat whole wheat pasta for health reasons while pining away for the traditional kind made with regular flour, but I actually prefer the whole wheat variety--I like the texture and earthy flavor. The whole wheat pasta sold at the store doesn't usually come in fun flavors though, so I mixed in some freshly cracked black pepper. The wonderful thing about a pasta like this Whole Wheat Black Pepper Fettuccine is that it's so flavorful, you don't need to load on heavy sauces or piles of cheese.
The pasta starts by combining whole wheat flour, cracked black pepper, salt, eggs, and water in your mixer. This step is traditionally done by hand by making a well with the dry ingredients on a floured surface and putting the wet ingredients into the well, then working them together. But doing it in the mixer is far easier. You'll use the paddle attachment first and then the dough hook.
Once your dough is ready, you'll turn it out onto a floured surface to knead it. This was my first minor freak-out while making pasta--I worried that maybe whole wheat flour was too fussy to work with and that I should have started with all-purpose flour. The dough seemed so dry and crumbly!
After that, I divided the dough into 8 equal-sized lumps and then I kneaded each dough lump (yes, dough lumps!) into a long, flat portion that could be fed into the pasta roller.
My second minor freak-out was at this point. When I fed the dough into the roller, it came out in crumbles. Later I realized two things: first, I needed to incorporate a little more water into the dough. So if you're making pasta and it's crumbly, don't be afraid to do that! And second, the first few runs through the roller always end up falling apart. I suspect this might not happen with dough made from all-purpose flour.
But see? Each time you put the dough through the roller, it looks better and better. You feed these pasta sheets through again and again until they're the width of the roller. Once they've done that, you keep feeding them through until they've reached the thinness needed for the particular type of pasta you're making.
When all of your sheets are done, you'll replace the roller attachment with the cutting attachment and cut your fettuccine. Look guys, I made pasta! I did it!
Pasta! Me! I made that! (Okay, and my husband helped too. It's hard to take photos and make pasta at the same time.)
After you've made your pasta, toss it in a little flour to keep it from sticking together. Cook it in boiling water for about 2 minutes when you're ready to eat.
Now, let's be real, this is definitely not the kind of thing you're gonna want to do after a long day at the office. It does happen to be a great weekend project though. Homemade pasta can be frozen or dried for later use. So you can make a big batch of it on a Sunday afternoon, freeze it, and eat it whenever you want.
Is it worth it? Totally. Chris and I both agreed that this was the best pasta we ever tasted. It's also fun. I love any project where you get that, "Holy heck, I made this myself!" high. And making homemade pasta is definitely one of those projects.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- juice from 1 lemon
- 10 baby artichokes
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ c. white wine
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- salt to taste
- 2 c. whole wheat black pepper fettuccine, cooked (see recipe below)
- shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to boil.
- Add lemon juice to a large bowl of water. Remove leaves from artichokes until you reach the tender, pale leaves in the center. Trim stem and ½ inch from top of artichokes; halve lengthwise and place in bowl of lemon juice and water.
- Remove artichokes from bowl and blanch in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, or until easily pierced with knife. Drain.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds, until fragrant but not browned, stirring constantly. Add artichokes and cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add wine and thyme; increase heat to high and simmer for about 6 minutes, until liquid has reduced by half. Remove thyme and add pasta to skillet; toss to coat. Remove from heat and add salt to taste. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese before serving.
Nutrition (estimated per serving)
I received the Pasta Sheet Roller and Pasta Cutter Attachments from KitchenAid for the purpose of writing this post.
Ania says
I just went and added the pasta attachment to my amazon wishlist after seeing this recipe. Thanks for the inspiration!
Kiersten says
You will love it! 😀
Russell van Kraayenburg says
Ooh. This pasta sounds fantastic. And look at all that scrumptious artichoke!
Aggie says
This pasta literally made my mouth water. My family made pasta (homemade) when I was young, I remember it being one of my favorite foods to eat ever!! I haven't ventured doing it in my own, need to get those attachments. Great post!
Kiersten says
You should definitely try making your own! I really didn't expect there to be such a big difference between homemade and store-bought (even the fresh store-bought!), but it was so much better.
Katie (The Muffin Myth) says
I have Kitchen Aid mixer - two actually, I left my old one at my parents house when we moved to Sweden and then bought another - and the pasta rollers, which have travelled with me across the world. I make pasta often, but have only tried the whole wheat recipe once. I wasn't super happy with it compared to using All Purpose or 00 flour, but maybe I'll give it another whirl. I love the idea of adding in black pepper.
Kiersten says
I bet it's easier when you use all-purpose flour. The whole wheat flour was definitely fussy, but it came together in the end. And that's the important part! 🙂
Genevieve says
Wow, I'm impressed that you took this on without any experience! Homemade pasta is one of those things I thought wouldn't be worth it to make myself, but it sounds like I might be wrong... and I love the way you served it with a simple and light sauce and the artichokes - very elegant!
Kiersten says
I'm definitely going to be making it again. And once I use up the pasta I have in the pantry, I might switch to using my own all the time (except for the complicated shapes, of course!). Which is ambitious, I know, but it's really good! 🙂
Kelly @ Texas Type A Mom says
This sounds so light and delicious! I'm definitely thinking about adding that pasta attachment to my Christmas wishlist too!
Kiersten says
You should! You could make so many sneaky veggie pastas with it. 🙂
Notorious Spinks says
This is awesome. I'll have to get me one of these babies. Love it!
Shell Fruscione says
I'm so glad you posted this because I was thinking about picking up the attachments but I was like you- too overwhelmed at the thought of making it to actually try it. But I think I WILL buy the attachments after seeing how yummy yours turned out!!
Kiersten says
It's one of those things that takes some time, but it's not difficult. Those are the projects I can tackle. The ones that are time consuming AND difficult, those are the ones I stay away from. 😉
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com says
I need that pasta attachments for my stand-mixer!! The homemade pasta looks so yummy and rustic!!
Viswa says
Wow, these are gorgeous!
Courtney Rae Jones says
So cool 🙂 I've been wanting that pasta attachment for ages! Maybe I'll ask Santa for it this Christmas. *hehe* The pasta looks wonderful. Love your pasta special this week! It's great to see you tackling things and expanding your horizons in the kitchen. I'm trying to do the same and get do things in the kitchen that "scare" me. I am a perfectionist sometimes in the kitchen and if I screw up - sometimes I quit. I'm trying to stop that! *haha*
Kiersten says
I think it's hard not to be a perfectionist when you're a food blogger because SO many bloggers seem to do everything absolutely perfectly. I am definitely not one of them. 😉