Homemade Pasta

I love food, but I am no expert in the kitchen. I attribute my novice cooking skills to lack of experience, cutting weight for rowing, and a serious aversion to handling raw meat. That being said, there are a [small] handful of special dishes that I'm comfortable making. One of these dishes is homemade pasta.

Having not grown up in an Italian family, the idea of making pasta from scratch seemed incredibly daunting. However, as I learned from my friend Luca, making pasta really only requires a bit of patience and a lot of practice.

Step 1. Choose a dough recipe

I'm not sure if this step should even be considered a step, but since it might not be obvious, the ingredients in pasta are very simple: flour and eggs. Most recently, I tried this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, and was pleased with the results. As far as flour goes, it would be best to get '00' flour. I found mine at a gourmet food and drink store, but it's also possible to order online. All-purpose flour will work fine if you can't find '00'.

Step 2. Create a "pasta nest"
I'm sure there are mixers and attachments and gadgets to mix the flour and eggs, but I use the "pasta nest" method. It works pretty much how it sounds: you create a "nest" of flour and carefully crack the eggs into the center of it. Then, working slowly, you use your hands to incorporate flour into the eggs. This is where patience is critical; move too quickly, and you will wind up with a whole in your nest and eggs all over your kitchen floor. Keep swirling flour into the egg mixture until you can bring the remaining flour into the egg and flour mixture without creating a disaster.

Step 3. Knead.
Knead and knead and knead some more.* I hate kneading, but the pasta is worth it. Then wrap the dough in two layers of plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour.
*I kneaded the dough for 15-20 minutes.

Step 4.  Time for the Pasta Maker
Once you have let your dough rest, it's time to turn it into pasta. I use something similar to this pasta maker, but there are a lot of options out there. Aside from kneading, this is the most time consuming part for someone who didn't grow up with it. I run it through the widest setting a couple of times before moving it down to the smaller ones. Don't get discouraged if the dough jams and you need to start over. While I'm sure messing with the dough too much can make it stiff, I don't think you'll be able to taste the difference. After you have the dough very thin, you can use the attachments to create the cut of pasta desired. Since my pasta maker is from the States, it says that it makes fettuccine or spaghetti. This is probably definitely supposed to be tagliatelle, and either tagliolini or pappardelle. Spaghetti is a cylinder shaped pasta, and these are all flat.

Step 5. Let it dry
My aunt recently gave me a pasta drying rack, and after using it, I would recommend it. The first time I made pasta alone, I struggled finding places in the kitchen to let it dry properly. This saved a lot of time and hassle.

Step 6.  Buon appetito!
This pasta will take a lot less time to cook than the store bought option, so keep a close eye on it. There are a lot of different sauces that you can use. I used a sauce that Luca makes with carrots, onions, ground beef, italian sausage, and tomato sauce. Just whatever you do, don't ruin it by using alfredo ;]

Golden Harvest

Growing up, it was all my mom could do to get me to eat breakfast before school. I was not into eating cereal or oatmeal or toast at 6:30 in the morning, so in middle school my mom and I finally settled on Carnation Instant Breakfast as a compromise. When I joined the rowing team as a college freshman, I quickly became a breakfast fan. Our team would take over a section of one of the dorm's cafeterias and pile our trays full with omelettes, bagels, fruit and smoothies while talking loudly about boat lineups, upcoming regattas, and crew gossip. In hindsight, I'm sure we looked like a crazy cult to the "normal students" who had just stumbled out of bed in search of coffee to get them through their 8ams.

What was I thinking??

Entering the "real world" has put an end to such elaborate breakfasts during the week, however it has made me appreciate and look forward to breakfast and brunch on the weekend that much more. Last weekend, my friend Kate and I decided to try Golden Harvest, a popular local breakfast joint in Lansing's Old Town. We were both Golden Harvest newbies, but thankfully friends who had been there before advised us to get there early, as the line gets long quickly. We got there over half an hour before the restaurant opened, and we still weren't the first ones in line! But thankfully close enough to the front to ensure that we got a table when the door opened a few minutes after 8.

We were greeted with dubstep music and steaming hot coffee the minute we walked inside. There are only a half a dozen tables in the restaurant, so smaller parties, like Kate and I, are asked to share a table. And by asked, I mean told. Golden Harvest is unapologetic about their rules and their vibe, which was one of the reasons I liked it so much. The place screams eclectic, from the building's exterior to the decor on the walls to the food served. In order to maximize our first Golden Harvest experience, Kate and I decided to order two dishes to share. We settled on two of their daily specials: Stella's raspberry pancakes/waffles and a BLT omelette. They did not disappoint, and were both well worth getting up at 6am on a Sunday. I'm sure we'll be back again soon.