Knowing how to cook can improve your social life as well as your health. Knowing how to cook includes making good food that tastes delicious, not dumping a can of ramen noodles into a pot of boiling water or microwaving Campbell’s soup.
I cannot say I have mastered cooking, but I continue to learn how to make delicious homemade meals. Knowing how to make homemade pasta has brought me closer to my family and friends. It is so much fun spending a night cooking with my family and bonding over a delicious meal we made together. When I’ve had friends over we have occasionally made pasta together. I show them how to use the machine and they get the pleasure of making their own meal. It is truly an enjoyable and unique activity.
Friends and family will appreciate your meals and if you are single, knowing how to cook might help get you a date! Dinner time is a perfect time to bond with family, so why not bond over a delicious healthy meal?
Being able to cook for yourself also makes you independent and prevents you from spending more money. Going out to dinner every night can be very expensive, you need to pay for a prepared meal as well as tip your waitress or waiter. Knowing how to cook for yourself saves time, money and it makes your more independent.
By making homemade pasta you are sure to impress your guests. The food tastes great, you put in the time and effort and you know what is in your food!
After all this talk on how to make homemade pasta, what ingredients to use and how to make it healthy, I have come to my ultimate conclusion for this entire blog, THE IMPORTANCE OF PASTA.
Pasta makes us happy! It is present in many different dishes from cultures all over the world. It provides us with necessary whole grains and energy from complex carbohydrates. Pasta is the base of thousands of dishes. With the right sauce and ingredients it can be savory, spicy, sweet, salty or any taste you can imagine.
Pasta is my favorite food because it is in numerous dishes, including Italian dishes which bring me closer to my heritage. Making homemade pasta provides me with a creative outlet and it keeps me healthy.
Ask yourself what pasta can do for you and what you can do WITH pasta.
For more information on the importance of pasta for your health, here is a credible article from The Food Journal and Food, Nutrition & Science.
Now that you have your ingredients, kitchen-aid pasta maker and ravioli cutter you need to decide what you want to stuff into your ravioli.
Some delicious stuffings include ricotta cheese, mozzarella, goat cheese, spinach, beef and lobster if you’re feeling fancy.
Just like with your other pasta, use the Semolina Flour Egg Past recipe, unless you decide to make whole wheat pasta.
For a healthy and basic vegetarian dish I recommend stuffing your ravioli with ricotta cheese. Here is a great homemade ricotta recipe from Food Network’s Ina Garten.
Once you have made your pasta and have put it through the Pasta Roller, take out your Norpro Ravioli Maker.
If this is your first time using the ravioli maker follow these directions on how to use it from my last post.
Fill each ravioli valley with about two teaspoons of ricotta.
Make sure to glaze the pasta with egg whites, so when you attach the top layer of pasta the layers stick together.
Align the top layer of pasta above the bottom.
Take your roller and roll over your Norpro.
*In my experience I had a difficult time getting the Norpro to cut the ravioli. Make sure you press hard when rolling.*
When the Pasta is pressed enough with the roller, the serrated edges should cut through the pasta. Then you should be able to peal off the left over scrapes of dough and push out your ravioli squares.
Cook the ravioli in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, then Bon Appetite!
You know how to make pasta of different shapes and sizes, you know how to make your perfect sauce, now you can control the taste and healthiness of your pasta. If you’re looking to eat healthier, maybe you should try this super healthy homemade recipe from all recipes. This is whole wheat pasta that’s delicious and healthy! Instead of using Johnsonville’s ground meat, buy organic meat from your friendly neighborhood Whole Foods. Whole Foods’ beef has no GMOs and is overall healthier than other name brands.
As a kid, whenever my mother told me she was going to Whole Foods I would go with her without complaints. Whole Foods always has an abundance of organic products, from soaps to clothes to all of their food products. Although Whole Foods can be pricey, their products are worth it. It can be expensive only shopping at Whole Foods, which is why I recommend you also buy a portion of your groceries from other stores such as Trader Joe’s, Costco/BJ’s, Market Fair, Publix, your local market or even Stop & Shop. Make sure you always read the ingredients and look for the organic label. If you read a very long list of ingredients with words you can’t pronounce, that’s probably a sign that the product isn’t organic. Look out for 365 products from Whole Foods.
When you get to your preferred macaroni length cut the pasta off with the swipe blade.
When I first made macaroni with the pasta press I had a very difficult time. The noodles would sometimes stick together on the blade before I could pull them off. Make sure you use plenty of flour and I recommend having macaroni at least an inch long.
Now that you know how to make your pasta dough and use your Kitchen Aid, you have to decide what type of pasta you want to make. There are many different shapes and sizes you can make with pasta. Some pastas are better with specific sauces than other pastas. There is a reason macaroni and cheese is made with macaroni instead of spaghetti, and Penne Alla Vodka is made with penne. Together we will address the best dishes to make with each pasta.
