Devon's Cooking....Homemade Pasta

Last year Dave made the choice (mistake?) to purchase Amazon Prime. He paid for it when we bought our big TV because it was almost the same cost to ship the TV as it was to get free shipping on Amazon for a year. The reason this was potentially a mistake, however, is that I now feel much freer to make whimsical, of-the-moment purchases whenever I feel like it. Hence the purchase of my new pasta-maker. Proud of my Italian heritage, I decided it was high time to learn how to ditch Ronzoni and make my own pasta.

The prospect of homemade pasta seems daunting; if it were easy, I've always believed, everyone would make their own pasta! Or perhaps the pasta makers are just REALLY expensive. But a quick trip to the Amazon website showed me that pasta makers were inexpensive... and my first attempt at making pasta yesterday showed me that making homemade pasta is EASY (although my first attempt turned out "rustic"-- a nice way to say it was a little ugly).

We had the Davies over for dinner last night-- Jen made a delicious caprese salad to accompany the basil fettucine with tomato-garlic ragu, green beans with sauteed onions and mushrooms and Italian bread. Buon Appetito!

HOMEMADE BASIL FETTUCINE
Ingredients:
3/4 cup chopped basil
3/4 cup semolina flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 tsp olive oil
2 Tbsp water

Directions: Coarsely chop basil and then place in food processor to chop finely. After basil is finely chopped, add both flours and pulse a couple of times to mix the basil and flour together. Add egg, olive oil and water and turn on food processor until the dough turns into a ball (it sounds crazy, but it will happen! And it doesn't take very long). Wrap dough in plastic wrap rubbed with a couple drops of olive oil and refrigerate for 2 hours. After 2 hours are up, split dough into 6 balls and roll out using rolling pin or pasta machine; then cut to desired shape and length. Let pasta dry for about 1 hour (I just left mine out on a piece of parchment paper and it worked out perfectly). When ready to cook the pasta, just place it into pot of boiling water for about 4-5 minutes.




TOMATO RAGU
Ingredients:
28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
1 sweet onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced2 Tbsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Heat large skillet over medium-high after spraying with Pam. Sautee all ingredients for abouy 30 minutes, until most of the liquid reduces. Toss with pasta.


GREEN BEANS WITH ONIONS AND MUSHROOMS
Ingredients:
8 oz. green beans
1 sweet onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 oz. mushrooms, chopped
2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Steam green beans; in the meantime, spray large skillet with Pam and sautee onion, mushrooms and garlic until soft. 5 mintues before serving, add steamed green beans to pan and stir to mix.