Before you balk at the thought of making fresh noodles in your own kitchen, take note: There's no need to struggle with machine attachments or spend hours feeding dough through them. At its most pure, pasta is a humble, rustic dish. (How else to explain the fact that most of these recipes call for just three or four ingredients?) With basic tools you already own—a colander, a knife, your child's thumb—you can make fantastic-tasting (if not perfectly uniform) noodles. And because they're fresh, they need only a dollop of butter and a sprinkling of Parmesan to yield clean-plate satisfaction.
Egg Noodles
Serves 6 | 30 minutes active time | 100 minutes total
For a nutrition boost, replace one of the eggs with 1/2 cup of pureed beans or vegetables. (That's two 2-ounce jars of baby food.)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semolina flour (plus extra for the board)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, plus 4 egg yolks, beaten together
- In a large bowl, mix the flours and salt.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the eggs. Whisk them, gradually pulling in flour from the rim, until the mixture comes together. (It will be very firm; add a few drops of water if it seems crumbly.)
- Turn the dough out onto a semolina-dusted board. Work it with your hands until it's just smooth, about 5 to 10 minutes—it should spring back slightly when you poke it with your finger.
- Wrap it in plastic and let it sit for 1 hour (or refrigerate it for up to a day).
- Boil a large pot of salted water. Roll the dough out on the semolina-dusted board until it's paper-thin. Slice it into wide strips, any width you like.
- Cook the noodles in the boiling water for 1 minute past the point when they rise to the top, about 7 to 10 minutes. Drain and serve.
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