Pasta: Fresh Pasta The Mother of Cool Things

Now, for the piece de resistance. Fresh pasta. Few things will so quickly increase a man's stock than whipping up a quick batch of fresh tagliatelli. The necessary ingredients can be found in nearly every kitchen, just waiting to be fondled by a skilled set of hands. And fondle them, you will.

But first things first. Take off your suit jacket and roll up your sleeves. Things can get messy. You'll probably want a good apron. Any apron will do; a white cotton chef's half apron, a canvas full apron with Michelangelo's David on it, the frilly pink thing hanging on the hook in the pantry; It doesn't matter, the goal is to keep your pants clean. A man who wears an apron proudly radiates self confidence.

Although the basic ingredients can be found in any kitchen, you'll do yourself a favor by always using the freshest available. If you're making the pasta away from your own kitchen, travel with your own salt and olive oil, just in case.

Below, I'll give provide an easy, good and basic recipe. But be aware that there are as many recipes for pasta as there are Italians. Some prefer special flours like semolina, 00, or durum wheat flour. But regular unbleached flour works well, too.

• One cup of flour makes more than enough for two people. Double this accordingly.


• A few eggs, the fresher the better. About two eggs per cup of flour.
  

• You'll need salt, but don't use standard table salt. Look for a nice sea salt or kosher salt.
  

• You'll need, as always, a nice bottle of extra virgin olive oil.


• A rolling pin, or in a pinch, a wine bottle.

That's it. Here we go. Find a fairly large flat working surface. Wood and marble countertops are especially nice. Make a mound using the appropriate amount of flour near the center of the workspace. Make another pile of flour farther away (this flour will be incorporated as needed and used for dusting). Hollow out a well in the center of your main flour pile. This is a good time to mention that you'll want a nice dish towel flung over your shoulder while you do this. Why? Because it looks good, and you'll know where to dry your hands after you wash them, which the first few times you make pasta, you'll probably be doing often.

For each cup of flour you're using, crack one egg into the flour well. (I'll assume one cup of flour and one egg.) Crack the second egg but add only the yolk. One cool way to do this is to pour the egg white into one shell half, while keeping the yolk in the other. An easier but messier way is to do this with your hands, letting the white slip through your fingers. Add the yolk to the well. If you've gotten your hands messy, wash them now with soap and water. You'll know where to dry them. (One note: Never touch anything with a part of your hand that has egg on it until you've washed them in soap and water. This is important for safety, but more importantly, it is the mark of a professional).

Using a fork, scramble the eggs together in the well. Take care not to disturb the integrity of the flour well or things will get messier than necessary. Add 1/2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil per cup of flour to the well and continue whisking with the fork. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt per cup of flour and integrate. Begin gradually integrating a little flour at a time from the mound into the well. Continue whisking until all of the flour has been integrated. Add a few tablespoons of water if more liquid is needed to reach the proper consitency (this all depends on issues like humidity and altitude). The goal here is not to touch the dough until it is stable enough to form a ball, otherwise it will stick to your hands, making the process much messier and more difficult than neccesary. Incorporate more flour if needed to stabilize the consistency. Use a pasta scraper if you have one, the fork if you don't.

Eventually you will have a ball of pasta. The first few attempts will inevitably be messy. Don't worry about that. That's why you have an apron. Now, knead the ball vigorously for at least ten minutes until it is smooth and elastic. An old Italian proverb has it that pasta is not properly kneaded until the lower back begins to sweat.

After it is kneaded, roll it into a flat oval (with a rolling pin or wine bottle) and cover with a dish towel for one hour. This hour is critical to let the dough relax. This will help you roll it more thinly. Come back in an hour.

Welcome back. If you are making a small batch, the next process can be completed in one step. If you are making a larger batch, you'll want to divide the dough into managable smaller batches, depending on your rolling space. Roll out the dough. To do this, you'll want to have a clean, dry, and well floured work space. Flour both sides of the dough. Flour the rolling pin. Flour your hands. Roll the dough thin. Flip over and roll again. Continue doing this until the dough is very thin. Proverb has it that you should be able to read a letter that's under the pasta. When it is thinly rolled you are ready to cut the noodle shapes. If you have a pasta wheel (a seratated pizza cutter thing) you can cut rows of rectagles and pinch the centers together to make farfalle.

With just a knife you can make tagliatelli, fettucine or maltagliate, as well as many others. Be creative. Here's what you do. Flour the dough. Fold in both sides of the pasta sheet so that the meet in the center, then repeat once more. Now using a good sharp chef's knife, slice the sheet into the desired width of noodles. Slide the back edge of the knife underneath the strips of pasta and lift, causing the folds to unfurl. According to the proverb, they should unfurl like a head of long, blonde, wavy hair.

If your cutting was a bit haphazard then refer to your noodles as maltagliati, meaning badly cut.

If you wish, you can hang the noodles to dry and cook them later, or you can cook them immediately. If you cook them immediately (and why not?) the cooking process is the same, but the fresh noodles cook much faster, since they are already soft. For that same reason, you won't be able to taste them to test for doneness. You'll know the pasta is done when it floats to the top of the water. This can happen in a matter of minutes. Strain lightly and toss with sauce immediately. Pazientia e buon appetito!