Mamma Mia Pasta Treata!

I have always wanted to learn how to make homemade pasta.  There is nothing better than fresh noodles curled up in marinara.  One Friday night about 6 months ago, Doug and I were on the couch watching Giada and Bobby Flay tour Italy.  I had my glass of wine and a cozy blanket while Doug was snoring next to me on the couch.  Bobby and Giada visited so many beautiful places (one of these days we’ll get there!).  One of their stops was to a kitchen to make homemade pasta.  Watching them roll out the beautiful dough and then enjoy what I imagine were amazing fresh pasta dishes, inspired me to finally pull the trigger and order a pasta roller.  It’s such an art!  I also got a ravioli cutter and pasta drying rack.  I was so excited after my purchase, I decided to pour myself another glass of wine and cozy back up for the rest of the show.  

The next stop on their tour was a town called Montalcino, a medieval fortress town in Tuscany, famous for its Brunello Wine.  Watching them enjoy tastings in the middle of the Tuscany hills inspired me to look up the winery (Casanova Di Neri) and buy a bottle of Brunello.  I’m sure my own glass of wine inspired my inhibitions too!  I’ve never had Brunello but turns out it’s 100% Sangiovese which I love.  The folks in the region thought the grape was unique to their location…hence the name Brunello. Turns out it wasn’t so unique but the name stuck.

Moral of the story, Doug should never fall asleep next to me on the couch when I have a glass of wine and Amazon purchasing power at my fingertips.

Fast forward to New Years Eve 2021.  I finally decided I was going to do it.  I was going to make that fresh homemade pasta. I spent the morning looking up recipes and decided to try one from Bobby Flay and then another from Betty Crocker.  We were going to make homemade ravioli.  A little intimidated by what laid ahead of me, I pulled out that pasta maker and the ingredients and decided to dive right in.  I made a big huge mess and it took a few tries (and Kate’s help) to finally figure out how to get the dough through the pasta maker, but we did it!  And it was so much fun.  And…the ravioli turned out great!  Next time I want to figure out how to make the dough a bit thinner and meatball more solid but I was proud of our first attempt!   Picture proof of the process and end result below…Kate really was such a big help.  There will be more pasta making in our future.  And wine drinking of course!  Cheers!