I’d love to be that person that has some fabulous and exotic meal to post every week, but sometimes (well often) we have wholly local meals that aren’t that exciting.
We rarely eat pasta that isn’t homemade anymore, the pasta machine that I bought last year has become a weekly feature around here. I use Shepherd’s Grain flour from Stone-Buhr and eggs from our hens. The dough is a simple 1 cup of flour and 2 eggs recipe from Michael Ruhlman. Since our eggs are less than standard, that ratio gets adjusted depending on how big the eggs are. 
While the pasta dough rests in plastic wrap, I make sauce. Some nights it’s a cream sauce, others pesto from last summer or simple butter and parmesan or red sauce. I won’t claim that my red sauce recipe is any kind of traditional, but it certainly is good.
A bit of Italian sausage from our 1/2 pig, homegrown onion and garlic, thyme and sage from the herb garden, a spoonful of last summer’s pesto, dried oregano and parsley, homegrown/canned tomatoes and tomato sauce and a bit of kosher salt. It’s actually better the second day when it’s had a bit of time to mellow and thicken, but we never plan that far ahead.
While the sauce simmers for as long as it gets on a week night, I roll pasta dough into sheets and then cut it into either fettucini or linguini (limited option around here) and drop it into salted boiling water.
It’s always a nice end to a busy day. And this week was no different.
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I feel the same way about my food – its local, tasty (well, usually) but just not fancy. Funny about adjusting the egg ratio – that’s something great that comes with using ingredients that are not “the norm off the shelves”
It does! I keep thinking I should do it by weight, but I seem to have better luck just eyeballing the flour and adding a bit more until it feels right. NOT scientific at all.
I love your post! We must’ve been thinking along the same lines, because my dark days submission was lasagna with homemade pasta, and I talked about how much I use my pasta attachment for the mixer. It looks like yours is one of the ones that you attach to the counter and hand crank. Very classic. I’m impressed!!
Mmmm, I keep thinking I should make lasagna one night but haven’t. Maybe next week.
Mine is an Atlas that I bought last year. I LOVE it, I suppose the one on my Kitchenaid would be faster, but then I’d have to haul it out and plug it in and I’m lazy.
So glad you posted this. I was going to ask about pasta making when we saw you on New Year’s Eve but completely forgot until we were almost to the Oregon border. I’m going to try it. One of these weeks I’ll have homemade pasta in my Dark Days Challenge.
You should totally try it! I let it intimidate me for a long time for no reason. You just have to be patient with it as you learn how to judge the dough. Our first few attempts were “rustic” at best.
Have fun with your new (to you) Atlas!
Took a look at Kerry’s late wife’s pasta maker which was stashed away back in the pantry. It’s an Atlas Marcato model 150. Used only once, according to Kerry. I’m in pasta making heaven.
I made pasta this week, too! In fact, I’m pretty sure I have the same pasta machine that you do. My toddler almost managed to break it, though, so I’ll probably buy the kitchen aid pasta attachments to use until she’s not so recklessly exuberant.
Mike tried to break ours one night. That was the last time I asked him to help with the pasta…
We too eat pasta for delicious local meals. This week I made a tomato sauce with homegrown tomatoes and venison and dried spices from the garden.
I think my favorite way to eat pasta is with eggs and cheese whisked together in the warm bowl, top with hot pasta and stir to incorporate, the warm pasta partially cooks the eggs. Top with pepper and it’s a simple yet elegant dinner. I always make this for company and people are always so impressed (they don’t know it’s the easiest thing to make).
Hmmm, even though we eat a lot of eggs I’ve never tried them in pasta that way. I think I’ll give it a try next time Mike isn’t home for dinner. Then I can see what I think before I experiment on him.
You’ve inspired me to try! I don’t have a pasta maker yet, but I do have some homemade tomato sauce in the fridge I was planning on using tonight. I think if all it takes is 1 C. flour and 2 eggs, I have nothing to lose.
Brittney – got your email about how your pasta turned out. Good for you! My first attempts were really rustic too, it ended up being the biggest reason that I decided that we actually needed a pasta machine.
You’re making me want to try homemade pasta again! I tried before, but without a machine it was too much trouble. I keep telling myself that I don’t need yet another thing taking up space in my small kitchen, but it doesn’t work…
I actually keep ours in the box it came in. It fits neatly into the cabinet and we just pull it out when we want to use it.
What a fun meal! I have loved reading your blog! After reading this post, it was the last little push I needed to finally buy a pasta maker. I had ordered one online about 20 minutes later and I can hardly wait for the first meal of homemade pasta!
Can’t wait to hear how your first pasta attempts go. Have fun!
I agree about the same-ness of eating local this time of year. But I figure if the food is good, no one minds. I would eat pasta every night with you! But I don’t have a pasta machine. I think I’m going to try hand rolling pasta for next week’s dark days meal. Saw a post on Soulemama’s blog referencing Alice Waters and I do have that cookbook.
That’s true. I try hard not to apologize for making a lot of simple meals as they’re usually very tasty. I think there’s a lot to be said for making fantastic food out of few ingredients and simple techniques.
Awesome, homemade meal!
Since you are using homegrown ingredients, would you like to enter this post in our Grow Your Own roundup this month? Full Details at
http://chezannies.blogspot.com/2010/02/announcing-grow-your-own-39.html