With the Kitchen Aid Pasta Press you can make any type of pasta you’d like. The Kitchen Aid Pasta Press kit includes the six different pasta shapes, spaghetti, bucatini, fusilli, rigatoni, small macaroni and large macaroni.
When making a thick or meaty sauce such as Bolognese, it is best to use penne pasta. The hollow noodles hold onto the meat sauce, while fettuccine leaves the sauce behind. Do you every wonder why no one ever makes Spaghetti Alla Vodka? Penne al Vodka, my mom’s favorite, is full of onions, cream, ham/pancetta and chopped tomatoes. My mom’s favorite penne al a vodka recipe comes from the 2001 Special Anniversary issue of Gourmet magazine. She has used this recipe for the past decade and has received countless compliments from friends and family.
This is a unique recipe that will be passed down through generations.
My father’s favorite pasta dish is Pasta Puttanesca. Pasta Puttanesca includes capers, olives, garlic, anchovies and tomatoes. I recommend using penne or fusilli. The cork screw pasta holds all the sauce and its ingredients.
Similarly to The Pasta Roller, The Pasta Press is also a Kitchen Aid product and can be purchased at a kitchenware retailer or here on Amazon.
You have the option to make pasta from the six different pasta rings: fusili, rigatoni, bucatini, spaghetti, large and small macaroni. Refer back to the pasta recipe on my third post.
When using the pasta press, make sure to push the dough far into to machine so it can easily filter through the pasta ring.
You can chose the length you would like your pasta to be by swiping the attached blade to cut off the noodles.
The Pasta Roller is easy to use, maybe not your first time, but that’s what directions are for. I’m going to provide you with the steps for using the Pasta Roller.
When I was a young teen using the Pasta Roller for the first time, I didn’t understand the point of using the machine to roll out the dough. Although the Pasta Press doesn’t require you to roll out the dough, the Pasta Roller does. I thought, why couldn’t I just use a wooden roller? After the first couple times using the roller I realized just how much easier it was to have the Kitchen Aid attachment do the work for me. If I had spent the time rolling out the dough I would have be exhausted and the dough might have become too wide to fit into the cutter. After enough practice using the roller, I also learned how to feel the pasta. What I mean by this is when you feed the pasta sheet into the roller, with enough experience you begin to recognize what the perfect pasta texture and thickness feels like. I know just by feeling the pasta when it’s sticky and needs more flour, and when it’s too thick and needs to be rolled out. The Pasta Roller allows you to get your hands involved, but it also doesn’t work you too hard.
In order to use to Kitchen Aid Pasta Roller, you need a Kitchen-Aid Mixer. The Kitchen Aid Mixer is one of the most useful kitchen appliances, and if you like to cook, this is a necessity. Williams-Sonoma is an excellent store to get any Kitchen appliance. I will provide more information on Williams-Sonoma in my 10th post. You can also easily order it on Amazon here.
For the Pasta Roller, make sure you buy the three set attachment so you can make fettuccine or spaghetti. You can also buy this at Williams-Sonoma or here on Amazon.
The pasta roller easily attaches to the front of the kitchen aid. All you need to do is remove the small screw, pop the lid off, insert the attachment until you hear a click and twist the screw back in to secure the roller.
If in the last post “Basic Fettuccine Recipe and Spaghetti Recipe” you decided to follow my advice and use the Kitchen aid pasta roller, then you already know a thing or two about the Kitchen Aid pasta maker. In this post I will recommend the two best pasta makers to go along with your kitchen aid. If you used a friend’s or relative’s pasta machine last time I highly recommend you get your own pasta maker. If you already have your own pasta maker sit back and relax while I tell you why these are the best pasta machines.
#1 The Kitchen Aid KPRA Attachment Roller Past Set
When I started my pasta-making pastime, I started off using the 3 piece KPRA pasta roller set, found here on Amazon.
These are the reasons why this is a great product that will provide you with the best pasta that’s easy to make:
The Pasta Roller Set easily attaches to your Kitchen-Aid mixer.
It provides you with the two basic and most popular pasta cutters.
It can easily be cleaned with a wet paper towel and food brush.
It is portable and not heavy like other large pasta machines.
It slices your pasta dough for you and you don’t have to use a hand roller!
It is guaranteed to last for a very long time.
The machine was made in Italy and it receives high reviews on Amazon with 4 1/2 stars
It’s on sale for $154.99 with free shipping and it is worth it!
It is not too difficult to use
This is my favorite pasta set
#2 The Kitchen Aid Mixer Pasta Press
Kitchen Aid Pasta Press
This Kitchen Aid Pasta Roller attachment is also easy to use and it offers a wide variety of pasta shapes. You can buy it here on Amazon.
