Looking for a fun weeknight dinner that the whole family can help with? Make this 4 ingredient pasta with ingredients you already have. All you need is: all purpose flour, eggs, olive oil, and salt. Make it your Monday evening activity and get kneading!
Top off the pasta with some tasty tomato sauce to get a dose of lycopene and vitamin C into your meal. Both are powerful antioxidants that will keep you feeling healthy.
Fresh Pasta
Makes one pound of pasta
Ingredients
2 cups flour, can use a mix of all purpose and whole wheat
3 eggs
½ teaspoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon water
Sauce suggestions:
Preparation
For making the dough
Crack your eggs into a bowl and add olive oil and salt.
Make a mound with the flour on a clean work surface or in a bowl. Create a well in the middle of the mound and pour in one egg. Use a fork to slowly begin to incorporate the flour with the egg, gently working around the inside edges of the well to pull in more flour. Continue to slowly add egg mixture and incorporate with flour.
Once the dough resembles coarse sand, if you were working in a bowl, turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Knead the dough to form one unified mass, then continue kneading for ten minutes. You may need to add a little water to prevent the dough from becoming too dry, or more flour if it is too sticky. The dough should be soft and elastic.
Cover dough with a clean towel or plastic wrap and allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes, preferably in the refrigerator. This gives the dough time to relax so that it will roll out nicely.
Cut the dough ball into 4 equal pieces. Take one piece of dough and set the others under the towel or in the plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.
For rolling the dough out by hand
Lightly flour a clean work surface. Take one piece of dough and use a rolling pin to roll it out into a rectangle until it is very thin. As you are rolling, pick up the dough occasionally and turn it over to make sure it’s not sticking. If it starts to stick, add more flour. If the dough is rolling out into more of an oval shape, fold in the edges to create a rectangle, then continue rolling. You know it’s thin enough when you can see your fingers through the dough when you hold it up. It should be about 12-14 inches long, but if you can’t get it to stretch past 6-8 inches, that will work too.
To make fettuccine, spaghetti or pappardelle: Fold the dough on top of itself 4 times. Cut across the dough into ⅛ inch segments for spaghetti sized noodles, ½ inch for fettuccini, or 1 ½ – 2 inches for pappardelle. To prevent sticking, toss the pasta with a sprinkle of flour until the pieces are separate and distinct. Set aside, and repeat with the remaining 3 pieces of dough.
To make bow ties: Cutting across the dough to make 1-2 inch wide rectangles. Pinch each rectangle at the middle to form a bow tie. Set aside, and repeat with the remaining 3 pieces of dough.
For rolling the dough out with a hand crank pasta machine
Set your sheeter attachment at the highest/widest setting and roll one of the dough pieces through. Decrease the setting by one, and pass the dough through again. Continue passing the dough through the machine, decreasing the setting until you reach your desired thickness. Then, use the pasta cutting attachment to cut your pasta into your desired shape.
To prevent sticking, toss the pasta with a sprinkle of flour until the pieces are separate and distinct. Set aside, and repeat with the remaining 3 pieces of dough.
To cook
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook for 2-3 minutes and serve immediately with your sauce of choice.
