PASTA PRICE DOUBLES to 95p as cost of basics rises, there is a way to get cheaper pasta…
I buy pasta from the shop, its quick and easy. I rarely plan ahead with meals so in a rush or not, I know I can throw some water on top of some dried pasta and I’ve got something to start a meal. But with the price of pasta going up and the fact that when I buy a bag/box of pasta and have to pretty much use most of it to cook for 4 bellies, you start to realise its always in your trolley.
I usually put something with said pasta to give it some flavour even if its just sauce (or just butter if you’re my wife!??) because on its own its not really that tasty. The reason for that blandness is because what you’re eating is pretty much just flour, maybe a bit of salt. That’s mad really as roughly a half a cup of flour can make enough pasta for 3-4 portions.
(I’m not being American btw, I literally just grab a cup/mug out of the cupboard and pour flour in)
Now when I make pasta, I usually use eggs. Tastes better, feels better. However, like the store bought dried pasta, you can easily just use water, especially if you’re vegan. You can even use milk (animal or not), but if you’re thinking about proper cost saving, then water is fine, especially when you’re going to use it with a sauce. You can also just use general flour if that’s all you have. It will be a little bit heavier and denser in texture but will work all the same. I would say get some pasta flour if you start doing it regularly, it is ground finer and usually made with durum wheat. This will give you a smoother lighter dough and as a bonus its packed full of fibre, protein, potassium and zinc.
The great thing about making pasta with water, is that its a lot easier to dry and store for longer if you want to, however I’d argue you can make it in the same amount of time it takes to cook some store pasta.
If you want to give it a go…
First of all make sure you have your sauce or whatever you’re having with it ready to go, then..
– Simply pour some flour into a bowl (use half a mug or measure 60g if you want).
(Don’t have a bowl, just pour it onto your sideboard and make a little well in the middle)
– If you want to add a pinch of salt, go crazy.
– Then pour some water into that cup and slowly add it a bit of a time to the dough, mixing and balling it together with your hand.
– Now don’t worry if you have added too much water and its a sticky mess. Like the scales of justice you can just even up the balance with more flour. You want it so when you squeeze it in your hand it doesn’t feel sticky.
– Tip your not too sticky not too dry ball on to the side and start to knead it.
Don’t know how to knead, just squeeze it like a stress ball over and over, pummelling it into the sideboard like you’re angry at the gas company until it starts to become a little more smooth. Again tip more flour on it if it feels too wet.
– When you have a decent looking ball you can wrap it up (cling film, or in Tupperware, or in the bowl with something covering it) and put it in the fridge for a bit to rest whilst you clear up, and smile at the fact you have just made pasta. (5-10mins in the fridge is better, or longer if you’re making in advance. But if you’re up against the clock it doesn’t matter too much).
Now the hardest bit now is shaping or rolling it. For this easy pasta we’re going to make the quickest simplest pasta – Pappardelle. Obviously if you have a pasta machine, these are great at making light work of making thin sheets of pasta, however a rolling pin will suffice. I honestly have used a beer bottle to roll pasta before now.
Roll it
When you’re ready Get your dough out of the fridge, sprinkle some flour down, like you do with most doughs. Slice a piece of pasta off to start with, roll it in to a ball, put it on your flour and roll it out, as thin as you can get it. We’re talking a piece of paper thin. Reason being, when in the water the flour will expand more and become thicker, you don’t want a slab of pasta.
– Once your dough is rolled thin enough (don’t worry if you need more flour to keep it from sticking), you just want to cut it into strips. sprinkle some more flour on top to keep it as dry and not sticky as you can.
– Now you can use a knife, if your top will survive that. I use a pizza cutter, or if you wanna go all chef like, you can roll it up and cut it in strips (just make sure you flour the top). Either way, this does not have to be neat, and you can make any size or shapes you want with it.
Cook it
Then throw that on a plate and do the rest of the dough.
when you’re ready boil up some water and ‘sprinkle’ the pasta in, so it doesn’t clump together. This should only take about a 20 seconds to cook, usually in the amount of time it takes for the water to come to boil again.
Because you’re using water in the pasta instead of eggs and you have rolled it thin, it really does cook fast, try not to overcook it. Always pull a bit out and try it. once its done, its best to lift it out of the water into your sauce so a bit of the starchy water comes with it, it will help thicken your sauce.
That’s it… I actually over cooked my pasta, whilst trying to take pictures, but it still tasted decent. I did this in half hour at about 9.00 at night after getting back from the gym, which included taking pics and clearing away afterwards.
in a nutshell you’re just
– Mixing flour and water – to make a dough
– Pushing it together – so that gluten forms in the flour and holds it all together
– Rolling it out really thin
– Cutting it into strips
– Boil it
– Sauce it
– Eat it.
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Pasta made like this is actually perfect for sauces. A lot of Italian pasta in general is made to soak up the flavour of the sauce that it is rather than give flavour. The shaped pasta that you buy is designed to suck up and hold on to the sauce when you eat it.
You can make this pasta way in advance if you like. The ball of dough should keep in the fridge for a day or so if covered (best wrapped). Though you can make it all in to your desired shapes/strips then just leave it out to dry. Store it and cook it up when you’re ready.
Keep your pasta floured before cooking, all that flour will cook off and absorb in to the water. You often hear about this being ‘golden water’ or ‘magic water’ when cooking with pasta. It’s not its just water with flour in. The flour has released its starch and starch is great for thickening sauces.
You can also cook your pasta super quick (5 seconds in then out), rinse in cold water quickly then tub it up ready to use when you need it. Reheat it in boiling water to heat it and finish cooking it.
If you’re going experimental, why not add some herbs or spices to your flour before making.