Make pasta

by | Mar 19, 2020 | In the kitchen

Make pasta if you can…if your heart will allow…if anxiety levels are high or low or somewhere in between. Make pasta if the choice is there and you feel ok and the worries now with you are not too high. Or make it because you are indeed very anxious and wondering if things will be ok or will they get worse… You are not sure of all these things. Will the banks be kind, will they try and help or will they let us sink? Will those with extraordinary wealth use their power to empower or will they leach it all out? If your heart is strong enough and you are floating still, maybe making pasta will act as a meditative pill.

The finished product. Tagliatelle made from various flours.

Pappardelle: large style tagliatelle. The dough was stretched on a pasta maker and then the sheet was cut using a pasta roller.

All the pasta I make I dry in baskets. I used to dry by hanging it but was always unhappy with the slowness of this process and the amount of pasta that broke onto the floor.
Lasagna sheets. These were made on a pasta machine. Nettle leaves were added during the process. I will show you how in the photos below.
Tagliatelle are added to this basket as each batch is made.
Pappardelle once more with nettle leaves.
Cappelletti are one of my favourite.
A range of shapes filled with various flavourings.
Can you see the purple blue speckled colour from corn flowers.
These were made using a chopstick. Pinch a really tiny piece of dough , the size of the end of your little finger. And then roll the dough with a chop stick until it curls and meets.
This is what pasta dough looks like. Silky smooth. The yellow colour is due to the use of durum semolina.
Nettle pattern.
Made using a circular pasta cutter that can be purchased at most kitchen stores. Various edible flours were used to produce the colours you see, such as calendula, corn flours and nettle leaves.
A new shape I had never tried before called sacchetti.
We filled the sachetti with calendula petals.
From the start. We mixed flour and whole eggs. The proportion: to 400g of flour add 200ml of eggs or water.
Squish together and mix very well.
Mix and knead until the flour and water create a dough.
Now work on a bench top and keep kneading until the dough is very smooth and silky.
Now allow it to rest for 30mins. Place it in a bowl and cover the bowl with a plate. Break the cling wrap habit which creates enourmous amounts of waste.
If you have a pasta machine use it to turn the dough into sheets.
Those sheets can be cut into squares or circles to form various shapes. In spring and summer use simple fillings like edible flours.
Meet and press together.
Beautiful.
Nettles and mallow.
Fold and press and then feed through the pasta maker .
Calendula.
Fold and feed through pasta machine.

Read More Articles

8 Comments

  1. Isabel Mettler
    Isabel Mettler on March 19, 2020 at 9:04 pm

    Oh Mara. How lovely and meditative. Now where to buy flour 😆.

    Xxx

    Reply
    • Mara
      Mara on March 20, 2020 at 3:16 pm

      Maybe you can try John at Red Beard in Trenthan, he sells flour…is this possible for you?

      Reply
  2. Bronwen
    Bronwen on March 20, 2020 at 10:03 am

    fabulous!

    Reply
    • Mara
      Mara on March 20, 2020 at 3:15 pm

      Thank you Bronwen! What are you up to in your world?

      Reply
  3. Heidi Wenk
    Heidi Wenk on March 21, 2020 at 8:47 am

    Just gloriously beautiful…thank you for sharing. Do you have a preferred flour that you use? Take care – Heidi

    Reply
    • Mara
      Mara on March 31, 2020 at 6:34 am

      Hello Heidi! I usually use whatever flour I have …such as my bread bakers flour which at the moment is Wholegrain Milling Cos lightly sifted flour…you can get away with any flour if you are making lasagna sheets or tagliatelle but if you want to make pasta shapes filled with something delicious then durum semolina holds it shape the best when stretched and worked in various filled pasta shapes.

      Reply
  4. Nardia
    Nardia on March 25, 2020 at 6:59 am

    Beautiful photos Mara. You are so calming at this stressful time. I think I will go &make some pasta while listening to Italian Opera.

    Reply
    • Mara
      Mara on March 31, 2020 at 6:30 am

      Thank you Nardia!

      Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *