Basic pasta recipe
I wrote my first draft of the mushroom ravioli post a month ago and I just haven't been able to finish it because it's so insanely long. So instead of forcing myself to write a three-page entry about mushroom ravioli that will leave you too exhausted to attempt the recipe, I will break it into parts...and here is part one: the basic pasta recipe.
A confession: you can find a fresh pasta recipe anywhere, but most of the ones I've found are a little too basic. Forgive me if I'm going over familiar territory here. Another confession: making pasta that tastes good requires special equipment, unless you have limitless time and patience for rolling out pasta dough by hand. My husband thought I was crazy to buy the Imperia pasta machine, but I use it like once a week and I think it's just great. The one time I attempted to roll out pasta by hand it took forever and didn't turn out. The other piece of equipment I rely on for this is my KitchenAid mixer; I'm sure you could more easily forgo the mixer than the pasta roller.
4 large eggs
4 cups flour
Olive oil
Salt
4 cups of flour and 4 eggs will make A LOT of pasta: desirable for making ravioli or canneloni, too much if you're just cutting it up into noodles. All that matters is your ratio of one cup flour to one large egg.
Put the flour and eggs in the bowl of your mixer. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and a generous pinch of salt. Mix with the paddle attachment over low speed (1 or 2) until a yellowish dough starts to form. If you're not using a mixer, just use your hands. The dough should...
