Pasta la Vista

So, I've long wanted to try making pasta.

Make pasta? But aren't you...?

Hush.

As I say, I've long wanted to try it, and I even had a friend give me her manual pasta maker (without instructions). And I've seen it done many times on cooking shows. But handling the long sheets of dough as I used the maker really looked like it would exceed my limited dexterity. My intimidation on this point and my ignorance on the operation of my machine kept my machine hidden away for months.

When my awesome friend Karen mentioned making her own pasta, I was inspired sufficiently to find brand and model on my machine and do a web search for a manual. It turns out to be very common and I found a number of how-tos. I also learned that I was missing a clamp, but Karen (AKA The Pasta Muse) pointed out that I could probably buy one online: three ays later, I had a clamp in my hands.

It was time for the dough-y experiment. I found and made a recipe for a really simple pasta, set up a machine, and got to work.

Technically, and that's the only way that mattered, it was a success. The dough had less tendency to stick to itself than I feared, especially since I dusted it with flour often. The machine was easy to use, and I soon had what I'd describe as thin fettuccini.

Taste-wise, it was something less than a total success.  I think my skill in cooking fresh pasta needs work, and I think I'll look at different recipes. Finally, since I like pasta to have some body, I won't make it so thin next time.

But, as is often the case when I'm doing something really new to me, this was more about proof-of-concept than dinner, and I'm delighted with the result.