Homemade Pasta

As I am now the proud owner of a food processor, I wanted to start trying recipes immediately. The very first thing I did was push a lemon through the slicer, just for fun. Then I moved on to something a little more complicated- pasta. I got my recipe from James Beard's book Beard On Pasta as it is specifically for a food processor. It is so easy. Flour, eggs, oil and salt. I don't have a pasta roller and that was the only thing that slowed us down, but even rolling it by hand wasn't very difficult. I also was lucky enough to have an assistant, Lauren, to do most of the sweaty labor. The results were predictably fantastic- fresh pasta really is the best. We also made pesto with purple basil from the back yard.

Food Processor Pasta
Adapted from James Beard "Beard on Pasta"

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon olive oil

For this recipe, use the metal blade attachment. Put flour and salt in the food processor work bowl. In a small bowl to the side, whisk olive oil and water. Feed this mixture into the food processor while it is turned on. If it is dry and not forming into a ball, add water just one drop at a time. You should not need very much at all. Once it forms into a ball, remove it from the f.p. and knead it for 5 minutes. I used my standing mixer for this, just to really geek out on my kitchen appliances. After kneading, wrap in plastic and chill for 1/2 hour or more. Then, roll it with your hand crank pasta roller, your kitchenaid attachment (lucky) or by hand, like me! We wanted wide ribbon noodles, but you can cut your pasta in whatever shape you'd like. Next I will make Jacky shaped pasta.