Crafting With Food: Pasta!!

By now maybe you guessed I like "crafting" with food. I love learning new techniques, and this year I made one of my New Year's Resolutions to learn how to make pasta from scratch. I had checked out videos on the Internet...but was kind of afraid. I saw a great deal on a class at Sur La Table and thought it was the perfect way to give it a try without investing money in equipment or messing up my kitchen and winding up with nothing but a doughy mess.

SO GLAD I gave it a try! I wouldn't call it "easy" but it wasn't hard, and with the techniques I learned in class I'd definitely like to give it a try at home.

Our class started with a little appetizer. Our chef instructor introduced herself and we learned that she had been on an episode of "Chopped" on the Food Network! You know I had to watch her episode...read about it here. Her name is Robyn Moore and she made it all the way to the last round! So cool!

We quickly got to work making dough in a Vitamix, and then kneading it into a ball to set.

I loved how simple it was to roll the dough out using the Kitchenaid pasta roller attachment. It left both hands free for feeding and catching the dough through the rollers.

Half of the dough we cut into pappardelle to make Pappardelle with Lemon, Asparagus and Parmesan with Soft Eggs (It was the Spring Pasta Class). 

The other half of the dough was used to make tortellini...Goat Cheese Tortellini with Pancetta, Sweet Peas and Mint.

What I noticed about the pastas were how light and delicate they tasted. They were also super quick to cook! One New Year's Resolution Done!!

It's also definitely nice to have someone show you ways to make the recipes go smoothly!