Some may find this machine easier to use because you can put the dough directly into the press without having to roll it out.
It offers six pasta rings (shape cut outs) for spaghetti, bucatini, fusilli, rigatoni, and large and small macaroni.
I love to use the pasta press to make macoroni and rigatoni, which you can’t do with the three piece pasta roller.
I personally prefer to use the pasta roller because I enjoy rolling the pasta in the machine and feeling its sheet through my fingers. I also find that it is difficult to clean the pasta press because the dough can get stuck in the press and its rings.
*If you want a machine that is less expensive, easier to clean and offers spaghetti and fettuccine, then I recommend the pasta roller.
*If you know you want to make thicker, more sophisticated pasta and a machine that offers that variety, then I recommend the press.
Both are fantastic products that will guide you to make the best pasta you can make!
Note: Look out for my next two posts where I will go into more detail on the two pasta attachments.
As a newbie pasta chef it is best to start out with a simple fettuccine recipe. Every type of pasta according to the kitchen aid recipe has the same ingredients, but there are different techniques for making each pasta noodle.
Follow this kitchen-aid recipe and be sure to use Semolina flour, mentioned in my last post, to get the best quality pasta.
Kitchen-aid pasta recipe
Fettuccine is a thin pasta noodle that is not as delicate as spaghetti, and it is not hollow like macaroni. Fettuccine is also a basic noodle that can be used in many pasta dishes. When I want a quick homemade pasta dish I make simple fettuccine with marinara sauce. You can’t go wrong with this dish!
This is how I recommend you make your own pasta with the Kitchen Aid Pasta Roller, which you can buy here:
After you kneed your dough for 2 minutes, tuck it into a ball and place it in a lightly floured bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough sit in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.
Directions:
After you have let your pasta dough rest, cut the dough ball into FOUR triangles all equal in size.
On each side of the triangle, coat the dough in flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the pasta maker.
With your hands, stretch the dough into the form of a small square.
Flatten the square dough so it is a little thicker than the pasta roller at the first notch.
Attach the pasta roller to the kitchen aid and set the notch at width 1. Make sure it is screwed in and secure.
Turn the kitchen aid mixer to the slowest speed.
Feed the square dough through the roller with your right hand and catch the flattened dough with your left hand.
Do this three times then sprinkle flour on both sides of the dough sheet to eliminate any stickiness.
Switch the roller to notch 2 and feed the dough through the roller twice.
Repeat this step for each notch up to 5.
After inserting the dough through the roller twice at notch 5, the pasta should be thin enough where you can see the shape of your fingers through the sheet of dough. The pasta should be about a quarter to half a millimeter thick and 2 ½ to 3 feet long.
Sprinkle Semolina flour on both sides of the sheet of dough and smooth the flour out over the surface of the dough. Lay the pasta gently on a long piece of wax paper.
Use a smooth knife to cut the long sheet of dough in half.
Repeat steps 2-13 for the other quarters of dough.
Use five pieces of wax paper to create layers of pasta in order to separate the dough and prevent sticking.
From your kitchen aid pasta maker kit, take out the fettuccine pasta cutter attachment.
Fettuccine Cutter
17. Attach this to your kitchen aid mixer.
18. Put each sheet of pasta through the cutter and very gently catch the strands of pasta as they fall through the bottom of the cutter.
19. Gently separate the strands of pasta with your fingers and drop them in a small bowl of flour.
20. Make sure the fettuccine strands are covered in flour, then move the fettuccine over to form a pile on the wax paper.
21. Do this until you have reached the preferred measurement of pasta for your meal.
22. Drop the fettuccine into a boiling pot of water and wait only 3 minutes until the pasta is al dente.
Spaghetti (more arduous):
When making spaghetti, be aware that the noodles are thin and delicate, and it is possible that the noodles will stick together.
*This causes the spaghetti making process to be more challenging than the process for fettuccine.
Spaghetti Cutter
After completing steps 1-15 take out the spaghetti cutter attachment.
Feed the pasta through the spaghetti cutter and gently retrieve the strands.
Immediately drop the spaghetti into the bowl of flour and gently mix the strands into the flour by pulling the pasta with the tips of your fingers.
Drop the pile of spaghetti onto the wax paper. Many of the strands will be stuck together.
Find each split end on the spaghetti strands and very delicately pull the strands apart to split the spaghetti.
This has to be done carefully to avoid breaking the spaghetti. It is okay if the spaghetti breaks before you completely seperate the strands, just continue to separate the rest of the strands.
This may take awhile depending on how much spaghetti you decide to make. To make the process easier and faster I recommend you have one other person help you separate the noodles. Also, I recommend you pull at the strands quickly, but still gently.
Spaghetti directly after cooked.Delicious spaghetti in a red sauce.
Pasta di Semolina 