We visited friends who crank out their pasta-making machine every so often to make pasta, yet I had never been there when they did. Well this time, especially after my couple of pasta-making classes in Italy and Croatia, we decided to make pasta at their home. What did I learn in those classes? I put myself to the test.

Four eggs and 2 cups of 00 Italian flour and mix. My biggest challenge is always kneading the dough enough. Muscle into the dough, fold it over, quarter turn and knead it again…. and again …. Everyone else seems to know when it is quite ready to call it quits with the kneading, so I follow their direction. Let the dough rest, then time to make the noodles. Flattened the dough as thin as we can get it. My friends used their machine and I rolled my pasta by hand and roller.

A sauce was made with garlic, cherry tomatoes and parsley. A sauce cannot get any simpler than this. When put on the pasta, shave some parmesan cheese on and it’s all delicious!

We cut the pasta into strips. My hand-rolled and cut noodles cooked in 5 minutes. The pasta flattened by the machine cooked in 3 minutes. Our sauce was simple and delicious … and enjoyed by everyone so quickly, I forgot to take a final photo! Next time!;)