Making the most of your pasta machine
I'm sure many of you must have a pasta machine? Well, I'd like to know what you make with it? If you've got one that's been sitting in the back of a cupboard for a while, maybe it's time to dust it off and crank that wheel again!
I haven't had mine long, but have already made some pretty good lasagne sheets (which are obviously the easy thing to make) and tried to make some ravioli, which wasn't so successful. I think I just tried to make too many, with too much filling!
The only tip I do have, with a big thanks to Jamie O, is to use a ratio of 100g flour:1 egg. If you want a yellower pasta, then use 2 eggs.
When you first start to roll the pasta, put it through 3-4 times on the thickest setting, then knock it down a notch for each roll after.
How you manage to crank the wheel, feed in the pasta and catch it at the other end is also a big mystery to me.
Tips on how you like to dry out or store your pasta would also be useful. I've tried the "sticking wooden spoons out of drawers and hanging the pasta from them" technique, but this is too inviting for a CAT ATTACK, which makes a lot of mess, despite the cat having fun. grrrr.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by andy hunting on -
Funnily enough a pasta machine is gonna be my next purchase, I have tried making pasta without a machine, and just rolled it as thin as possible with a rolling pin, and although edible was not the most successful of my cooking projects.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Hall on -
They're pretty cheap to buy, and a lot of fun to use. It would be good to know how to get the most out of it though!
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Permalink Reply by Alan Lupton on -
I'm about to buy one too for (home) Come Dine With Me - I'll be looking at this when I come to try and roll my pastas. I'm going for Casoncelli's - which are like untidy ravioli's, so I might just get away with it.
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Permalink Reply by Maria Robertson on -
I used to use a broom (later on I bought a wooden pole) laid over two chairs and then a couple of tea towels over the broom and then laid the tagliatelli over the tea towels until it was dry. There again there was no cat attack threat!
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Permalink Reply by The Ordinary Cook on -
We got one at Christmas and have used it lots of times since, my girls love helping and eating the end result. Although trying to successfully roll it with the help of a 3 and a 5 year old means I am pretty frazzled at the end of it all. It's not a job I can manage on my own though, and it's best when its just me and the old chap with a glass of wine - that helps a lot! We had success with our ravioli, which I was very surprised at - I was expecting it to burst, and it tasted delicious too. However, I cannot work out how best to dry the pasta without it all sticking together. I have a cat, a dog and 2 children so I am thinking that broomsticks and spoon handles are just not going to work. I think I will have to invest in a pasta dryer. I was watching Antonio Carluccio cooling making pasta on Grigson the other day and he was liberally flouring it to stop it sticking so I am going to try to be as unfrazzled as he was and give it a go next time - but I am not expecting miracles. He suggests that you can't dry egg pasta as the egg will spoil so the best way of storing it is to freeze it, assuming of course it isn't all stuck together!
I now have my KitchenAid (yipppeeee), so next Christmas I am hoping for the pasta attachment, that looks fab, (also demonstrated by Carluccio on Grigson) and very easy with no awkward holding, turning and grabbing procedures... Ah well, we'll see.
Kath
Here are our adventures with pasta:
http://theordinarycook.co.uk/2010/02/15/goats-cheese-ravioli-with-p...
http://theordinarycook.co.uk/2010/01/13/making-our-own-pasta/
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Permalink Reply by Wendy Kendall on -
I got one and the first thing I attempted to do was ravioli... which was an utter disaster! Obviously I was trying to do too much, too soon.
Then I tried again, making simple papardelle strips. It really was easy to do - so easy that the last time I made it I had a two year old and a ten year old helping me. Well worth having a pasta machine in my view.
The dough is quick and easy to make, the taste is far superior... and when I try ravioli again I won't overfill them and I will pinch the edges shut!
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Permalink Reply by Matt Hall on
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Haha! Yeah, my first attempt at ravioli wasn't a huge success either, for similar reasons! Mine blew up like balloons!
Second attempt, the pasta was pretty good - this was down to wetting the area around the filling, before laying a second sheet on top, then using a cupped hand to push the air out and seal it down. The filling wasn't right though.
Next time I shall work on putting as much filling in as possible (so the pasta/filling ratio is right) and making sure those edges are sealed and all the air is pushed out.
Still, it's a nice challenge, and as you say it tastes so much better!
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Permalink Reply by Michele Young on -
I don't own a pasta machine -though I would like to save up for one to use on my Kitchen Aid. When I make pasta by hand (lasagne sheets and tagliatelle so far) I've had very little success of drying the pasta. One recipe suggested storing the tagliatelle in the fridge on some paper towel in a zip lock bag, it said it would keep 'fresh' for up to 3 days when stored this way. They lied! My wonderful pasta started turning grey by that evening. I've found now its best to use it straight away.
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Permalink Reply by Rob at EAT PICTURES on -
just two simple tips from me
1. only use proper "OO" flour
2. make sure you kneed and feed the dough through the machine enough times for it to become really silky smooth before cutting final shapes/ribbons
by way of illustration for this thread
some shots I took of a pasta maker in action:
EAT PICTURES
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Permalink Reply by Matt Hall on
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wow, great photos. I didn't consider having the pasta machine on the end of a bench either, but can see why that would help!
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Permalink Reply by Kate the Bake on -
Matt,
I am more inclined to freeze fresh pasta than dry it and store it dried. But you can dry pasta by hanging it over the rungs of an oven rack placed on the top position of your oven. Prop the door partly open to ensure there is air flow and then just leave it overnight. Obviously the length of your pasta is limited by the height of your oven but it works well and outsmarts the cat too!
For tagliatelle, I make it into little nests (as you would buy it) and place them on a baking cooling rack so there is airflow all around it. It takes longer to dry this way, but you can turn the nests over regularly to speed it up. Again you could put this rack in the oven if the cat is still inquisitive.
I suppose you could actually turn the oven (very, very low) on if you wanted to speed up the drying process but I haven't ever tried that.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Lupton on
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I know this is off at a tangent a little - but does it matter greatly what type of pasta machine I buy? I need to get one, they all seem to look much the same to me, but are some better than others?
Thanks.
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