Fresh Pasta

It's a rainy day so I decided to make fresh pasta for dinner. We're helping a young man get established here so I've been teaching him some basic cooking skills. I made sauce a few days back so all that was required was three portions of pasta. 

Fresh Pasta 

(makes 2 small portions or 1 large portion)

2/3 cup flour

1 egg

Make a well in the flour and crack the egg into it.  Use the tines of a fork in a circular motion to pick up flour into the egg.  Keep moving the fork in a circular motion until all the flour is taken up by the egg. Kneed the dough by hand, folding flour into it until it isn't sticky. To roll pasta by hand take a portion and roll it out as thin as possible then cut it into strips with a knife.  A motorized pasta machine or pasta attachments for a mixer are a really good investment if one plans to make lots of pasta.

Once the pasta is rolled into a long strip, cut it to length before running it through the cutters. Trying to handle 4 foot long fettuccine is just comical. The pasta must be dusted with flour immediately after cutting or it will stick together.

Put the pasta in salted boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes depending on thickness.  If it's rolled and cut by hand it will probably take longer to cook.  Tasting the pasta to see if it's done is the way to go here.

Drain and plate the pasta, cover with sauce, sprinkle with fresh grated parmesan and top with a little parsley.