Xesla Research Organisation

This is a really simple easy to digest pasta. There’s only a handful of ingredients and it tastes great. I’m a big fan of making my own pasta, and if you remember the simple rule of 100g flour to 1 egg, you can’t go wrong!

Basic Pasta Recipe

This is super easy and quick to make, you can skip the resting period and roll it out straight away and it still tastes better than most store bought pasta. 100g flour to 1 egg per person is the simple rule to follow, make sure you use type 00 or strong flour ( high gluten content ) but can use normal flour at a stretch. If you like really yellow pasta use 2 egg yolks per 100g of flour.

• 300g Type 00 flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks

This is a quick pasta, so we’re going to use the food processor to get it cracking. Put your ingredients in and pulse the food processor until the mix looks a bit like bread crumbs.

Dump it into a heavy mixing bowl, or onto the bench top and knead it together until it creates a nice silky dough. If you need a bit more liquid you can add a touch of water or olive oil. I used plain flour so it didn’t go as silky as it should. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refridgerate for 30 minutes.

When I roll pasta, I always do it in batches, usually about a person’s worth at a time, so in this case I did three batches. First flatten the dough out with your hands, or a rolling in, then roll it through your pasta machine at the widest settings. Fold it in half, and roll through again. I usually do this a good four or five times, helps get a really good texture to the dough, especially if it’s not strong flour.

Now turn down the machine, rolling the dough each time ( usually I do increments of two sizes on my machine, so 7, 5, 3, 1 ). Flour it every second rolling or so to stop it from sticking.

Once it’s nice and thin, run it through the cutting section, I like it wide, so I use the appropriate section. I don’t cut my pasta lengths, but you can if you don’t like it super long.

Once cut, sprinkle with flour and lightly toss the pasta to coat it well, without sticking it together

Bacon Lettuce & Tomato Pasta

• 8 rashers of short cut bacon, or 4 whole rashers
• a punnet of cherry tomatoes
• a good bunch of rocket
• Splash of red wine

Cook the bacon and cut into strips. Cut tomatoes in half, and wash lettuce.

Cook your pasta, reserving about a cup of the pasta water. Pour this into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add a splash of red wine and your tomatoes. Reduce this down, stirring constantly until tomatoes are mushy. Add in the bacon and stir.

Stir the pasta through the tomato mix

Turn off the heat and add the rocket and stir. Serve immediately, ideally the rocket won’t be fully wilted at serving time. Season to taste and top with freshly grated parmesan.