Tagliatelle Pasta and Beef Ragu...

We thought we'd try our hand at pasta making again - it's always so rewarding and worth the time taken.  I made a beef ragu which I slow cooked for several hours which really intensified the flavours...I'll try and get the recipe up later for this ...

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Here it is bubbling away - I had a couple of forequarter chops so I threw them in for extra flavour...

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I went onto Youtube to see a few tutorials on pasta making - I have long fingernails so the least mess and goo that I have to deal with the better!  I got out my trusty food processor and whizzed up 200gms of 'OO' flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon olive oil and 2 eggs.  I just blitzed it until it resembled cooked cous cous (a course crumb).  Apparently, if it comes together as a ball, it's too moist and if you can't squeeze it in your hands and it holds it's shape, it's too dry.  Mine seemed just right.

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I kneaded it for a few minutes until it came together nicely and became smooth and elastic.  Then I wrapped it in cling film and let it rest a while.

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Then it was time to enlist the help of my kitchen hand hubby and I let him do all the hard handle turning work...

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We produced this in a very short time.  I hand cut it by folding the pasta back on itself a few times then cutting into 1cm strips.  Unfold it and dust with flour, repeat with next strip.

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When we were ready to eat, we put on a pot of water to boil, got it to a rolling boil then carefully put each strip in...  Set the timer for 5 minutes then tipped it out into a colander.... Perfecto!

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This is the finished dish - a rich sauce full of flavour (I did however forget to put in some lovely mushrooms that I had bought - bugger!)...

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It was delicious - a totally cooked from scratch meal - sauce, pasta and bread rolls!

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Thank you to my dearly beloved who washed our windows outside while I did them inside.  I get a really sore shoulder if I do them outside too so it was a big help.  Next weekend, we'll tackle the back side of the house.

Pantry reorganised, windows cleaned, tummies full = good weekend!

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Cheers - Joolz xx