Home Made Classic Italian Pasta and Sauce

RECIPE

We have put together a simple Pasta and Sauce recipe for you to try at home! Using very little ingredients, you can recreate that classic Italian meal in your own home!
Sauce Recipe Courtesy of The Whisk And Pickle – Wood Fired Kitchen

Basic tomato sauce for pasta:

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic
1/2-1 tsp of dried chilli flakes
2 teaspoons of dried oregano
2 x 400 g tins of plum tomatoes (best you can afford)
1 tbsp of red wine or balsamic vinegar
1 large handful of fresh basil
Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

• Peel and finely chop the garlic, then gently fry in the olive oil. Add the chilli flakes, oregano and tomatoes.
• Mix gently, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 45 mins to an 1 hour.
• Add the vinegar, mix and mash up the tomatoes with the back of your spoon.
• Roughly chop the basil, then add to the pan.
• Season well to taste with salt and black pepper, and finish with 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin oil

For the Pasta:

Pasta has become one of the hot commodities in the UK over the last few weeks, with shop shelves across the country bare of fusilli, spaghetti and macaroni alike. To beat the shortage, why not make your own fresh pasta at home? You might be surprised at how few ingredients it takes. If you don’t have a pasta machine, don’t worry! We’ve provided instructions for both with a machine and without. *Recipe taken from ITC travel group magazine

Serves 6

Ingredients:
600g white everyday flour
6 medium eggs
½ tsp fine salt

Instructions:

• Sift the flour onto a clean work surface or into a large bowl.
• Make a well in the middle and break in the eggs and beat together. Add the salt.
• Note – if you’ve got a food processor you can use that to make the dough and keep your hands a bit cleaner!
• Add the mixture as above and pulse it together until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Using the handle of a wooden spoon or your fingers, mix the flour into the eggs from the middle outwards.
• Once you’ve mixed for awhile and you’ve got a crumbly textured dough in front of you, bring it together with your hands into a rough ball.
• Knead until you’ve got a soft dough – after a few minutes (depending on how much elbow grease you put in!) you should end up with a smooth rather than rough and floury dough.
• Wrap your dough in cling film or beeswax wraps and rest it in the fridge for up to an hour.

Rolling with a pasta machine:

• Make sure your pasta machine is properly set up as per manufacturer’s instructions
• Take your dough out of the fridge and cut into sections. Make sure to keep the rest of the dough covered while you work so it doesn’t dry out.
• Dust your work surface with ‘00’ flour and press out your dough so it’s flat.
• Set your pasta machine to its widest setting and feed the dough through – dust with a little flour if it sticks.
• Turn the machine down a setting and repeat. Then, fold the pasta in half and roll it through again.
• You’ll need to do this five or six times until it’s smooth.
• Work down through all the settings of your machine, dusting the dough lightly as needed.

Rolling pasta by hand:

• Take your dough out of the fridge and cut into sections. Make sure to keep the rest of the dough covered while you work so it doesn’t dry out.
• Dust your work surface and a rolling pin with ‘00’ flour and press out your dough so it’s flat.
• You’ll need to roll the dough very thin to make your pasta the right texture – it should be thin enough for you to see the shape of your hand through it.

Shaping pasta:

• Once you’ve got your sheet of thin pasta dough, it’s up to you how to shape it!
• Cut long strips for tagliatelle, cut circles and pinch together for farfalle, cut longer rectangles for lasagne sheets, or use your imagination and whatever cutters you have to hand!
• Fresh pasta will dry out quickly, so make sure to cut it and cook it immediately. You can use a damp tea towel as a cover