Noodle making

Pasta machine shown with a batch of spaghetti.

We always like trying new things when it comes to cooking and baking. Back in August of last year we had a dinner party featuring Thai food. Information was posted at our blog on August 18 at the site listed below.

One thing our daughter tried then was making rice noodles. They were not hard but took a little time. So one present we got her for her birthday this year was a pasta machine.

To find pasta recipes she looked online. A website she found that has many good recipes for pasta is bobsredmill.com. She has tried several but the one that is the easiest and is fast becoming our favorite is Bob’s basic pasta recipe. This recipe is more flavorful than basic store bought pasta.

Ingredients are:

1 1/2 cups semolina flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 eggs or 3 egg whites, beaten

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine semolina and salt, add beaten eggs (or egg whites), water and oil. Mix to make a stiff dough. Knead 10 minutes or until dough is elastic. Wrap dough in towel or place in plastic bag and let rest for 20 minutes. Roll out to desired thickness on a lightly floured surface and cut as desired.

Bring a large pot of water containing 1/2 teaspoon olive oil to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender (approximately 3 to 5 minutes). When making lasagna, no need to boil noodles. Add directly to your recipe.

We found this recipe works up fast. We only kneed the dough until it all sticks together, much less than the suggested 10 minutes. When rolling it out it is more elastic and easier to work with than others we have tried so far.

Also when we want to make the noodles ahead of time we just hang them to dry after cutting them. Our wooden clothes drying rack works as a pasta drier also. We just cover the dowels with plastic wrap before placing the noodles on it to dry.
To use the pasta machine the dough is rolled out flat and then fed through the machine starting at the thickest setting, then decreasing down to the desired thickness. The final time through is to cut the noodles into the desired width.

Our favorite way to eat them is to melt about a fourth cup margarine and add one teaspoon dried herb leaves such as basil, oregano, savory, tarragon or thyme and one teaspoon lemon juice. After the noodles are cooked and drained, just poor the herb sauce over them and serve.

Other ways to serve noodles is with a spaghetti sauce, pesto sauce or white sauce. The white sauce can be changed to a cheese or curry sauce. We found ideas for sauces in our Betty Crocker Cookbook but other general cookbooks will have similar ideas.
For us it is worth it to get a better tasting product even if it takes a little more time than ready made ones from the store. We welcome readers to share their favorite recipes and cooking experiences with us at the email address listed below.