Homemade Pasta

Don't you love it when you go to a wonderful Italian restaurant that serves fresh made pasta? I know I do and while I have spent years working on perfecting the various sauces that go on top of the pasta, it took some time for me to consider taking on the daunting task of making the actual pasta.

At first I started looking at fancy pasta making machines on line.  You know the kind where you put in all the ingredients and the machine works some sort of magic and spits out perfectly mixed and cut pasta.  Sounds fabulous right?  Well the reviews on these machines tell a different story.

About two years ago my husband gave me the Marcato Atlas Wellness 150 Pasta Maker. Working with this machine is a dream, although you wouldn't think so when you first see it.  One look at this machine and it seems like there is going to be a lot of work involved in making the pasta. It doesn't even make the dough!  That's okay, your food processor will make the dough.

Give it a try. It may not convert you from boxed pasta on busy weeknights; but set a side an hour on a lazy day to put it together, and you'll know the time was well spent.

Homemade Pasta

3/4 cups flour

3/4 cups semolina flour

3 eggs

1/2 tablespoon Kosher salt

olive oil

water

To make the pasta, put the two types of flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor with the chopping blade. Mix, adding one egg at a time until all eggs are incorporated.  Add about 1/2 teaspoon of each of olive oil and water, continuing to mix until a dough ball forms, adding a bit more olive oil and water as necessary, the ball should be pliable but not wet. If the dough is too wet add a little flour.

Divide the ball into 2 smaller balls and cover with a damp paper towel to keep dough from drying out.  Working with one ball at a time and using a pasta roller such as the Atlas Marcato set on "0", send the dough through the machine a dozen or so times until the dough has a silky texture  Store the sheet on a piece of parchment paper while you work on the other balls.  Once you have turned the two balls into two thick sheets of pasta, let the sheets rest about 10 minutes, covered with parchment paper.

After the pasta has rested, cut each sheet in half and working one piece at a time send them through the pasta roller set at "2" and then each level up to "6". Once the sheet is rolled through a "6," dust with a touch of flour then send the sheet through the cutting blade.  The basic Marcato comes with a blade that cuts pasta into spaghetti or fettuccini.   One cut, hang the pasta strips on a drying rack.  You can cook immediately, or dry it on the rack for an hour or so then place the dried pasta in zip lock bag and into the refrigerator to be used within three days.

Cook the pasta just as you would boxed pasta, just remember it doesn't need as much cooking time 2-4 minutes should do it.

Vietnamese Style Stir-fried Shrimp with Green Beans

I love Vietnamese food, although around here the selection is very limited.  We have a number of good places to choose from, but it's mostly Pho and grilled shrimp or chicken or whatever over rice or vermicelli.  Oh and don't forget the spring and summer rolls!  The first time I decided to make a bun dish at home I was amazed at the ingredients in the sauce that is used widely in Vietnamese food.  It's a combo of fish sauce, garlic, lime juice, and sugar, depending on the recipe there may be chilis or carrots added to it.  Thus I purchased my first of many bottles of fish sauce, something that on it's own still seems quite, well yucky.

This dish and many other fabulous dishes rely on this yucky fish sauce, which when incorporated gives a flavoring that cannot be duplicated. I do a lot of stir-fry in our house.  Basically it's a great way to make a fast flavorful dish with good veggies incorporated.  The problem is, I do same basic stir-fry over and over.  Oh yes, I change the meat the selection of veggies, but I basically use the same seasonings.  What I like about this dish is the flavor that the fish sauce and oyster sauce give to it.  It's not my regular stir fry.

Vietnamese Style Stir-fried Shrimp with Green Beans

1 cup jasmine rice
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 1/4 lbs extra large shrimp, peeled and deveinded
3 tablespoon avocado oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 jalapenos, chopped (keep seeds for more heat, discard for less heat)
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/3 cup basil leaves cut into ribbons
juice of 1 lime

Put the jasmine rice and 2 cups water in rice cooker, set to cook.

Combine the corn starch and water and and stir until the corn starch is dissolved.  Pour over the shrimp, toss and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat.  Add the onions and jalapeno, stir fry for about 30 seconds then add the garlic for another 10 seconds.   Add the shrimp and green beans, stir fry until the shrimp begin to turn pink about 4-5 minutes.  Add the fish sauce, oyster sauce and broth, cook and stir until the shrimp is cooked.  Add the bell pepper, basil and lime juice stir and then remove from heat.

Serve over jasmine rice.