Oodles of Noodles

Thank you Tanya for the pasta Machine. This Christmas we got a pasta machine. I've been wanting one of these puppies for years! I used to make, roll, and cut my own pasta by hand, not an easy task! We've had so much fun making fresh pasta.

We used a simple ratio recipe for our pasta, 100g of flour for every egg. We used 500 g of flour and 5 eggs. This allowed for 6 generous helpings of pasta.

1. The first step is to create a mound of flour on your work surface.

2. Make a well in the center of the mound and add the eggs.

3. Use a fork to beat the eggs.

4. Slowly pull flour from the inner edges of your mound and incorporate it into the eggs. When you have incorporated a little over half of the flour it will form a shaggy mass.
5. Start kneading the dough with both hands.
6. Don't worry about incorporating all of the flour. Work the dough into a mass and save the remaining flour to work in as the dough gets sticky or for dusting your pasta as it comes out of the pasta machine. Knead for at least 3 minutes. The dough should not be sticky, you should be able to work with it easily. If it gets too sticky dust it with flour.
7. After you have kneaded your dough for 3 minutes shape it into a ball and wrap it in some plastic wrap. Let it rest for 20 min. This is a very important step, do not skip the resting period.

8. Divide your dough into 4 portions, and form them into balls. Wrap them in plastic wrap until you are ready to work with each ball.
9. Take one of the dough balls and squash it into a disk.

10. Feed it into your pasta machine at the thickest setting. Run it through and repeat 5 more times. Each time you run it through it will get smoother and smoother.

11. Keep feeding it through your machine changing the settings to make it thinner and thinner one step at  time. Thin to the desired thickness. We went to about a 7 on our dial starting it out at a 0. Fold it in on itself the first couple of times you run it through to keep it from being patchy. Alternate between folding it long ways and short ways.

12. As the pasta comes out of the machine it is important to dust it with the excess flour so that it does not form a sticky clump.

13. Boil for 3 minutes and enjoy!

Chicken:

1. Cut each breast of chicken in half. Thin the thicker half by dividing it in two. Remove all of the fat and ligaments.

2. Salt and Pepper each side of the chicken generously.

3. Heat a Large skillet on medium-high heat (between a 6 and a 7). Add 3 Tablespoons of olive oil and allow it to warm for a minute before adding the chicken.

4. Allow it to cook on one side for about 6 minutes. It should be a dark golden brown.

5. Flip it over and allow it to cook for another 3 minutes. Start to check for doneness.

6. Allow the chicken to rest for about 5 minutes before you slice it up.

Alfredo Sauce:

1 1/2 cups of cream
1/2 cup of Butter, 1 stick
1/4 cup of grated parmesan
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 TBS of chopped fresh parsley

Melt the butter and add the cream. Stir. Add in pasta. Toss with parmesan and parsley. Salt and Pepper to taste. Top with chicken.

Enjoy!