Dried pasta and a can of tomatoes is a must have in your pantry at all times for a quick, delicious meal when you find yourself in a dinner bind. But, anytime you have a few extra minutes, you should make yourself a batch of fresh pasta. It’s not as hard as you think, and the results are beyond amazing. You don’t need any fancy ingredients or kitchen equipment, just a rolling pin, flour and eggs (which you should also have in your pantry at all times). Top off your fresh batch of noodles with any one of these amazing sauces that we just got in. La Favorita Sugo Antico tastes like you just picked the ingredients right from your garden, and La Favorita Pesto alla Genovese and Pesto al Pomodoro are fresh, bright and rich. Take the time to make your pasta fresh and leave the sauces to us. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 cups ‘00’ flour or all purpose, plus more for dusting

• 6 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon olive oil

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• warm water as needed

• La Favorita Sugo Antico *

• La Favorita Pesto alla Genovese *

• La Favorita Pesto al Pomodoro *

*Items with an asterisk can be found at The Cheese Shop of Salem.

Directions

1.     Add the flour to a large bowl, making a well in the center of the flour. Add the eggs, olive oil  and salt to the well. Beat the egg mixture with a fork until fluffy, and slowly begin incorporating the flour from the sides of the well. The egg mixture will become thicker as more flour is beaten in. Continue mixing in this manner until the dough starts to form a ball and most of the flour is mixed in. Using your hands, work in any remaining flour, adding a tiny amount of warm water if the dough is starting to bind too much to be pliable.

2.     Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Knead and form into a final ball, dust with flour and cover with a towel. Allow the dough to rest for at least 30 minutes, up to 3 hours at room temperature.

3.     Cut the dough into 4 pieces, keeping the pieces that you’re not working with covered.  Flour your work surface and begin to roll the dough out into a rectangle.  Continue to dust the dough and work surface with flour to prevent sticking as you roll the dough out into a very thin sheet.  The dough should be transparent enough to see your hand and to see large text through. 

4.     Either free hand or with a straight edge, cut the pasta sheet into strips using a pizza cutter.  Favorite pasta noodle widths are:  Spaghetti 1/8”, Tagliatelle 1/4”, Paperdelle 1/2”, Lasagna 4”.  

5.     Dust noodles with flour and nest them in piles on a sheet pan. Allow to rest at room temperature 15 minutes before cooking, in the refrigerator up to 2 days, or in the freezer up to 2 months.  

Serves 4