Making pasta by hand takes a little work and some practice, and if you make it often you may even consider investing in a pasta maker. Pasta can be time consuming process to make at home, but it’s fairly simple. Making pasta might sound difficult, but it’s really easy and since you can get your children involved it can be a fun activity for the entire family. Making pasta from scratch is always worth the effort. The freshness and the flavor of fresh pasta is amazing. When compared to the texture of store bought pasta it just cant stand up. You will never want to go back to buying it in a store. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a really good local pasta maker near your house that makes it fresh. Pastas types include noodles in various lengths, widths and shapes, and varieties that are filled with other ingredients like ravioli and tortellini. Pasta mainly comes two ways dried or fresh. In generally pasta is served with some type of sauce. The sauce often called gravy by some is usually matched based on consistency and ease of eating.

BASIC PASTA DOUGH RECIPE
4 eggs
3 1/2 c. flour
Salt
Beat eggs. Add flour and salt and knead for 15 minutes. If you do not have a pasta machine, then roll out dough flat. Take the dough and roll it up like a jelly roll. Slice thin and unwrap it. It will make long strips of pasta.

Making Your Dough.
The dough can be turned over during rolling as many times as needed. All you need is three simple ingredients, flour, eggs and salt. You don’t need any special equipment. You can get by with just a rolling pin and knife. After rolling, let the dough rest, uncovered, for twenty minutes so the surface will dry slightly. Then clean your hands and begin by squashing your dough ball on one side until you form a point. Then start applying your body weight during rolling. It may surprise you, but it tends to be easier and a little faster to roll it by hand with a rolling pin then using a machine. Give it a try next time, and let me know what you think. Then you can claim life-long rolling-pin master hood status.

Now it’s time to Cook Your Pasta.
Start by adding the pasta to salted boiling water. Don’t rely on the times you see from dried packages to give you the proper cooking times. It’s only a guideline and fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta. Don’t forget to add plenty of salt to the cooking water before adding the pasta. Good pasta almost never has a lot’s of salt in it so this is the only time you can season it. Some people add a tiny bit of olive oil to the water. They believe it stops the pasta from sticking. While this does work for larger pasta like lasagna it’s not necessary for most. If you use a large enough pot and plenty of water and keep stirring it from time to time you will be just fine. Also never rinse off the pasta after you cook it. Unless you are making pasta salad then it’s fine to rinse it off.

For many generations, pasta has been a part of many family traditions from weeknight meals to large holiday feasts. Make pasta tonight and create your own family tradition of your own as well as memories that will last for years to come, or you can come into Maurizio’s Restaurant in Cinnaminson, NJ and sit back and let us do it all for you.

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