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
I received the Pasta Sheet Roller and Pasta Cutter Attachments from KitchenAid for the purpose of writing this post.
Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says
I have a pasta maker on my wish list, I'm hoping someone gets it for me for Christmas. Bookmarking this baby for December 26th. (Like how optimistic I am!)
Kiersten says
I can't wait to see what you do with it! You will love it. 😀
Tina @ More Please Recipes says
Your pasta and step by step photos make it feel totally conquerable (yes, that's a word too!). I just made pasta from scratch as well; I made raviolis which are a good first go at it too because their shape isn't too complex.
Kiersten says
I'm posting ravioli on Thursday! I'm going to go check yours out. 🙂
JulieD says
Love this, Kiersten! Looks amazing!!
Brian @ A Thought For Food says
Oh dear! Pass me that bowl and a fork please! Looks so good!
Sara says
I've been avoiding trying homemade pasta because it seemed so difficult and labor-intensive. But this mixer recipe looks like a great way to start! Thanks for the alternative!
Kiersten says
It's definitely time-consuming, but it's not difficult. I was surprised at how much better it tasted than store-bought!
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell says
You're definitely tempting me! Fabulous!
TastefullyJulie says
Wow, you really did this the hard way! I would have at least had to go with canned artichokes. (I know, not nearly as good!) My juicer has a pasta attachment but I haven't been brave enough to try it yet. Some day!
Kiersten says
I usually use canned artichokes but the adorable wee ones were calling my name at the grocery store. You know, I have a weakness for wee things.
Sommer@ASpicyPerspective says
There is just NOTHING like fresh made pasta!
Jackie @ Domestic Fits says
I love all of those those things. And I have that Kitchen aid roller, and I love it. Totally need to make this.
Kelly @ A Girl Worth Saving says
Amazing! I was always too chicken to make pasta from scratch when I ate grains but you did a gorgeous job.
Kiersten says
Thank you! It's really pretty satisfying and I wish I didn't put it off for so long. Maybe next I'll try canning!
Shirley says
LOL Making pasta is definitely a 2-person job! Joe's the pasta-maker in our house, but I don't like helping because we have the hand-crank machine. After seeing this, I think the Kitchen-Aid pasta attachment is going to be my birthday present to myself this year. I wish the supermarket sold whole wheat fettucine!
Kiersten says
You can definitely pull off one-person pasta making with the KitchenAid attachments. As long as you're not trying to take photos too, that is!
Shirley says
And even then, there's the tripod and self-timer. 😉 But I would go for the second set of hands.
Kiersten says
Yeah, but it's best not to touch the camera & remote with flour-y hands. And annoying to have to wash them before every photo! 🙂
Jeanette says
That homemade pasta looks incredible - there's nothing like it. I haven't made homemade pasta in years, but I need to dig up my hand crank pasta maker.
Kiersten says
You should! And then blog about it too. 😀
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
I am in love with your homemade pasta! It looks unbelievably delicious!
Kiersten says
Thank you! It was really tasty. I was pretty proud of myself!
Emily says
Last month I bought the Pasta Attachment for my KA mixer! Thank you so much for sharing this easy to follow recipe. I'm looking forward to making this soon.
Can't wait to see what the rest of pasta week includes!
Kiersten says
Woo hoo! It is so much fun to use. I'm already plotting my next pasta. 🙂
Carolyn says
I am seriously impressed, girlfriend. And I love how you included your mistakes in here, to help others.
Kiersten says
I am definitely not one of those bloggers who makes everything perfectly the first time. Or the second. But taste is more important than looks!
Jad says
It's been a while since I made pasta from scratch but when I worked in restaurants I used to make hundreds of lobster raviolis from scratch. The whole process would take me 2 days because I made the dough, wrapped it in plastic and chilled it overnight. Always made it easier to pass through the pasta roller the next day. I'm sure a few hours in the fridge would do the trick as well.
Kiersten says
I was thinking about doing that too! Next time I will. I'm posting ravioli on Thursday. I totally did it wrong and inauthentically (is that a word?), but it tasted good...
Rachel @ following in my shoes says
I think it would be a GREAT freezer meal -- having the pasta there, I mean. It's on my "to do" list at some point ... I didn't realize pasta could be frozen till I walked in on Fabio (Top Chef Fabio) at my local grocery store doing a pasta demonstration. He was talking about the "ease" of making your own and freezing it. I so want to do it!
Kiersten says
You should do it! With something like this, it's totally worth spending the time to make a bunch of batches and freezing them all. Because if you're making a mess and getting all the equipment out, you might as well, right? I bet your kids would love helping too!
Natalie says
This looks amazing! I know if I buy a pasta making attachment ill use it once and then it will just take up space in my cupboard unused after that, but it would be fun to be able to try whatever flavour of pasta you like!
Kiersten says
Ha! That kind of happened with my ice cream maker, although when I do want to make ice cream, I'm really glad I have it. 🙂
Alaine @ My GF & DF Living says
I have always wanted to try making homemade pasta! This sauce looks amazing!
Jennifer The Quirky Momma says
I love making home made pasta for my family. I don't eat it anymore, but I love to make it! I really need that KitchenAid attachment for my machine.
Jennifer says
I would absolutely love to make my own pasta.
Brenda Williams says
You are like the food cheerleader...Yeah Yeah Yeah...you can do it! Stir to the left...stir to the right...mix in the middle and it comes out bright!!! Reading your posts actually makes me "think" I could really cook some of your awesome dishes.
Kiersten says
Ha! But I really have no special training or anything. I just enjoy cooking! So it really is true, if I can do this stuff, y'all can too. 🙂
Katherine@MiscFinds4u says
I wish I could get my family to eay healthy like this
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc. says
This looks absolutely fabulous! Great ingredients!
TidyMom says
This looks delicious! I would love to make our own pasts! thanks for the tips