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Thursday, September 1, 2011

Homemade Noodles

Hey all!  Sorry it's been so long, just wanted to throw a quick post up here about my homemade noodle making experience. 

I had a friend and his girlfriend coming over to help with some yard work since my husband is away and I have two jobs and no time to do yard work.  I know this sounds like it's turning into an episode of Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa, when she cooks for her "friends..." (And why is she never barefoot?) And what is a contessa?))

So I asked him what his favorite meal was and he told me "chicken Alfredo." Blech, I thought to myself.  My years as a vegetarian had forced me to eat crappy Alfredo at just about every other sit-down restaurant I went to.  Often it was basically a watered down roux over top some stale noodles.  Even in my tour of Italy, I was more excited about the pizza and coffee than the pasta dishes.  If I'm eating pasta it should be drenched in cheese....that's just how I feel, I'm a Cornish girl from Wisconsin, what do you want from me?

I had just been to the store, with a plan to make homemade mac n cheese (that's what I'm talkin' about), so I had the basic ingredients, except fettuccine noodles and chicken.  I decided to  make the noodles.  I considered making the chicken, but butchering living animals isn't really my style.  I headed to the store for a few staple ingredients and came home and printed off Kelsey's Essentials (name is a coincidence) fresh pasta recipe, and went to town.  I like it, I like playing with dough, but as my sister-in-law says "yeast freaks me out."  So, I was able to play with dough and not pull a huge disappointment out of the oven!  I made three different flavors/colors: original, spinach, and tomato.   I let it dry overnight and then  I cooked up a garlic Alfredo sauce and added some garden fresh tomatoes and served it up.  I think they liked it (here I go talking about my "friends" again.)  The noodles were very chewy compared to store-bought noodles, I let them cook for quite awhile to reduce the chewiness.  Let me know if you have questions!  Enjoy the pics.  My kitchen, much like my life, is under construction, so don't judge. 

The farm fresh eggs turn the dough, a nice yellow color.

My kitchen is very dark and mysterious (now re-read it with a cheesy vampire voice, and you will understand my sense of humor, or lack of, you choose)

Spinach dough ball makes green pasta noodles.

This was supposed to be red, but the more red I added the more flour I had to add.  So it turned out to be a sun-dried tomatoish color, which I'm fine with, thanks for asking. 

Creepy dark kitchen (you did it on your own this time didn't you?)

Let it rest 20 minutes and then roll that business out.  The directions say to cut it out with a knife, but why would I ever do that when I have a pizza cutter.  And yes, that is a bondo scraper in the background.  You can buy them in a fancy kitchen store, or you can get one at NAPA for like 25 cents or something.  I found mine in the garage and yes, I sanitized it.  Thoroughly. 


Then I hung the pasta strips on a clothes rack.  Yes, I am also drying a shirt at the same time.  Again, with the whole judging thing??? I'm multi-tasking because I'm awesome - alright?  Some of the strips I had rolled too thin and fell onto the floor, which is why you can also see my dog in this image. 

This is what it looked like after I cooked it and drenched it in sauce.  Boom!

4 comments:

  1. That looks amazing Kelsey! You write so well, I love reading your blogs :-)

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  2. Thanks Poeatery! Did you notice I linked your page?

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  3. Yum! I wish I would have asked for a sample.

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  4. Don't worry Mommy. Trevor has requested I make it again, and I have quite a few homemade noodles left. I will let you sample next time.

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