Readers of The Bitten Word cooked every recipe in the September 2013 Bon Appetit magazine. Here's their take on Fresh Pasta.
We let readers make the pasta recipe, and then do whatever they wanted with the results. Enjoy (and applaud!) their creativity!
Maureen: This was my first effort to make fresh pasta. The dough came together well and was easy to work with. I made the spiral shaped strozzapreti - the name means "priest strangler" - couldn't resist. After cooking, most of the pasta were a bit too thick and chewy but a few thinner pieces were really great. I'd make it again but roll the dough even thinner. I tossed the fresh pasta with caramelized shallots, fresh figs, lemon and parmesan - that was delicious!
Jonathan: Recipe was exceptionally easy, even without a pasta maker to roll it out. I used a dough-hook attachment on my cuisinart, and a large rolling pin. The pasta had a nice al dente texture and a simple, clean flavor. I made two pastas: spaghetti (for Carbonara) and ravioli (Uova di Ravioli to top the Carbonara).
Michelle: Who decides to make fresh pasta on a Tuesday night after work? People who read The Bitten Word, I guess! Delicious little ears of pasta. Making the dough takes no time at all. One hour to rest dough after-easy. 2 hours of cutting rolling and shaping later, we had dinner: fresh pasta with chicken sausage, arugula, brown butter, basil and parmigiano reggiano. Delicious! Watched an episode of "orange is the new black" while rolling and shaping and had a good time!
Jess: It would be hard to top the recipe I was assigned last year (because it involved lighting the dish on fire), but I was pretty excited to be assigned pasta. I imagined pulling the pasta maker--gifted to me from my husband's noni--from the back of my cupboard, dusting it off, and finally (finally!) learning how to use that thing (you know, like ten years after it was given to me). And I will admit I was a little disappointed to discover this recipe didn't need any fancy equipment (just your hands, basically--and a fork), but I got over it quickly when I discovered I could use my dough hook on my mixer (used like twice ever before) to knead the dough. I like my gadgets where ever and whenever I can get them. The long story short is, the pasta was easy and tasty. And I've marked another culinary experience off my list. It was also fun to recruit my 12-year-old and her friend to help me with the somewhat time-consuming job of forming the pasta once the dough was ready. We ended up not making any of the dishes listed after the pasta recipe in Bon Apetit (too fallish for the very warm weather we are having here in California this weekend), so we made a simple sauce with home-grown tomatoes, basil, and not a lot else. This is not a work-night meal, but it is a perfect one for a lazy weekend with your family.
Francesca: This recipe is very easy to follow. Pasta is a bit less elastic than other recipes I've used, but it made for great lasagna noodles!
Get the Fresh Pasta recipe at Bon Appétit
Head back to the Mains (Pasta and Vegetarian) Index