This may come as a surprise, but making your own fresh pasta is a lot easier than you think! And no, you don’t need an expensive KitchenAid for the endeavor — just some semolina flour, eggs, and a rolling pin. Oh and wine, lots of wine!
I learned this first-hand when I took Bellina Alimentari’s filled pasta-making class. Check out the full process in the pics below and sign yourself up for a class! It’s super hands-on, which means you participate in every step of the process, and dinner is included — you eat what you make! Plus, you get to take home a ball of freshly made pasta dough to practice your awesome new skills the following night.
You can find the full list of upcoming classes here.
Butternut squash-stuffed ravioli with sage, walnut and brown butter:
Start with a 1:1 mixture of white and semolina flour (100g each) and 1 egg per 100g flour
After making a dome with your flour, pour the eggs into the center and begin to mix it all together (c) Andrew Thomas Lee
Mix and kneed with the palm of your hand until you have a round non-sticky ball of dough and let sit for 30 minutes
Now it's time to roll the dough out! You can use a fancy machine or a plain ole' rolling pin
If using the machine, keep running it through until the dough reaches the desired texture -- not too thick, but not too thin
You should end up with a realllllly long ribbon of dough! Now, just cut into squares with a knife
Place one square of dough ribbon onto a ravioli mold and gently press it into the cups
Stuff with your favorite filling! The chef prepared a butternut squash filling with goat cheese for us
Place a second sheet of pasta ribbon on top of the filled cups, seal with egg, and roll the pin to cut out individual ravioli
TA-DA! Homemade ravioli!
If you prefer not to use a mold, you can stuff and cut the ravioli by hand
Fresh pasta cooks very quickly, in 3-4 minutes, so start your sauce first
Buon appetito!
I meant it when I said you don't need fancy/expensive equipment to make pasta from scratch, but it does make the process easier. If you're looking for some recommendations, here are my favorite must-haves:
