The pizzas were excellent, but the lasagna we got from Little Italy was tooooo creamy as if richness was filling in for taste. And the spaghetti, I dont even want to talk about it, I had a hard time finishing it. Neither the mushroom baked casserols at Indijoes satisfied me. Even after all these my pasta cravings hadn't gone and what more, they were increasing. And I didnt like the brands of dried pasta available in the supermarkets, and they do cost a little too much. (I think I have gone stingy, as most of the times what motivates me to make stuff at home is the alternative cost of eating out or buying it). And there was no choice of getting a whole wheat version of it either, atleast I feel better for eating all that cheese if it were made of whole wheat rather than all purpose flour or maida.
So I looked through the internet, and saw that it was not that hard to make pasta. It was intimidating, people keep telling you how a pasta machine will make things easy and how it is hard for a first time to roll it thin. I didnt have one. I was going to rely on my chapati making skills to get through the kneading and the rolling.
I thought I was going to learn on the go and fix any problems as they come up. So I plunged in. I mixed the dough, kneaded till it felt supple and smooth in my hand. I had to add a tablespoon of oil and a dash of water before it came through to that stage. I let it rest for 30-45 min. Then cut the dough into small lemon sized pieces. I didnt know how big they were supposed to be, so I erred on the smaller side.
Since everyone stressed so much about flour, I put an overdose of flour on everything. Then I started rolling. I rolled and rolled till it couldnt go any thinner, I could see the black countertop through the rolled dough. The best part was the dough didnt tear the way usually it does on chapati when you go thinner than it can bear. This dough wanted to stretch. :) Then I floured some more and folded it and cut into neat thin strips. I was making tagliatelle, a wider and flatter noodle than spaghetti. (This is a fun game I loved playing, identifying how many shapes of pasta you know, a quiz.)
Well, after rolling three lemon sized pieces, I had a lot of pasta in my hand, so boiled it and ate it tossed with some Olive Oil, vinegar and veggies. No pictures there. I was hungry by then.
I had 2 more lemon sized balls remaining, I planned lasagna for the dinner. I made some marinara sauce and bechamel sauce, roasted some eggplant and was ready to go for the lasagna. I assembled it with homemade lasagna sheets, topped with a no-name cheese I got for my kid to eat, and it went into the oven and turned out like this. It was yummy. I'd make more next time.
I never thought the process would be so easy. If only I had tried this in Germany, I would have made lasagna so many times at home and that too with all those cheeses at hand, and wouldnt have burnt my hands with the store bought kind. The last attempt at lasagna was made more difficult with the not-fitting lasagna sheets to the casserole or auflauf pan I was using.
Fresh pasta is way way way better than store bought dried pasta. Its easier to make, faster to cook with, lighter and you can always make it with whole wheat flour than all purpose flour. When cooking for more people, you can always ask for some help for cutting and drying. I just have to read about and figure out better ways to store it after rolling and cutting, then I can even have it for entertaining.
Trying new things always makes me happy, especially when they are this successful.
I thought I was going to learn on the go and fix any problems as they come up. So I plunged in. I mixed the dough, kneaded till it felt supple and smooth in my hand. I had to add a tablespoon of oil and a dash of water before it came through to that stage. I let it rest for 30-45 min. Then cut the dough into small lemon sized pieces. I didnt know how big they were supposed to be, so I erred on the smaller side.
Since everyone stressed so much about flour, I put an overdose of flour on everything. Then I started rolling. I rolled and rolled till it couldnt go any thinner, I could see the black countertop through the rolled dough. The best part was the dough didnt tear the way usually it does on chapati when you go thinner than it can bear. This dough wanted to stretch. :) Then I floured some more and folded it and cut into neat thin strips. I was making tagliatelle, a wider and flatter noodle than spaghetti. (This is a fun game I loved playing, identifying how many shapes of pasta you know, a quiz.)Well, after rolling three lemon sized pieces, I had a lot of pasta in my hand, so boiled it and ate it tossed with some Olive Oil, vinegar and veggies. No pictures there. I was hungry by then.
I had 2 more lemon sized balls remaining, I planned lasagna for the dinner. I made some marinara sauce and bechamel sauce, roasted some eggplant and was ready to go for the lasagna. I assembled it with homemade lasagna sheets, topped with a no-name cheese I got for my kid to eat, and it went into the oven and turned out like this. It was yummy. I'd make more next time.I never thought the process would be so easy. If only I had tried this in Germany, I would have made lasagna so many times at home and that too with all those cheeses at hand, and wouldnt have burnt my hands with the store bought kind. The last attempt at lasagna was made more difficult with the not-fitting lasagna sheets to the casserole or auflauf pan I was using.
Fresh pasta is way way way better than store bought dried pasta. Its easier to make, faster to cook with, lighter and you can always make it with whole wheat flour than all purpose flour. When cooking for more people, you can always ask for some help for cutting and drying. I just have to read about and figure out better ways to store it after rolling and cutting, then I can even have it for entertaining.
Trying new things always makes me happy, especially when they are this successful.
0 comments:
Post a Comment