A Mess to Impress: Zero Waste Pasta

Given the choice, with hungry kids having just arrived home from school would you...

a) open up a packet of tagliatelle and throw it in a pan of boiling water and serve up tea within 10 minutes or

b) Optimistically open up a packet of grade 00 flour?


Crack open a few eggs and spend 5 minutes mixing together and kneading to make a dough.



Set up the pasta maker during the 15 minutes of rest, wondering whether it's you that needs the rest as well as the dough.


Unable to clamp the pasta maker to the worktop due to lack of space, you become a circus grade contortionist, with one hand turning the handle, the other feeding the dough through the drum and your wrist firmly placed on the top to stop the blimmin' thing from falling on the kitchen floor.


Then feel forever thankful that your husband arrives home just in time to physically hold the pasta maker in place, while your four-year-old joins in the the fun-of-the-fair and cranks the handle, leaving both your hands free to feed the pasta into the drum, rolling it through once, folding and flouring, rolling it through for a second time, folding and flouring, adjusting the setting and rolling it through a narrower setting, and narrower and narrower...

...and narrower setting, for each piece of dough, which you then have to leave for 10 minutes before you cut the pasta in shape and cook.

FINALLY 5 minutes later you all sit down to a fine dish of home-made tagliatelle, whilst falling off your chair in shock that you really have made fresh pasta.... that really tastes like fresh pasta.



I bet you'd choose Option A wouldn't you! And I don't blame you. But I dare you to try option B. Go on, it might have sounded a lot of trouble, but in a dysfunctional and extraordinary way I actually enjoyed it.

And I am utterly amazed by what you can make with just eggs and flour. Italian grade 00 is the best flour to use but you can use plain flour.

But before you go rushing out to get your very own pasta maker, make sure you read the advice below:


LESSONS LEARNED.

1) Home-made pasta is definitely cheaper than shop-bought if you overlook the £37 pounds spent on a pasta maker.

2) You don't really need a pasta maker if you're just interested in making lasagne sheets, or have great control of the knife to cut thin strips of tagliatelle. Simply mix the eggs and flour and knead the mixture into a dough. Cover and leave it to rest for 15 minutes and then roll the dough very thinly. You will need a some patience for this bit because it does need to be thin, as you'll see from the recipe here.

3) If you're going to use a pasta maker, you really do need to fix the solid lump of metal to your worktop. Next time, I'll make it at the dining table, where I can attach the clamp.

4) Finally you'll need an equal amount of time to match your levels of enthusiasm. It does feel an effort to make it all in one go, especially if you're in a hurry but next time I'll make it in different stages throughout the day.

So after all this effort I suppose the big question is....will I repeat this process regularly?

Well, I'm going to have to. Mr A, is keeping a close eye on things, insisting that I rake the money back. He really does wear the trousers you know! If someone had only answered my ad on Freecycle.

So, pasta three times a week, to feed a family of four...

hmm...that'll take me about a year then!

But after that, we'll be quids-in....as far as the pasta's concerned.

However I think I might just be in need of therapy!

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