Its not hard to make pasta. Real, fresh, homemade pasta. All it takes is five simple ingredients and some muscle. This should take about 40-50 minutes total, for the whole dish. It takes a bit of time to get the gluten going, so lets cut the palaver and get to it.
For the pasta, you will need:
- 1/2 cup unbleached flour
- 1/2 cup semolina flour, or superfine semolina
- 2 or so tablespoons olive oil (assume extra virgin, unless otherwise noted)
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- a cup of water
For the sauce:
- two handfuls of cherry tomatoes (I also used some romas that needed to be used)
- 2 or 3 scallions
- some olive oil
- some dried oregano
- a sprig of rosemary
- 1/2 a lemon (use a real fucking lemon, please)
- a cup or so of Marsala
- kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper
You’ll also need:
- a fork
- a sharp knife
- a measuring cup
- a small bowl
- a medium mixing bowl
- sexy muscles
- a rolling pin or pasta machine
- a large (stainless steel) pan
- a large pot and cover
- a colander
Combine the flour into the bowl. Crack the egg into small bowl, breaking the egg with a fork. Mix in the olive oil and a touch of water-about a tablespoon or so. Then combine the liquids with the flour, using the fork to bring everything together. Once most of the clumps have combined, use your hands to get everything together into a singular mass. Add a touch of water if too crumbly; a dash of flour if too sticky. Continue kneading in the bowl till better combined. Then take it out and knead on a flat work surface. Work the dough until the edges don’t break off as much and it stays together. It will firm up and become more elastic and cohesive. Use the pin to flatten it out into a long sheet, about 1mm thick (1/32 of an inch). If you’re using the machine start it at the thickest setting, reducing it each time. This whole process further develops the gluten, so if you’re using a pin, you might want to knead a bit more by hand. Once you’ve got a sheet of dough, cut strips with your knife or set your machine to do it. For tagliatelle, you want about 1cm strips. Don’t worry about extraneous bits, they’ll all go in the pot.
Before your pasta is cut, get a pot of water large enough to contain it-generally, 6-8 quarts of water per pound of pasta. Also, per 6-8 quarts, season with about 2-3 tablespoons salt. I use kosher or coarse sea salt. Cover and boil. Toss in the pasta and cook
for several minutes, about 3-5, checking by tasting. Your pasta should be firm, still soft but not soggy.
While the water was boiling, you can make the sauce. Coat a sauté pan with olive oil and set to high heat. Halve the tomatoes and add to the pan once the oil is hot. You’ll know it is hot enough if the oil sizzles. If you’re not certain, try one half first to test the heat. Generally, hot olive oil is as viscous as water, cool oil is much slower to move in a pan. Hot oil also smokes, but avoid this, as it kills all the flavor and nutrients in the oil. Chop and add the scallions. A pinch of salt. Don’t stir or move the pan. Let the heat wrinkle the tomatoes and add some color – the scallions will start to caramelize too. Give the pan a quick forward-and-back jolt to loosen any stuck bits, to keep things from burning. Add some oregano, removing any stalks. I rub it between my palms, over the pan, to release any oils. Rip off the leaves from the rosemary by pinching and pulling the stalk between your thumb and forefinger. Give a good toss to mix everything together.
Drain the pasta in a colander and dump it into the pan, with the tomato party. Coat all the pasta in the sauce and mix in about half of the Marsala. Let it simmer for awhile until the alcohol is burned off and the liquid absorbed or evaporated. Remove from the stove and pour into a serving dish. Use the remainder of the Marsala to deglaze the pan. Deglazing simply removes all the bits of burnt schmootz from the pan – this is where all the flavor is! Reduce till the alcohol has burned off and all the bits of veg and pasta are free. Then, pour over the pasta. Finish by squeezing lemon on top. Jam a fork in there and wiggle to get all the goodness out.
I like it served as is, but you can finish it with a nice hard, aged cheese, coarsely grated, a small pad of butter, or a drizzle of olive oil. Grind some pepper on top, and serve three of your best mates. It should also be noted that this is entirely vegetarian – there’s only one egg keeping it from being vegan. But egg substitutes are an entirely different post altogether!