Cook like an Italian Mama

Hi everyone! I’m sorry I’ve been slacking a little with the recipes lately. Let’s just say life has been a little crazy these days and Steve and I are about to go on a mini vacation to celebrate our one-year anniversary (!!!) I can’t believe it’s already been a year.  Even with as crazy as things can get, I always love taking the time to cook a fantastic dinner for my husband and enjoying it outside in the warm summer nights.

One of my go-to recipes for a fairly easy, truly fantastic dinner is homemade pasta.  I whip out my pasta attachment, open a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Semolina flour, crack a couple of farm fresh eggs and in no time I’ll have a plate of fresh pasta on the table. Making pasta can also be therapeutic if you are one of those crazy people (like me) that likes to spend an entire Sunday making pasta ball after pasta ball while you sing to Ray LaMontagne that is probably a little too loud for a Sunday but who cares…after working out some pasta dough and singing your heart you’ll feel like you’re an authentic Italian mama in the heart of Italy.

If you’re wondering whether homemade pasta is worth the effort, the difference between fresh homemade pasta and dried store bought pasta is night and day.  The flavor is rich and the texture is a combination of melt in your mouth deliciousness with a touch of chewiness to give your teeth something to sink into. And homemade pasta is easier than that you think to make and I will guarantee it will be a showstopper at your next dinner party.

If you have a Kitchen-aid, I highly recommend buying the pasta attachment. It’s a bit of an investment but it is worth every penny. If you don’t have an attachment, there are several stand-alone rollers on the market that will work just as well. Scour your local Craigslist, or Home Goods to see if you can get a smokin’ deal on one.

I like to make a couple of batches of pasta at once and then freeze what we don’t eat. That way on a weeknight when you’ve been working in the yard until 8 o’ clock, you can quickly throw together a fast, no-fuss dinner.


Pasta Dough
Prep time: 5 minutes, Rest time: 30 minutes, Roll time: 10 minutes, Cook time: 3 minutes

1 1/2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Semolina Flour (in the organic section of the market but not expensive)
3 eggs (2 if you live where there is some humidity)
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil
Large pinch of kosher salt

1. Add flour to your mixing bowl. Wisk the eggs, water, oil and salt and add to the flour.

2. Use the blade attachment and mix until the dough comes together and forms a ball of sorts.

3. Take the ball of dough and work it on a floured surface for about 10 – 15 minutes. You want to stretch and fold the dough until you have a beautiful yellow ball. Wrap it in a towel and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

4. Cut dough into fourths and slowly work it through your pasta roller until you get the dough pretty thin. (The Kitchen Aid attachment will have lots of direction.) You’ll probably need to cut it after a couple of rounds of rolling – it’s gets really long! Once you have your desired thickness you can either hand cut it or attach the cutter attachment.

5. Cooking: Boil water, add a generous amount of salt, cook for about 3 minutes (over cooking will give you gummy pasta) and serve with this.