David has a new toy...
Whilst honeymooning in Italy, he found a pasta maker that he's wanted for a long time.
He lugged it all the way to Greece and back home, causing all sorts of grief at every airport!
Anyway he loves it, and if it means that he cooks more and I cook less, than I'm all for it!
Recently he cooked Pasta Fonduta for myself and beautiful friend Jen.
As with most Italian pasta dishes, it is very simple and only uses a couple of ingredients.
In the words of the great Italian Chef himself: "If you haven't tried making your own pasta yet, I'd strongly recommend it! Once you do, you'll never go back to buying pasta again" Wise words.
FOR THE PASTA: roughly 1 x egg and 1x 100g flour per person.
Wizz it up in a blender till you get the consistancy of bread crumbs. If too doughy keep adding more flour.
Press all the bread crumbs (dough) together with your hands till you have a big blob. Put it through your pasta maker 4 times on the biggest setting. After that, reduce the setting on the pasta maker after each run through until you're on the finest setting. Fold the past using flour between the sheets to prevent sticking. Cut pasta into desired size. In this case I cut it into Tagliatelle.
FOR THE SAUCE: 4 x table spoons of creme fraiche in a bowl above the boiling water. Add salt, pepper, hand full of parmasen cheese and a hand full of melting cheese (could be fontina, guyre etc.)
Boil the pasta (it only takes about 45secs to 1min for fresh pasta) with the brocolli (cut into a similar width to the tagliatelle)
Whilst pasta is boiling add two egg yolks to your sauce along with some herb (I just used flat leaf parsley but you could use thyme, margaram etc). Taste it and add more seasoning if need be.
Finally drain your pasta and mix with the sauce. The heat from the pasta will mix with the cream and egg in a good way so it becomes silky and cooked but not scrambled.
Finish with parmasen cheese and some good quality olive oil.
Best served with a glass of your fav. chilled white wine :)
Wizz it up in a blender till you get the consistancy of bread crumbs. If too doughy keep adding more flour.
Press all the bread crumbs (dough) together with your hands till you have a big blob. Put it through your pasta maker 4 times on the biggest setting. After that, reduce the setting on the pasta maker after each run through until you're on the finest setting. Fold the past using flour between the sheets to prevent sticking. Cut pasta into desired size. In this case I cut it into Tagliatelle.
FOR THE SAUCE: 4 x table spoons of creme fraiche in a bowl above the boiling water. Add salt, pepper, hand full of parmasen cheese and a hand full of melting cheese (could be fontina, guyre etc.)
Boil the pasta (it only takes about 45secs to 1min for fresh pasta) with the brocolli (cut into a similar width to the tagliatelle)
Whilst pasta is boiling add two egg yolks to your sauce along with some herb (I just used flat leaf parsley but you could use thyme, margaram etc). Taste it and add more seasoning if need be.
Finally drain your pasta and mix with the sauce. The heat from the pasta will mix with the cream and egg in a good way so it becomes silky and cooked but not scrambled.
Finish with parmasen cheese and some good quality olive oil.
Best served with a glass of your fav. chilled white wine :)
