Life with Lorna: Fresh Pasta 101
By Lorna Jacoby
At home, sick and unable to go out …
So what to do/make? Pasta, of course!
Pasta is one of those things that is really quite easy to make but can be a little intimidating. A little flour, some eggs, water and olive oil and let it rest for a few hours, then roll and have fun. I decided to make cannelloni stuffed with chard, kale and herbs I had harvested from the garden that afternoon.
Pasta 101:
1 cup all purpose (or double zero) flour
2 large eggs
½ tsp salt
a drizzle of olive oil
water, but only if the dough is too dry (and then only wet your hands to work moisture into the dough)
Make a well on the counter, add eggs and salt and slowly whisk eggs and flour together until all is incorporated. You’ll want to use your hands. Form into a ball and knead for about 10 minutes. If it’s a bit too dry just wet your hands and continue kneading, this will add moisture to the dough. Wrap in plastic and let rest for ½ an hour and up to one day.
Italian chefs roll the dough by hand but I always use a pasta machine, which has been in the same box ever since I bought it at a garage sale. It’s great!
Cut your dough into four sections and flatten with your hands just enough to put through the roller. Run the dough through the rollers at lowest setting (#1), a few times, folding the dough in half each time you pass it through. Then up your setting, the larger the number the thinner the pasta is.
For fettucine and/or spaghetti you may want to roll to a #3 or #4 setting, depending on how thick you want your pasta. For cannelloni I wanted it very thin and rolled it at setting #5. Rolled in long strips then cut to 4” square or so, sprinkle with flour so they don’t stick. You can fold the dough and put flowers and/or herbs in and roll again, it looks pretty.
Boil the sheets of pasta just until they float to the top, this will only take a couple of minutes. I did in stages, dried off excess water then rolled with the stuffing keeping the seal at the bottom of the dish.
Make a Bechamel:
2 cups of milk
¼ cup unsalted butter
4 T AP flour
¼ tsp salt
Freshly grated nutmeg
White pepper
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Melt the butter over low heat and add the flour. Mix quickly with a whisk to make sure no lumps are formed. Cook until well mixed. This is called a roux and should be a nice golden color. Set aside.
Heat the milk but don’t bring to a boil then pour over the roux and mix vigorously with a whisk, to prevent lumps. Once all mixed put the sauce over a low flame and whisk constantly until you have a nice thick sauce. You can add white pepper, nutmeg and whatever spices you want and cheese.
The sauce is done when it sticks to the back of a wooden spoon.
Stuffing:
In a large skillet I melted some butter and added olive oil to sauté a mixture of chard, kale, about 6 cups chopped. Added a few asparagus that had sprung up and some sugar snap peas, all from the garden but not enough to do anything on their own so in they went. Use whatever condiments you have on hand, pepper, salt, a bit of onion powder, garlic and chili flakes. Add cheese, which is what will hold it together, about a ½ cup of shredded mozzarella, or more if you like it very cheesy.
Combine:
In an oven safe container put a bit of the bechamel sauce on the bottom of the pan.
Put a bit of your chard mixture in the flat, cooked pasta and roll, leaving the seam below. Repeat and do a single layer until you’ve filled your dish. Pour the bechamel sauce on top and sprinkle a bit of cheese on top of it all.
Bake in 350º oven for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling hot. Serve while hot with a nice salad.
