Traditional Italian Handmade Pasta & Red Sauce

I booked a traditional Italian cooking class on a recent trip to Italy and  was impressed with how simple and tasty their staple dishes were to prepare.

The first weekend home from my trip, I decided to test this theory and see if I could replicate a simple handmade pasta dish for the kids; they were as pleased as I was with it. Plan for an hour of prep work and make extra sauce to freeze. If you do not have a pasta rack (to dry), you can improvise with a broom or coat hangers. Give it a try, and let us know what you think!

Italian Hand-Made Pasta

Ingredients:

• 400 grams (about 15 oz) White 00 flour (all-purpose)
• 4 big eggs (room temperature)

Directions:

1. Pour the flour on the table like a volcano and break your eggs.
2. Shake the eggs with a fork (lite scramble) as needed to mix the yolks with the whites; add the flour and mix everything together.
3. Keep incorporating the flour into the eggs by taking it from the outer edge, and start mixing the ingredients with your fingers.
4. The dough will initially feel somewhat grainy. Continue to mix the ingredients with your fingers until you have incorporated all the flour into the eggs. When the mix starts to harden, knead by forcing it on your wrist for 15 minutes.
5. With a rolling pin, smooth dough in a clockwise direction until desired thickness (you can use a pasta maker for this).
6. With a long, sharp knife, cut the dough into thin strips: 1 cm for tagliatelle, approximately 3 mm for tagliolini
7. Drop pasta in boiling, salted water and continuously stir pasta until it floats to the top.

The Golden Rules for a perfect pasta:

1. Use a wooden kneading board (its roughness is ideal for kneading).
2. 1 egg for 100 grams of flour
3. Avoid air currents during the process because they will dry up the dough.

Classic Italian Tomato Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1 kg (approx 36 oz.) of fresh San Marzano Tomatoes or Tomato Puree (store-bought)
• 3 tbls of EVOO
• 1 – 2 cloves garlic
• 1 – 2 cups Vegetable stock
• Fresh Basil (approx 8 leaves Chiffonade cut)
• Salt as needed

Directions:

1. Cook whole garlic cloves in oil, stirring 1-2 minutes.
2. Add tomato puree and stir occasionally until slightly thickened – medium heat.
3. Add 1-2 cups of vegetable stock. It will reduce most of the liquid, so add, based on your time, to let the sauce simmer. You can use a Vegetarian stock cube in a pinch.
4. Stir the sauce often to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. After it thickens again, add basil leaves and salt to taste. Continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes.