A few years ago, my cousin gave me a manual pasta-making machine he picked up from a thrift store for $25, along with ravioli plates and a pasta drying rack. I had never made homemade pasta before, so it inspired me to learn. I was surprised at how easy it was. Basically, it’s no more difficult than making bread dough (which is easy, and I do it all the time), and homemade is always fresher and better. There were a few things I didn’t like, though, about the machine. One, it was manual, but worse, it had to be clamped on to something, which could be inconvenient. The pasta rack was made of wooden spindles you put together, so it was kind of a hassle, too. It was, however, a great start in making pasta at home.
In a recent intersection of events, I was shopping for a new Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I had an old classic Kitchen Aid that had finally worn out. I procrastinated about the purchase for some time (which I always do when making a big purchase). Meanwhile, I was shaking a lot of butter in quart jars. Shaking butter got old (lazy-R-us!), which ultimately pushed me to get my stand mixer situation resolved. (Making butter in a stand mixer is my favorite thing!) Then I thought–pasta attachments!
No more clamping a manual machine to something! (See my pretty new red Kitchen Aid? Ah! I love it!) I got the set that includes the basic roller, to roll out the pasta dough, and the fettucine and spaghetti cutters. I still have the ravioli-making plates my cousin got me, which work just fine if I’m making ravioli. Here is the new pasta drying rack I got.
What I like about this rack is that it comes all together. No poking the wooden spindles into the stand every time, and it also folds down for compact storage.
You can see the pasta recipe I use here–it’s just a basic pasta dough. Make the dough, let it rest for a few minutes, then divide it in four pieces.
Put each piece through the roller several times, increasing the settings slowly, to flatten it out.
After rolling out each piece, cut it in half or your pasta pieces will be really long and difficult to handle.
Then the cutter goes in–I was using the fettucine cutter.
Hang the pieces on the rack!
Wow, that came out pretty, didn’t it? I absolutely love the pasta attachments, my new Kitchen Aid, the rack, everything. (And I’m back to loving making butter again, too.)
I had fettucine in a light alfredo sauce with scallops and peppers for dinner that night.
If you want to check out any of these products… Here are the links. (I always hesitate to put in product links, but I’ve actually had people write me to complain that I don’t put in links because they want them.)
Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer
Pasta Attachments
Pasta Drying Rack
You can also get a ravioli maker like I have here.
