Confession: I went to buy some groceries yesterday, but before entering the supermarket, I popped into the little shop that sells brewing supplies and lots of interesting bits and pieces. I thought I would just ask if they had a pasta machine and see how much it cost (you know, reconnaissance for future purchase). I almost walked out of the shop without it, but it kept calling me back - so I lashed out and bought it.
It is an Imperia pasta machine that makes lasagne, fettucine and tagliatelli. You can also get other attachments to do gnocchi (but I generally make these by hand) and one for ravioli, as well as a motor attachment. I wanted a hand worked one, so I don't think the motor is on future shopping lists, but the ravioli maker looks pretty good and could be in danger.
The reason I bought a pasta machine is that we mostly don't eat wheat (my darling man and I both seem to react to it if we eat too much). Consequently, we buy gluten-free pasta. These pastas tend to be very refined and I would prefer we eat whole-grain pasta, hence the machine.
Of course, as soon as I got home, we had to make some fresh pasta. The kids joined in and had a good time. They even made meatballs to go with it. Here's our raw fettucine before we cooked it.For our first attempt we used a 50/50 mix of Orgran gluten-free all purpose flour and FG Roberts gluten-free plain flour. We added the eggs as instructed (plus one more) and a little water. It all held together during cooking and was truly delicious. In the future, I'm going to try buckwheat and oatmeal and such like, but for the first attempt we thought it best to stick with a fairly refined flour. The end result was very yummy and definitely superior to shop-bought pasta. I'm now dreaming of canneloni and lasagne and wonton wraps, etc, etc.
love and light
naturewitch
