farfalle pasta

yesterday i taught myself to make pasta dough right on the counter top, mixing the eggs in a little well in the center of a mound of flour. i never did it that way before because i thought it would make too much of a mess. but let's face facts: cooking everyday means living with a messy, even dirty kitchen. there are always pots and pans to be scrubbed, a splattered vent hood, a dirty oven, and flour and cornmeal settled into every nook and cranny. for now, jim and i have given up on fixing the ceiling above the stove because the heat and steam continually cause the paint to crack

. . . but there are worse things and at least we always eat well.

         actually, making pasta dough the traditional way made less of a mess than using the food processor, or just a bowl and fork because there was nothing to clean up once the dough was kneaded. i was intent on the process and didn't take photos, so maybe i'll blog about it later. anyway, my real purpose was to make hand rolled pasta sheets to cut and pinch into farfalle, or little butterflies. farfalle go well with a cream sauce like basamella. i like to serve them with a drizzle of olive oil and grated parmesan . . .

and, of course in my kitchen it makes perfect sense to eat farfalle with a spoon.

roll out a sheet of fresh pasta dough and cut it into 1" strips. cut the strips into 2" lengths with the ravioli cutter and then pinch the centers of the little ribbons together. click for homemade pasta recipe.

set a large pot of water onto a high flame and bring it to boil. sprinkle the boiling water with a little salt and drop in the farfalle. once the water comes back up to a boil, count 10-12 seconds and drain them in a colander.