Homemade Pasta with Sausage and Grape Tomato Sauce

 

It's been a whole year since I first started Acquired Taste and almost 100 posts (92 to be exact). I wanted to synchronize the two blog marks at the same time, but I just didn't get to unfortunately. I have however made something I kept saying I wouldn't until I had a big kitchen.

You see, I have a small kitchen... a very small kitchen. Not quite as small as some, but it's small enough that it makes it very difficult to do some kinds of cooking.  One of those things is pasta. Homemade pasta that is. I've always wanted to do it, and since I've managed to make bread and pizza dough, I thought I really should do some homemade pasta.

I didn't make it in my kitchen though. Instead I made it out on my table where we eat. This gave me the opportunity to be able to also take some pictures of the process (which I don't do any other time because of bad lighting. I refuse to take photos in my kitchen do to lack of decent lighting).

Homemade Pasta - Adapted from Kitchen Travels

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• A large pinch of salt

Sift the flours into a large bowl. If you don't have a sifter, use a whisk to break up lumps and mix the flours together well.

Make a well in the middle of flour.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, oil and salt with a fork. Pour this mix into the flour well. If you don't have a HUGE work surface or have done this before, you probably will want to use a bowl for your flour well. This can become a HUGE mess (I know... it happened to me).

Using your fork, mix the flour into the egg mixture until all of the flour has been incorporated. Dust your work surface with some flour and turn the dough out onto it. Knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes or until smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest for about 20-30 minutes. No need to refrigerate if using in that time. If you need to wait longer, place in the fridge until ready to use but no longer than a few hours.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces, lightly dust work surface again with flour and roll out your dough a section at a time. This needs to be as thin as possible about 1/8th inch or even thinner if you can manage it. The noodles will swell as they are cooked, making them thicker than they started out.

Roll the flattened dough up and cut into rounds, a good knife works perfect for this.

In a large pot, bring water with a bit of salt to a boil. Add the pasta and cook anywhere from 4-8 minutes, depending on thickness of the noodles. Because I used wheat flour, the cooking time is longer.
If you are unsure about how done it is, just taste it!

Drain and serve with pasta sauce.

Sausage and Grape Tomato Pasta Sauce
(the measurements below are approximates as I do no measure when cooking)

• 2 tablespoons Olive oil
• 3 - 4 uncooked sausages
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• a couple tablespoons of water
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half length wise

In a skillet or sauce pan over medium heat, add in olive oil and heat until it has a slight shimmer to the surface. Add in onion and garlic and allow to soften.

While the onion and garlic cook, take the casing off the sausage by cutting it with a knife and squeeze the meat out. Add the meat to the pan and allow to brown. Make sure that the meat is cooked all the way through, especially if using pork or poultry based sausages!

Add in tomato paste and mix well. Add in seasoning and enough water to loosen the sauce just a bit. Bring to a boil and reduce heat immediately to a simmer. Allow it to simmer about 5-10 minutes. This will cause the sauce to thicken a bit and the flavors to marry together.

Toss the pasta with the sauce and top with the grape tomatoes.

This was delicious! The hubby and I absolutely loved it. The fresh pasta was actually a lot of work to make without the help of a pasta machine, but we both agree that fresh pasta made by hand is worth the effort. I also think I worked off all the calories I consumed while making the pasta!

I also want to say thank you to everyone who has taken then time to stop by this last year and tell me how much they enjoy Acquired Taste, the photos and the recipes/food ideas!!