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| Homemade Sun Dried Tomato Pasta Dough Ready to Rest |
Confession: I use machines to make my pasta.
I tried the pile with the hole and slowly incorporating etc, etc. but it just never seemed to work out for me. Sure, I got pasta in the end but it took forever and I was always frustrated by the time I had that stiff, not sticky ball of dough. And then I remembered my Cuisinart has a dough blade and I can dump all the ingredients in and before I even have a chance to get pissed off, viola! Round one is done. Sometimes, like tonight for instance, I have to finish kneading by hand. I can take it, I’m not opposed to getting my hands dirty (just ask the Mr. about that one, I leave my prints everywhere!) but it’s so much nicer to already have it mostly done before I dig in and transfer the love into the mix. William Sonoma has a great post that shows you how to do it in more detail and with more pictures than I. You can check it out here.
The Recipe
Sun-dried Tomato Tagliatelle tossed with Chive/Watercress Pesto
Pasta
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| Sundried Tomato Pasta cut and resting, ready to cook |
- 1 cup semolina flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ¼- ½ tsp salt
- 3 TBS sun dried tomatoes in olive oil whirred to a fine mist
- 3 large eggs
Add dry ingredients to bowl of food processor, process for a few seconds to blend and aerate.
Add eggs and sun dried tomato paste, process until mixture starts to form a ball.
Remove from bowl and knead briefly adding more flour or olive oil, if necessary, to reach desired consistency. Let rest, covered with an overturned bowl for 30 minutes to one hour.
Cut the dough ball into quarters then roll or flatten each quarter into a disk about 1/4 inch thick. Adjust the rollers of the pasta machine to the widest setting. Run 1 piece of the dough through the rollers 3 times, folding the dough in half each time, and flouring it lightly if it begins to stick. THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT! The first time I made pasta using my handy Kitchen Aid attachment I missed this part and it was not pretty.
Turn dial down to next (narrower) setting and feed dough through rollers without folding. Continue to feed dough through, without folding, making space between rollers narrower each time, until desired thickness is reached. I rarely go to the narrowest setting. Halve sheet crosswise and arrange on a dry kitchen towel or well floured counter, letting pasta hang over edge of work surface if necessary. Roll out remaining dough in same manner. Cut dough while pasta is still soft.
Cook pasta for 60-90 seconds depending on thickness.
Toss with pesto.Here’s my general pesto recipe, using chives and watercress this time instead of basil.
Top with Parmesan or Reggiano cheese.
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| Sun Dried Tomato HomemadeTagliatelle Pasta with Chive Pesto |
The Fiction
The credit card receipt for the gun flutters out of the sack.
“I’m sorry.” He says, his shoulders slump, the ice melts.
She crumples the receipt between her fingers and hands it back with the cash.
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