Homemade Pasta

I finally did it! I taught myself how to make homemade pasta, and you know what? It's totally worth all the hard work.

​I mean, kneading the pasta dough is a legit workout people. Seriously. Your girl was in a full on sweat over here.

For the recipe I went with Chef Anne Burrell's. It's perfection.

Not only is homemade pasta delicious, but it just might be a solution to your "gluten intolerance."
Big Strong Handsome has a gluten intolerance, and typically gets sick after eating foods with gluten. We've found, though, that the "cleaner" the food, the less he gets sick. I recommend finding a "clean" 00 flour and semolina flour that hasn't been processed to death or created with toxic chemicals. After eating my homemade pasta, the only side effect Big Strong Handsome had was a big smile on his face! That's right. No sickness. Turns out, it's not the gluten that causes the intolerance. It's the way we process and grow our food. ​

The first time we made it, we were all so excited. To make it extra fun, I decided to serve it as a tasting dinner with 3 different sauces:  traditional tomato basil sauce, pesto, and a parmesan cream sauce. The favorite overall was hands down the parmesan cream sauce. And the ingredients are, are you ready for this...

• about 7 oz. freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano 
• 1 cup or so of pasta water
• a pat of unsalted butter

That's it! I take the pasta directly from the boiling water, and into a separate pan over low heat. I add a handful of cheese, then a splash of pasta water, gently incorporate, and alternate until I've used almost all of the cheese. (I like to save a little to garnish the pasta just before serving.) If you make this, get the real Parmigiano Reggiano. Please, please, please don't buy the pretend stuff that's already grated and mixed in with a bunch of anti-caking ingredients. I promise it makes a difference.

Now, sometimes I take the time to make homemade tomato basil sauce, which is a pretty long process and usually involves a couple glasses of wine, and lots of Italian music. Other times, I reach for my favorite jarred sauces by Michaels of Brooklyn. They're so good y'all, and look at that ingredient list on the label! Yes! To make it even better, I can easily pick them up at Publix or order online.

If you're feeding a large group, like I sometimes do, you might want to serve your pasta with my delicious baked meatballs. It's the perfect pairing... other than a nice glass of cabernet sauvignon, of course.