Pasta Tango

Last night I prepared the semolina and egg dough with fresh basil, salt, black pepper and Adobo and had it waiting when my husband got home. I fed the dough through the hand cranked pasta machine while turning the crank and my husband caught the paper-thin sheets of pasta so they didn't stick together. It was an intricate kitchen tango requiring focus, concentration and patience. My husband hung the noodles on our clothes rack and separated and dried the macaroni while fending off the cat and dog. I told my husband, "this is so romantic and now we get to cook it and eat it. People should do this as a form of marriage counseling." I made a simple marinara sauce with fresh garlic olive oil crushed tomato, salt and oregano. Next time I will just have the pasta plain with butter and salt to really taste it. I was amazed at how much pasta came out of a cup of semolina and one egg.

The Science of the Best Fresh Pasta

Cooking

Now's the really easy part. Boil up some salted water and toss those noodles in. They'll cook quickly—I'm talking 60-seconds quickly—so be ready to taste and drain them almost immediately. That said, while fresh pasta cooks rapidly, it's important to make sure that it's thoroughly cooked. Unlike dry pasta, it actually gets slightly firmer during the first phase of cooking. If you don't cook it long enough, the egg and flour proteins won't set, your starch won't fully hydrate, and you'll end up with a kinda pasty pasta. Personally,I like my pasta cooked for around 90 seconds, but you may find that you prefer a shorter or longer boiling time. Just don't exceed two minutes—that's when it starts to get mushy.

Tah dah!

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