Though making your own pasta takes a little bit of time, it's well worth the taste! Just 3 ingredients and an hours spare time and you'll have a dish which is highly fulfilling and tastes fantastic.
Serves 4-6
Tagliatelle: Takes 33 minutes (30 prep, 3 cook)
Ravioli: Takes 48 minutes (45 prep, 3 cook) + stuffing prep time
1 cup (200g) of semolina flour
1 cup (150g) of wholegrain flour
1 cup (250ml) of water
1 tbsp of olive oil
In a food processor, blend together the semolina flour with the wholegrain flour until they are well combined.
Run the food processor and slowly add the 2/3 cup of water to the mix, a trickle at a time. The dough should begin to form a clumped crumb mix.
Remove the food processor from power and press the dough to see how it holds. The dough shouldn't be wet, but should form together nicely. Press some of the dough between thumb and forefinger, and if you can compress it to around 0.5mm thick and it's still pliable, it should be ready.
Split in two and let the dough rest for 10 minutes in a mixing bowl under a damp cloth so it doesn't dry out.
On a well floured surface, start rolling out the dough with a floured rolling pin. Keep rolling the dough out, adding flour when necessary, and flipping every few minutes. Keep rolling and turning until the dough is under a mm thick, while trying to maintain a rectangular shape.
For tagliatelle:
Using a pizza cutter (or a blunt knife) cut the dough into strips of a width of your choice. I tend to go for +/-1cm. Don't be too cautious about getting perfectly straight strips.
Store the strips on a pasta drier, or if you don't have one you can use the handles of wooden spoons by putting a counterweight on the spoon end over the edge of the counter.
Roll out the rest of the dough as before and follow the same instructions.
Set a large pan of water to boil on maximum heat, with a pinch of oil and the olive oil. When the water is boiling, add the tagliatelle and cook for 2.5-3 minutes, using a pair of wooden pincers to stir it and keep it separated.
Carefully drain the pasta in a sieve and serve straight away.
For ravioli:
NOTE: If the dough tears, wet the tear lightly with water and try and press it back together.
Cut the rolled dough into a rectangular shape, without removing too much dough from the edge. Set aside the surplus dough.
Cut the dough into squares of about 10cm, stack them in pairs and set them aside under a slightly damp cloth. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
Slightly fill a glass with water and set out 3 pairs of pasta squares. Put a teaspoon of the filling of your choice on three squares, and using your finger wet the border of each square about 1cm deep.
Place the matching square of pasta atop the piece with the filling and using your knuckle, press heavily on the border to seal the pasta parcels. Be careful not to pull the dough and make sure to keep as much air as possible out of the parcels.
Carefully pick up each parcel and make sure it is completely sealed, pressing hard between thumb and forefinger to seal further.
The border of each parcel should be no more than 1mm thick.
Set the parcels aside ready to cook and repeat with the remaining cut squares.
If you want to reuse the surplus dough cut from the edges, release the rolling out process, using minimal flour, and follow the same steps to fill the parcels.
If you are not cooking the parcels right away, make sure they're not at all damp and store them in a sealed container in the fridge.
If you want to cook them straight away, set a large pan of water to boil on maximum heat, with a pinch of oil and the olive oil. When the water is boiling, add the parcels and cook for 2.5-3 minutes, using a pair of wooden spoon to stir them and keep them separated.
Carefully drain the pasta in a sieve and serve straight away.