Pasta dough: basic recipe with egg
Ingredients (for about 600 g of pasta)
- 500 g flour type 405
- 3 whole eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 pinch of salt
Important!
All ingredients should be at room temperature when making.
preparation
- Put the dough in a clean bowl, then put it on a clean work surface, make a knot and make a hole in the middle (called the flour fountain – fontana di farina).
- Add salt to the well and then beat the eggs. Have a bowl of warm water ready to wet your hands if the dough doesn’t come together towards the end of the kneading process.
- Start by breaking out the yolks with the fingertips of one hand and moving your fingers in a circular motion, gradually mix in the flour until the mixture forms a ball. Now fold the ball of dough, then fold the top half, turn the dough slightly, fold again and fold the top half down. Repeat this process for about 10 minutes, until the dough is elastic, but still very stiff and hard to work with. If necessary, wet your hands while kneading. Then roll the dough into two balls and wrap them in two wet towels. Leave at room temperature for 1 hour. After the resting time, roll out the dough (just start with one ball, keep the second one in the cloth) to a thickness of about 1 cm so that it can be easily rolled in the pasta machine.
- If you don’t have a pasta machine, you should roll out the dough to the thickness of the back of a knife (a normal knife blade), i.e. about 1.5 mm. Then make it into wide noodles (papardelle), long narrow noodles (fettucine) or slightly shorter and slightly wider tagliatelle. To do this, roll out the dough and then cut pieces of the desired width from the roll. If you open these discs again, you have cut the pasta in an amazing way.
- The dough can also be used for filled pastries of all shapes and sizes. This slightly bulky dough is particularly suitable for this because, unlike particularly elastic dough, it does not spring back after being rolled out, which often causes the edges of the filled pasta to become too thick.
- There are many different ways to fill noodles. The easiest way is to use a mold or a glass to cut round discs about 8 cm in diameter. Then you can add the filling to one half and fold the other half on top. This is how moon-shaped ravioli are made. Or you can put the filling in the middle of the dough sheet and put the second one on top. Then the ravioli are made around. Here’s the basic rule: With filled macarons, always tuck the edges well so that they are as thin where the dough doubles as the rest. This prevents the edges from drying out after baking. The finished ravioli can be stored fresh or covered with a lot of wheat semolina and stored on a tray or in a cool place. This ravioli keeps fresh for up to three days.
- Almost anything that is not too thin and as small as possible is suitable for filling. The classics are: spinach and ricotta, dried eggplant and basil, basil pesto and ricotta, potato and taleggio, potato and black truffle, corn and carrot, corn and feta, chanterelles and parsley, green asparagus and parmesan, pudding and black marjoram, chicken and lemon, roast beef chops, Parma ham and rocket, game ragout and more. Vegetable filling is always mixed with ricotta for better binding.
Pasta dough: basic recipe without eggs
Ingredients (for about 600 g of pasta)
- 430 g durum wheat semolina (Semola di grano duro)
- 170 ml of water
- 1 pinch of salt
preparation
- Place the durum wheat semolina in a pyramid shape on a work surface. Make a well in the middle and slowly pour the water into the semolina with a ladle.
- Knead the dough with your hands (or in a food processor) until everything comes together. If the dough is too stiff, water should be added drop by drop (actually drop by drop) until the dough is nice and elastic, but no longer sticky.
- Make a ball, wrap in cling film and leave for 30 minutes. Then roll the dough (with a pasta machine or rolling pin) into the desired shape or cut it out for filled pastries.
- Also important: Never leave the long macaroni dough out in the air, otherwise it will quickly become brittle!
Spaghetti al lime
Ingredients for 4 people)
- 400 grams of spaghetti
- 1 1/2 lemon wedge –
- zest of 1/2 lemon (for garnish)
- lemon juice
- 150 ml of the best olive oil
- 150 g parmesan, grated
- 2 handfuls basil leaves, chopped
- A few basil leaves (for garnish)
- Season with salt and black pepper
- 1 cup of pasta water
preparation
- Cook spaghetti according to package directions in plenty of salted water until al dente. At the same time, whisk together the lemon juice, parmesan and olive oil. salt and pepper. Separate some of the pasta water in a bowl, drain the spaghetti, set aside briefly and then mix with the lemon, olive oil and parmesan until all the pasta is coated in a creamy emulsion. If the sauce is too thick, you can adjust the consistency with the reserved pasta water. Finally, add the lemon zest and basil and season again with salt and pepper.
- Garnish with a lemon wedge and whole basil leaves and serve immediately.
Rigatoni with Gorgonzola, baby spinach, pears and walnuts
Ingredients (for 4-6 people, depending on whether as a main course or as a starter)
- Package of 500g Rigatoni
- 250 g Gorgonzola, at least partially peeled and sliced
- 2-3 ripe pears (eg Williams), cut into small cubes
- 100 g of coconut pieces
- 2 handfuls of young spinach (baby spinach), washed and dried
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 0.25 l of cream
- 0.5 l of chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 1-2 pints of salt
- 1 pinch of ground black pepper
- basil as garnish
first offer
A simple dish that is quick to prepare and still tastes good. So it is ideal, for example, when unexpected guests are announced.
Pasta making tips
- Always add salt to the water when it boils.
- The ready cooked pasta – it should still have a little bit of it, i.e. be “al dente” – do not under any circumstances wash with water after draining. The water will wash away the starch that has formed during cooking. This makes the surface very smooth and the sauce cannot stick to the noodles.
preparation
- Cook the noodles according to the instructions above. While this is happening, prepare all the ingredients according to the list and add the chicken broth. When it has reduced to about 75%, add the cream and reduce the heat so that the liquid just simmers.
- Melt the gorgonzola in the hot sauce. Season with salt and pepper. When the lentils are cooked, drain and return to the oven.
- Add butter, spinach, pears with coconut slices, lemon and gorgonzola sauce to the hot pasta and mix everything well.
- Immediately spread on pasta plates, garnish with basil and serve.
Fettuccine, mussels and chorizo
Ingredients for 4 people)
- 800 grams of mussels
- 200 grams of fettuccine
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 spring onions, chopped
- 8 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 100 g chorizo, cut into slightly thicker slices and then cut into strips
- 5 tablespoons of olive oil
- 150 ml of white wine
- 1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
- Salt
- black pepper
- semi-light oil
- 1 cup of pasta water
preparation
- Place the mussels in cold water and rinse well. Separate and discard the opened mussels.
- Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and fry the garlic and mussels for about 2 minutes on high heat. Deglaze with white wine and cook covered for another 3 minutes. Put the cooked mussels in a pan and collect the liquid. Separate and discard any mussels that are still closed. Then remove the shells from the mussels and heat them up.
- Heat the remaining olive oil in a large pan and fry the chorizo until thick. Add cherry onions and spring onions and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the mussel stock and add the mussels to the pan with the parsley and oil. Bring everything back to a boil, season with salt and pepper and heat through.
- Meanwhile, cook the fettuccine al dente. Drain, reserving some of the cooking water. Put the bees in the pan and stir well. If the soup is quickly absorbed by the pasta, extend it with some of the pasta water you’ve saved.
- Taste again and reheat.
Spaghetti carbonara
Ingredients for 4 people)
- 500 g spaghetti or otherwise spaghettini (= very thin)
- 200 g guanciale (pork bacon) or pancetta, sliced or thinly sliced
- 3 yellow
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 1-2 pints of salt
- 1 pinch of ground black pepper
- Salt for pasta water
- About 8 tablespoons grated parmesan
- 1 cup of pasta water
preparation
- Cook the noodles according to the instructions above. While this is happening, prepare all the ingredients according to the list. Bake the cubed food in a pan to get some color.
- Then wipe off a few sheets of kitchen paper. Mix the egg yolks, about half of the parmesan and the spices and heat very gently. Really just allow it to warm up a bit, otherwise the mass will harden! After the pasta is done, drain, reserving some of the pasta water.
- Mix the pasta with the sauce, ham and butter and gradually add some of the pasta water until it reaches a nice creamy consistency. Sprinkle with the remaining grated Parmesan and serve immediately.
- You can change the recipe, for example, with chopped rosemary or chives or half a chopped pepper.
