This past Christmas, my boyfriend got me a book called The Geometry of Pasta by Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kennedy (here's their site). It's a really clever little book that teaches you the fundamentals of pasta, as well as the history behind each different pasta shape, from agnolotti to ziti. For a food nerd, it's fascinating stuff. So since my friend Emily was coming over for dinner, I decided it would be fun to try making our own pasta. I chose one of the simplest handmade pastas in the whole book: trofie (TRAW-fee-ay). It's a short, sort of torpedo-shaped pasta made from a really simple dough. The whole process is fun, straightforward, and yields really yummy results. Mix this fresh homemade pasta with some pesto, and that is one delicious meal. There's just nothing like fresh pasta.Ingredients:
Semolina flour (#1 durum wheat is best--I used Bob's Red Mill brand)
Water
All purpose flour, for dusting
Equipment:
Wooden cutting board
Food scale
Stockpot
Directions:
1. To make the dough, weigh out 1/3 pound of the semolina flour. If you don't have a scale, I'd say 1/3 pound is just over 3/4 cup. This will make enough pasta for one hungry person or two moderately hungry people.
2. Pour the semolina on your wooden board (or any clean surface, though wood is better) and make a well in the middle of it, thusly:
3. Add 5 tablespoons of room temperature water into the well and pile the flour on top of it to mix together. Keep adding water, tablespoon by tablespoon, until all the flour is incorporated and the dough reaches the correct consistency. According to the authors of The Geometry of Pasta, "The texture of the dough should be soft enough to work (like a stress ball), but dry enough that it won't stick to itself too easily. A good way to test it is to press and smear the dough against a dry wooden surface--if it is easy to do, the pasta doesn't stick to the wood, and the top surface tears and roughens against your hand, the texture is right."
4. Once your dough passes the above test, knead it for a few minutes, cover it with a towel, and leave it to rest for 15 minutes (hint: while you're waiting, this is a good time to make pesto).
5. Now it's pasta-shaping time! Here's a helpful video to get you started. After the dough has rested, break off an egg-sized chunk of it and start to roll it into a thin log shape, just like you were working with Play-Doh.
Once the log is about the width of your pinkie finger (or a 1/2 inch), use a butter knife to cut off short pieces less than an inch in length. They should look like little pillows. Continue until the rest of the dough is used up.
6. Once all your little pillows are cut, throw a little all purpose flour into their midst and dust them around in it, so they don't stick to one another.
7. This is the part where you roll them into a trofie shape. Dust your hands with flour. Take one pillow and hold it right at the bottom of your palm.
Using your other hand, start with the tips of your fingers and, keeping both hands flat but pressed firmly together, slide your top hand down quickly. You might have to rub your palms together more than once to make the right shape (this is where the video is really helpful).
8. Once all your trofie shapes are made, spread them out flat and let them dry slightly for 20 minutes.
9. Bring a pot of heavily salted water to boil (2 teaspoons of salt per quart of water). Once the 20 minutes are up, throw your trofie in the water and cook them for 5 minutes, or until al dente.
10. Drain, toss with some olive oil and pesto, top with parm, and enjoy!
This is a super-simple way to make your own homemade pasta. You can really taste the difference when it's fresh. Once you get the shaping part down, this recipe is a piece of cake!
