Xesla Research Organisation

Fettucini with Fresh Vegetables

Pasta is not something many people make fresh for themselves. A terrible shame as far as I’m concerned. Home made pasta will always taste better than any supermarket brand pasta and probably cost less too. A pasta machine can be purchased for as little as $25. Of course pasta takes about an hour from start to finish to make, but only really half of that is hands on and kneading dough is incredibly soothing after a hard days work.

Fresh pasta only takes a couple of minutes to cook and is brilliant with just a few fresh vegetables. You don’t need any thick cream or rich tomato based sauces.

Fresh Pasta

• 200g type 00 flour ( bread flour or all purpose flour would be fine )
• 2 eggs ( or 1 egg, and 2 egg yolks )

Make a mound of flour on your bench and use the bottom of a bowl to create a hollow center. Crack the eggs into the hollow and stir it with a fork slowly incorporating some of the flour. Try not to collapse the edge of the flour until the egg/flour mix is thick enough to not run all over the bench.

Soon the dough should come together enough to knead. Knead it for up to 20 minutes, the more strength you put into the kneading the less time it needs. It’s ready when the dough is smooth and elastic. At this stage cover it in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

When the dough is rested set up the pasta machine and set it to the thickest setting. Roll the dough through it a few times folding it in half each time. This will help finish off the kneading and make sure the pasta is smooth.

Roll the dough halfway through the machine and then join the two ends together and crank the machine. This makes the rest of the rolling process super easy as you just need to crank the handle and hold out the other end of the loop, even easier if you have two people. Flour the dough inside the loop and the bench under it. This should help ensure the dough doesn’t stick together if it touches.

Crank the machine and after every second full revolution of the dough loop take the thickness down a notch until it’s your desired thickness ( I usually go down to the second thinnest setting ). Cut the loop and flour the dough well.

Roll the dough through the cutter wheel into a floured container. Once the pasta is cut and ready use your finger tips to gently cover the pasta with flour without sticking it together.

Put this to the side and bring a large pot of water to the boil with a decent shake of salt in it.

While the water is coming to a boil prepare the vegetable ‘sauce’.

Vegetable Sauce

• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 chopped clove garlic
• 1 chopped tomato
• 1 sliced green capsicum
• 6 mushrooms
• 1 dried chilli
• 1 bay leaf
• a small head of broccoli cut into small florets
• glass of white wine
• crumbled fetta cheese
• grated parmesan cheese

Add a splash of olive oil to a hot pan, saute off the onion and garlic until softened. Then add in the tomato and saute for a few moments then add the white wine. When the wine comes to the boil add in the rest of the ingredients and some salt and pepper to taste. Turn down the temperature and cook for about 5 minutes.

By now your pasta water should be boiling, add in the pasta and cook for about 2 minutes. Test the pasta, it should have just a little bit of bite to it, but not taste raw.

Remove the chilli and bay leaf and then transfer the pasta into the pan with the sauce along with half a cup or so of the pasta water. The flour in the water will help thicken the sauce slightly. Add some fetta and parmesan cheese and cook over low heat for a few more minutes.

Tip the contents of the pan into a large bowl and toss it well. Serve onto large plates with some fresh cracked pepper and parmesan.

Tags: pasta