Pasta please

Andy was in chef mode again at the weekend.  An avid follower of "Saturday Kitchen", his culinary creativity rose to the fore when he watched Angela Hartnett prepare a spicy seafood pasta.  As fresh pasta is so easy to make, without further ado, the pasta maker was out and the linguine made before you could say “mama mia”.  The deliciously spicy sauce of garlic, seafood and white wine was made in a matter of minutes so we were soon sitting back and enjoying a glass of chilled wine with our pasta and wilted spinach and dreaming of Italy and sunshine

Pasta dough

• 300g/10½oz Italian ‘00’ flour
• 3 free-range eggs
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• pinch salt

Spicy Seafood Sauce

• 4 tsp finely sliced red chilli
• 4 tsp finely sliced garlic
• 125ml/4fl oz white wine
• 125ml/4fl oz fish or vegetable stock
• 300g/12 oz of seafood including crab and prawns
• 2 tbsp flatleaf parsley
• 1 tbsp basil leaves
• 1 lemon, zest only
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation method

1. For the pasta, blend the flour and eggs in a food processor to fine crumbs, then add the olive oil and salt and pulse to just combine.
2. Remove the mixture from the processor, and pull the dough together into a ball. Knead the dough until smooth.
3. Wrap the pasta dough in cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Once rested, take the dough out of the fridge and roll out to about 1cm/½in thick.
5. Pass the rolled dough through a pasta machine, starting with the widest setting, and reducing the setting each time until on the finest setting.
6. Change to the linguine cutter on the pasta machine and pass the pasta through once more.
7. Weigh out about 35g/1¼oz of pasta per person. Hang the remaining pasta over the back of a chair and allow to dry.
8. For the sauce, heat a frying pan until hot, add the olive oil, chilli and garlic and gently fry until just softened.
9. Add the seafood and gently fry for a couple of minutes, then add the white wine and cook until the volume of liquid has reduced.
10. Add the stock to the seafood and cook until reduced again.
11. Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the pasta and cook until it floats to the surface and is just tender.
12. Drain the pasta and stir straight into the sauce.
13. Finish with the herbs and lemon zest then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Pasta lika papa makesa

Our work top pasta roller is one of our best loved kitchen gadgets as Andy loves to make homemade pasta. This weekend saw him rolling dough again as it’s is so simple to make with an end result  far tastier than commercially made pasta.   I’m not exaggerating when I say it resulted in the most delicious lasagne I’ve ever eaten.  It was a wonderful combination of flavours and textures and each mouthful was a sheer delight.  The recipe was from an Italian cookery book we bought years ago and so far, we’ve not had a single disappointing dish from it. 

Pasta Bradaburia

What is it about men and gadgets? If I asked my husband to make pastry using a plain old rolling pin and mixing bowl, he would do it but with a degree of reluctance. But buy a pasta maker (albeit a hand roller one) and his enthusiasm for rolling and folding knows no bounds. “A chemical reaction takes place, you know!” The kitchen has since been festooned with authentic looking strips of egg pasta, drying out before further cutting and shaping takes place. We now have enough to feed most of Milan, if not the whole of Italy. Fettuccine anyone?