That's Amore!

Today was my first attempt at homemade pasta; I have been meaning to try this for a while now. It took a few hours but it was fun and tasty. 

 First, I gathered all the ingredients and setup the pasta machine.

Then, I made the pasta dough.  You have to slowly incorporate the flour into the pool of eggs in the center.  This is much harder than it sounds.  In spite of my constant kneading, the dough stayed pretty flaky.

You can see the flaky texture of the dough.  Also, it was very tough and hard to knead.  Once it is mixed it has to be wrapped in cling-wrap and let set at room temperature for 30 minutes.  It was much more cohesive after that and it had a more elastic quality.

Finally, the fun part! The dough has to be divided and rolled through the machine about 20-30 times (at different roller widths) to make long thin sheets.

The sheets are then passed through the noddle cutters and out comes fettuccine.

I found a great recipe on Epicurious.com (originally from Gourmet Magazine) for a pancetta and sun dried tomato cream sauce to showcase my homemade fettuccine.  At last, it was time to eat!  A little garlic bread...a little Pinot...yum...

My pasta making skills need some work but it was a good first try.  I feel so gourmet.  Maybe my skills will improve enough to impress my Italian in-laws.