Fresh egg pasta by hand
You don't need a machine. You need flour, eggs, a rolling pin, and the patience to let the dough rest twice. The ratio is the thing to remember: 100 grams of flour to one large egg per person. Everything else is feel, and feel comes fast.
By Jarrett Kahler
Method
- Make the well.Mound the flour on a clean counter or in a wide bowl and make a wide crater in the center. Crack in the eggs, add the oil and salt, and beat the eggs with a fork, gradually pulling flour in from the walls of the crater until you have a shaggy paste.
- Bring it together.Use a bench scraper to fold the remaining flour over the paste and press it into a rough ball. It will look too dry. It isn't. Keep pressing and folding for two minutes before you decide.
- Knead.Knead with the heel of your hand, pushing away and folding back, turning a quarter each time, for 8 to 10 minutes. The dough should become smooth, firm, and spring back slowly when poked. If it's truly cracking and won't come together, wet your hands and keep kneading; if it's sticky, dust lightly.
- Rest.Wrap tightly and rest at room temperature at least 30 minutes, or refrigerate up to a day. Don't skip this; the rest relaxes the gluten so you can roll it thin.
- Roll.Cut the dough into four pieces; keep three wrapped. Flatten one into a disc, dust lightly, and roll from the center outward, rotating often, until you can see your hand through it, about 1/16 inch. Let the sheet dry on the counter for 10 minutes until it feels like leather but still bends.
- Cut.Dust the sheet with semolina, roll it loosely into a flat cylinder, and slice crosswise into 1/4-inch ribbons for tagliatelle. Shake out the nests, toss with more semolina, and set on a sheet pan. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Cook.Boil in well-salted water for 2 to 3 minutes, until just tender. Fresh pasta cooks fast; taste at two. Finish in the pan with your sauce and a splash of the pasta water.
Chef's note
For the March class we'll sauce this two ways: brown butter and sage, and a quick tomato with a lot of good olive oil. Either one takes less time than the water takes to boil. Fresh nests freeze well on a sheet pan, then in a bag, for a month; cook from frozen, adding a minute.
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