Last night I got to try out my new pasta-maker. t! got this action shot of me:
I made linguine using Allison’s recipe (except that I added a half-tablespoon of olive oil to the dough, a tip I found in a book that’s meant to make the dough easier to handle), and it turned out really well. Unsurprisingly fresh pasta is completely different from the dried, boxed kind, but I don’t think it will take us very long to get used to it. We had the linguine for supper with tomato and smoked sausage sauce, and I realised part-way through cooking that the meal was pretty much 100% local and organic – flour from the Berwick mill and eggs, vegetables, and red deer and wild boar sausages, all from the Vankleek Hill Farmer’s Market. It was very, very yummy, and felt very much like traditional food. Next time I make it I’m going to grate some pepper into the dough, and next time I’m at the mill I will ask if they have any flour that’s better for pasta than the standard hard white wheat bread flour I’m currently using. And with any luck this time next year, I’ll be making pasta with our own eggs. Now to learn to make tortellini!
Oh, and I really need to either a) keep the door to the guest bedroom/sewing room closed, or b) put that quilt top away somewhere safe:
out here 