Homemade PASTA?! 

It’s been a daunting thought for years. I kept making excuses to push the idea aside, like I need a pasta maker or I need more space to roll it out, I don’t want to get flour all over, etc.  Then I saw GIADA DE LAURENTIIS make this 3 ingredient pasta with the littlest efforts, and I was sold 🙂 

This is the simplest yet tastiest pasta recipe I’ve ever come across. It calls for only eggs for the liquid and that makes the pasta uber rich, requiring very few ingredients for a sauce. I’ve tossed in some garlic and olive oil and it was absolutely delicious.

Best part??…. Since it’s Pappardelle, you don’t need a pasta maker, you can just cut it into thick strips with a knife.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/2 cup of samolina flour, plus more for dusing
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 egg yolks plus one whole egg

Sausage Ragu:

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage (casing removed)
• 1/4 cup chopped carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cup of tomato puree
• Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
• Salt for taste
• 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, plus more for garnish
• 3 tbs chopped fresh basil
• 2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

• Combine the flour, samolina flour, salt and make a well in the middle.
• Add the yolks and whole egg in the middle of the well and slowly start incorporating the flour using a fork until it forms a rough dough. If needed, use a bit of water if it’s too dry or flour if it’s too wet, a little at a time.
• Lightly flour a flat work surface (I used my big wood cutting board) and start kneading the dough. Push the dough away from you with the heel of your hand, fold the dough over itself then push away again. Knead for about 10-12 minutes, until the dough is smooth and forms a soft ball (see picture 3).
• Flatten the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for 1 hour in room temperature.
• After an hour, take the dough and divide it into halves. Take each half and using flour to dust, roll it out into large thin sheets, you should be able to see your fingers through.
• Cut the sheets into 1″ thick strips for pappardelle or your desired thickness.

Sausage Ragu:

• Heat large skillet over medium heat.
• Add the oil, then sausage. Cook the sausage breaking it into small pieces with the back of a spoon, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
• Add the chopped onion, carrots, celery, pepper flake, salt and sauté until soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Then add the wine and deglaze the pan scraping off the bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to medium low heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Add the tomato puree and reduce the heat to simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile boil a pot of water, with a generous amount of salt. Add fresh pappardelle pasta and cook for 2 minutes, it should be al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then drain the pasta.
• Add the cooked pasta to the hot sauce, with parsley, cheese and lightly toss. Turn off the heat, add basil and give it another good toss.
• Serve warm with sprinkle of parmesan, basil and a drizzle of olive oil.

**Note:

• You can freeze the dough for later, or roll out and freeze the cut pasta. Make sure to dust the pasta with lots of flour and let it dry for about 15 minutes.