How to make Fresh Egg Pasta (Step-by-Step Recipe) + Orecchiette, the easy way

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“Life is a combination of magic and pasta.”  Federico Fellini

..and I wanted to make some of my own pasta for a really long time, though a box of dried penne, spaghetti or farfalle is a beloved staple in my pantry. I love them so much that every time I watch a food or travel-based show based on Italy, I imagine myself rolling out a sheet of dough and making long pasta ribbons out of it. Such was my craziness!

After reading quite a few blog posts on the internet and flipping through Mark Bittman's book - How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cover to cover, last weekend I ventured into the kitchen to make atleast two kinds of fresh pasta. By the end of the day I was super thrilled with the fantastic results. Here I am sharing the first batch of pasta I made - Orecchiette, the easy way.

Enjoy!

..the nib of the piping bag used for making orecchiette..

{Step by Step Recipe} How to make Fresh Egg Pasta

Serves 4-5

Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

Preparation:

1. On a flat surface, combine flour and salt. Make a well in the center and break both the eggs into it along with olive oil. 

2. With a fork, slowly beat the eggs and gradually incorporate the flour, a little at a time. The egg mixture must be completed absorbed into it. When it becomes too hard to stir with the fork, we start using our hands.

3.  Knead the dough (for atleast 10 to 15 minutes), pushing it against the surface and folding it repeatedly until it is not at all sticky and has become stiff. Add small amount of flour during the kneading process, only if you absolutely need it. 

4. Sprinkle the dough with little flour and cover with a plastic wrap or cloth. Let it rest for 30 minutes before attempting to roll out. 

Note: If you are not ready to make pasta yet, you may refrigerate the dough tightly wrapped in plastic, for up to 24 hours.

5. Cut the dough into 2 halves and start rolling out one half into thin sheets. 

6. Instead of making orecchiette the traditional way, I took an easy way out here. Using the nib of a piping bag, I made concentric circles on the rolled pasta sheet and pressed lightly in the middle to shape them into small dome shaped ears. Sprinkle some flour on the orecchiette so that they don't stick to each other. 

Notes:

1. At this point you can store the fresh pasta into an air tight container and refrigerate for 2 to 3 days. 

2. For an eggless pasta, use 1 tbsp softened butter for every 1 cup of flour + water (as needed) instead of eggs to knead the flour into a smooth dough. 

3. To simplify the kneading process, use a food processor and the end result (acc to Bittman) is the nearly the same.

Now, are you all curious about what did I make out this fresh pasta? I tossed it in an amazingly simple pasta sauce from Cynthia's book - Tastes Like Home. That recipe will be posted tomorrow. Stay tuned.

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This is Recipe 34 added to my The 100 Recipe Challenge for Year 2013. Check out the rest of the recipes too.

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