Fresh Pasta and a KitchenAid Giveaway

Homemade pasta is like nothing else. Have you made your own pasta yet? If you haven’t you are totally missing out. It is more work for certain but it is an entirely different creature then the packaged stuff. Yes, even the fresh packaged stuff.

I am lucky enough to have access to one of KitchenAid‘s pasta attachments which is a pasta roller and cutter with none of the manual cranking effort. Plus the hidden advantage is that it takes up way less room then a traditional pasta maker. Assuming of course you have the mixer to begin with! Scroll down for a giveaway!

Putting it all together is super simple. I used the base recipe which can be found at the bottom. I would follow the recipe in the book for your first time… but let me show you how easy it is. Or better yet, how about I supervise and photograph while my lovely assistant does all the work? Yes, excellent.

First, throw it all in the mixer with the paddle attachment.

A dough will form.

Cover the dough with saran wrap and let it mellow in the fridge, for say 20 minutes… Get your pasta maker ready!

Give it a few kneads by hand, for good measure. Shall we all admire my lovely assistants watch?

Break it up. The roller is great, but it can’t handle all the dough at once. We divided in four.

Now start feeding it through.

Yup, more of this… Knead it a few times on the lowest setting,

Then gradually run it through on each setting. It will get progressively thinner and thinner.

And voila.
We have sheets of pasta.

Now it is time for the fettuccine cutter…

Isn’t it beautiful? I took like 10 pictures of the noodles. Don’t worry you are spared.

And now in precious little bundles for the freezer. Not arranged by me, lets be serious, that was all done by my lovely assistant L.

Giveaway Time!

KitchenAid was kind enough to send me an extra attachment and pasta kit to review. Well, I decided to turn around and give it away instead! Here is what this kit contains: All-Metal Pasta Roller, All-Metal Fettuccine Cutter, Pasta Server and Slotted Spoon, Ecco La Pasta Egg Pasta Flour, Ecco La Pasta Spinach Pasta Flour and a Cleaning Brush

There are two ways to enter this contest:
1. Comment on this post and tell me your favorite pasta dish!
2. If you have a blog, link back to this post and tell your readers. Email me at dailyunadventures at gmail dot com and I will enter you again!

I will keep the contest open until May 20th! Happy playing!

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention I made pesto to toss with the noodles? After all the effort of making your own noodles, you want to show them up, not disguise them. Simple sauces are the way to go. I made a beautiful and simple pesto which turned out quite well (we bought almonds at costco be prepared for lots of almonds).

Another favorite of mine is Marcella’s Lemon Cream sauce. Divine.

Almond, Spinach and Cilantro Pesto

1 bunch of cilantro
2 handfuls almonds
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper
3 handfuls raw baby spinach
1 tablespoon grated parmesan
olive oil and water as desired

Basic Egg Noodle Pasta

4 large eggs
1 tablespoon water
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour