I FINALLY MADE PASTA!

[mighty quinn]

Not to bore anyone with the not so gory details of my currently non-existent love life, but... last week I broke things off with the gentleman I'd been seeing for the last 8 months. It wasn't particularly ugly, but at age 40 (almost) I'm feeling like a relationship failure again. The first night after the breakup , I went out and had the ceremonial drunk- sambuca is good for this. The following day, I went to a book store, bought some new cookbooks and also purchased a hand-crank pasta machine (atlas, $50, at bed bath and beyond) I also bought a nice little bottle of vinho verde, got a new hairdo, bought makeup, etc-all with the money I was going to spend on a weekend away with said former boyfriend. Long story short, I spent a therapeutic, labor intensive 3 HOURS making portobello mushroom raviolis. My yield was about 6 pathetic looking blobs of glutanous mess, but I didn't think about HIM the entire time. All pasta tips aside (I'm sure there's a thread already) please share your tales of broken relationships and the cooking binges that have followed.

[NeroW]

I enjoy this topic and there have been a lot of threads on this already. I wish they could all be merged.

[marlena spieler]

Dear Mighty Quinn,

Well done! Making pasta is sort of a practice thing, and it does take a long time that your mind is on something other than love life, on nothing other than pasta....

and when it turns out beautifully and silky and tender, you can remember my motto:

while some say that pasta is a substitute for sex, I say that sex is a substitute for pasta.

x Marlena

[bleudauvergne]

Dear Mighty Quinn, I'm sorry for your loss. However I'm happy to be the 179th person to look at this post and the third let you know.

Congratulations on beginning your pasta making adventure. I too was inspired to take the plunge after reading Moby's pasta class.

It tastes so much better than store bought, don't you agree? We have been making it with semoule fine to make ours and it's just outa this world.

Edited May 4, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[MobyP]

Mighty Quinn -

congratulations! And remember - all mistakes are edible!

[Mottmott]

What an opportunity, now you can get a new boyfriend and ply him with pasta. Have fun.

[Jean Brislance]

I started making homemade pasta last year, and I am having a blast with it. My best effort yet was a herbed pappardelle to go with a venison ragu. The noodles turned out absolutely perfect, silky, and gorgeous. It is definitely a lot of work, but as you discovered, it is a great was to kill a few hours!

Good luck to you!

Jean

[marlena spieler]

actually, maybe now you can find an ITALIAN boyfriend? (I keep telling my husband that if her were Italian, he would verge on perfection. I also say it about French. But as it turns out he has a perfectly cute british accent. still, those italians....).

fresh pasta is magic, though, and forgive me if i was a bit flippant in my earlier posting. in fact, i love pasta so much i've written several books about it. tonight i'm making manti, a turkish pasta, though i must confess that i purchased the ready made manti yesterday in london's hackney, a turkish neighbourhood. But i'll simmer them in broth and slather then with garlic yogurt and drizzle with hot chile oil, and they should be good. i hope.

Homemade pasta, the rolled silky ribbons of eggy dough, or the chunky flour and water kind, are just so satisfying to create, and though dried pasta is always a treat, homemade is simply magic. as much for the act of making it, as for the final product. but seriously: when you look at your pantry and there is nothing there, a little flour, a couple of eggs, and a hunk of parmigiana.......and an hour later you're sitting down to a delicate pasta blanketted with fresh Parmigiana, oh, be still my heart. satisfying to know you can do it, and do it at the drop of a hat, (or should i say........whats italian for hat?)

keep rolling those noodles, and enjoy!

marlena

[MobyP]

I wanted to report that - in the UK, at least - fresh favas/broad beans are available and one of the best treats of the year if you turn them into a stuffing for tortelloni or tortelli.

I did this last night, and served them with some young braised artichokes. It's simply one of those things that shocks you into remembering how good life can be. Unfortunately my camera was down so no pics. But has anyone else done this yet?

Here's a fava bean recipe from the eGCI course.

[bleudauvergne]

I wanted to report that - in the UK, at least - fresh favas/broad beans are available and one of the best treats of the year if you turn them into a stuffing for tortelloni or tortelli.

I did this last night, and served them with some young braised artichokes. It's simply one of those things that shocks you into remembering how good life can be. Unfortunately my camera was down so no pics. But has anyone else done this yet?

Here's a fava bean recipe from the eGCI course.

Moby - Thank you for that, I cooked a huge pot o' favas at the end of last week and when we got tired of eating them with corn bread I threw them in the freezer. Tortellini is what I'll do with the rest.

[Janice]

I wanted to report that - in the UK, at least - fresh favas/broad beans are available and one of the best treats of the year if you turn them into a stuffing for tortelloni or tortelli.

I did this last night, and served them with some young braised artichokes. It's simply one of those things that shocks you into remembering how good life can be. Unfortunately my camera was down so no pics. But has anyone else done this yet?

Here's a fava bean recipe from the eGCI course

I didn't do this recipe, but it did inspire me to do the same thing with finely chopped asparagus. My second attempt at ravioli and pretty successful all things considered.

My only problem is that the thinnest setting on my machine seems a little too thin and the next one up is too thick. Maybe it will resolve itself with practice...

Hope you're feeling better Mighty Quinn!

[MobyP]

My only problem is that the thinnest setting on my machine seems a little too thin and the next one up is too thick. Maybe it will resolve itself with practice...

I tried a higher percentage - almost 40% - of semolina this last time around and found the dough much sturduer than usual. Normally by position 8 on my Atlas, the dough will tear unless I'm careful about continually cleaning out the rollers, but this time I had no problem at that thinness at all.

[Janice]

Thanks - will give that a go. I was using straight 00 in the dough and only using semolina for dusting. The pasta tasted great but was just too fragile on the thinnest setting.

[MobyP]

I wanted to report that - in the UK, at least - fresh favas/broad beans are available and one of the best treats of the year if you turn them into a stuffing for tortelloni or tortelli.

I did this last night, and served them with some young braised artichokes. It's simply one of those things that shocks you into remembering how good life can be. Unfortunately my camera was down so no pics. But has anyone else done this yet?

Here's a fava bean recipe from the eGCI course.

Moby - Thank you for that, I cooked a huge pot o' favas at the end of last week and when we got tired of eating them with corn bread I threw them in the freezer. Tortellini is what I'll do with the rest.

Having seen your blog - I wish I was your neighbour!

[bleudauvergne]

OK it's done. I did tortelli instead of tortellini because we were in a hurry. The stuffing turned out really good, since the beans were cooked with the last hunk of smoked savoie ham. I made double stuffing with fresh ricotta from Italy, picorino and parmesean, and it's in the fridge awaiting the spoon.

[MobyP]

That looks brilliant - congratulations!

There was a Gordon Ramsey show on last night, and one of the guest cook (Belinda Carlisle) kept breaking the ravioli from boiling them too hard.