Fresh Pasta
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Q: I would like to know how to make my own pasta. How long can i keep the pasta dough in the fridge?
A: We make fresh pasta at least once a week at Wickedfood cooking school and once people taste the difference they often wonder why they haven’t learn’t to make it sooner. As far as keeping it in the fridge i wouldnt keep it in its raw form for longer than 2-3days, If filling or rolling it does freeze very well for ±3 months just make sure to use enough flour to prevent them from sticking to one another. I have added the following recipe which we do in our corporate team building class and its always a hit.
Factory made pasta is made with flour and water, whereas in homemade pasta, eggs generally take the place of water, giving a much richer product. Homemade pasta keeps well so long as it is properly dried. It also freezes well. 
As a basic recipe, to make ±500g of pasta, enough for 4 standard servings, use:
300g flour
3 large eggs
1/2t salt (optional)
There are four steps to making egg dough:
1. Combining eggs and flour – Make a well in the flour, pour the liquid into the well and slowly fold the flour into the liquid until a dough is formed (add 1-2T water if the dough seems too dry and does not want to bind together, but do not add too much!!)
2. Kneading the dough – Empty the dough onto a clean work surface and knead with your hands until it is well blended. Allow the dough to rest in the fridge for ±20 minutes, wrapped in plastic.
Rolling the dough
Divide the dough into 4 equal balls. Work with one ball at a time and keep the others covered.
Sprinkle the work surface liberally with flour. Flatten the ball, and then begin to roll it out, working quickly so that it does not dry out. After each roll, give it a quarter turn and flip it, dusting with more flour if necessary (do not use too much flour, as is also tends to dry the dough).
Try and roll it into a rectangle to approximately 2mm thick.
4. Shaping – Allow the pasta to rest, covered with a tea towel on a flour-dusted surface for a few minutes before cutting it into the desired shapes – for flat pasta there are 3 basic thicknesses:
Pappardelle ±4cm wide;
Tagliatelle ±2cm wide; and
Taglierini ±1cm wide;
To cut the pasta, flour it well, fold it along its length into ±7cm sections to create a square, then cut into the desired widths.
Click here to see a great mushroom sauce to go with this fresh pasta
Q: I would like to know how to make my own pasta. How long can i keep the pasta dough in the fridge?
A: We make fresh pasta at least once a week at Wickedfood cooking school and once people taste the difference they often wonder why they haven’t learn’t to make it sooner. As far as keeping it in the fridge i wouldnt keep it in its raw form for longer than 2-3days, If filling or rolling it does freeze very well for ±3 months just make sure to use enough flour to prevent them from sticking to one another. I have added the following recipe which we do in our corporate team building class and its always a hit.
Factory made pasta is made with flour and water, whereas in homemade pasta, eggs generally take the place of water, giving a much richer product. Homemade pasta keeps well so long as it is properly dried. It also freezes well.
As a basic recipe, to make ±500g of pasta, enough for 4 standard servings, use:
300g flour
3 large eggs
1/2t salt (optional)
There are four steps to making egg dough:
1. Combining eggs and flour – Make a well in the flour, pour the liquid into the well and slowly fold the flour into the liquid until a dough is formed (add 1-2T water if the dough seems too dry and does not want to bind together, but do not add too much!!)
2. Kneading the dough – Empty the dough onto a clean work surface and knead with your hands until it is well blended. Allow the dough to rest in the fridge for ±20 minutes, wrapped in plastic.
Rolling the dough
Divide the dough into 4 equal balls. Work with one ball at a time and keep the others covered.
Sprinkle the work surface liberally with flour. Flatten the ball, and then begin to roll it out, working quickly so that it does not dry out. After each roll, give it a quarter turn and flip it, dusting with more flour if necessary (do not use too much flour, as is also tends to dry the dough).
Try and roll it into a rectangle to approximately 2mm thick.
4. Shaping – Allow the pasta to rest, covered with a tea towel on a flour-dusted surface for a few minutes before cutting it into the desired shapes – for flat pasta there are 3 basic thicknesses:
Pappardelle ±4cm wide;
Tagliatelle ±2cm wide; and
Taglierini ±1cm wide;
To cut the pasta, flour it well, fold it along its length into ±7cm sections to create a square, then cut into the desired widths.
Click here to see a great mushroom sauce to go with this fresh pasta
It is with this background that we headed to
The following day, joined by a couple that had traveled all the way from Cape Town, we started our Persian cooking class. First we were introduced to the basic spices and techniques – for instance Persians soak the rice for between 2 and 24 hours. This gives the delicate long grain of rice once cooked. Through the day we peeled, chopped and cooked, blending the delicate flavors and coaxing them in ten delicious dishes that we enjoyed for dinner.
Shahrzad and Brett Hone
2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
Mezzes (different spending to Turkish meze) are the best known aspect of the Middle Eastern cuisine, and it is in fact claimed that mezzes were invented by the Lebanese, together with alfresco dining. A typical Middle-Eastern meal will consist of a number of mezzes, served together with flat bread. At a Lebanese banquet there are often over 40 mezze dishes on offer. The main course a casual affair, with an average family of 4-6 people enjoying 3-4 dishes, placed on the table simultaneously. Should additional guests partake, more dishes are added as opposed to increasing the size of dishes. Similarly dessert also could involve several dishes.
Roughly speaking the Middle-East sweeps south from Egypt through Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and the Arabian Peninsula, through to Iran and Turkey. The majority of the people speak Arabic and share a common heritage. While parts of the Middle-East are largely desert, elsewhere it is a fertile basin. The first great influence on the regions food came Persian Empire between 550 BC–330 BC. This was followed by the expansion of the Greek and Roman empires and then the spread of Islam from Arabia.
Being at the crossroads between east and west, spices play an important role in the region’s cuisine. The most commonly used spices are:
