One of our favourite days growing up was Sunday. Not because it was the weekend, but because it meant a big family dinner with our grandparents. More often than not, this was a pasta feast with homemade sauce and meatballs. We loved being the mini-helpers and were always the designated taste testers! There's nothing quite like 'Grandma's spaghetti sauce'! Even though our extended family is dispersed across the country, the Italian in us is united when we make and enjoy Grandma's sauce.
Over the years, we've seen and heard about making your own pasta and have always been intrigued. We make our own sauce, why not try making our own pasta? So, that is exactly what we did! We thought this would be a perfect challenge to add to our 'Drive' - something we've always wanted to try.
Last week, we bought a pasta extruder/press from Home Outfitters. We contemplated buying a cheaper machine, but this one easily attaches to our Kitchenaid mixer and can make six different types of pasta. Today, Sunday afternoon, we tackled the pasta making process! Initially, it didn't go as smoothly as we had anticipated and we started doubted ourselves...but things did pick up!
The machine was very easy to use, all we had to do was put bunches of dough in the slot and it would automatically filter through in the desired shape. We chose to start with regular spaghetti noodles because they are classic. These noodles were very delicate, but it was fun to cut them at varying lengths (some were long, some were short)! We also tried the rigatoni cutter and made many rigatoni noodles which were really fun to watch fall. They were slightly easier and quicker to filter through the machine because they are thicker than spaghetti noodles.
After heating up some of our Mom's homemade pasta sauce (using Grandma's famous recipe), we cooked a combination of our spaghetti and rigatoni so that we could try both! Topped to perfection with parmesan cheese, we indulged in some pasta delight! We were really happy with the outcome. Although the texture and taste were rather different than store bought pasta, for our first try, we were impressed. We look forward to trying new recipes and the other pasta shapes. It's fun to be able to say that our entire meal was made from scratch - very satisfying!! Go ahead and try it - you'll be amazed at what you can do!
That's a wrap on our pasta making Sunday. It has been a day of reminiscing - bringing us back to our childhood and reminding us of our amazing travels in Italy!
Whatever your tradition may be, we hope you have your own version of our Sunday night dinner!
Buon appetito!!!!
