Home Made Pasta

Making pasta at home is probably more expensive than buying it from the supermarket and it certainly takes longer, it takes bloody ages in fact. But it tastes a billion times better than anything you could buy and is one of the most calming, hypnotic things you could ever make, quietly and alone in your own kitchen. I love it and it makes me a nicer person.
You can only ever eat pasta for lunch though as 8 stone Kerry Katona points out, carbs after 6pm are strictly banned.

Enough for 4
300g pasta flour, plus extra for kneading and rolling
pinch of table salt
3 large eggs

1 Place the flour and salt in a food processor and crack in the eggs. Pulse until the mixture forms sticky-looking crumbs. Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and bring together to form a firm dough.

2 Cut it into quarters then pass each piece through the widest setting of a pasta machine, folding it over and passing it again a few times until it feels smooth. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

3 Working with a quarter at a time, pass the dough through the machine, moving down a notch each time and keeping it lightly dusted with flour if it starts to stick. If it gets too long, cut it in half to keep the lengths manageable.

4 If you are filling your pasta, use it right away. If you are using the pasta as a plain ribbon, leave the sheet of dough to dry on a clean tea towel for half an hour or so before cutting. Pasta will dry out completely within 24 hours if spread out loosely and can then be stored until ready to use.

5 To make ribons: roll out the dough into thin 25 – 30cm long sheets - any longer than this and the ribbons can get a bit difficult to handle. Leave the sheets to dry for about half an hour so they’re still pliable but no longer sticky. Loosely roll up the pasta then using a sharp knife, cut across the length of the roll. Start with 1cm wide strips for tagliatelle, cut a little thinner for fettucine and even thinner for linguine. Shake out each roll into a ribbon then pile loosely on a floured tea towel. Leave to dry for at least 30 minutes before cooking.

6 Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water for 3 – 4 minutes until tender.