I finally did it friends. I purchased a hand-crank pasta roller, the famed Marcato Atlas 150 machine. And sure, some may say that it's just another kitchen tool that I may not use (cough, cough ice cream maker), but after my first use, I knew this machine is going to get a lot of use in our kitchen.
First, it's incredibly easy to use. Incredibly intuitive. Second, it makes pasta making SO FAST. I am used to the laborious, hand rolling of my pasta sheets, which has had me shy away from making pasta more than once a year or so. This smooth moving pasta roller almost makes homemade pasta a weeknight appropriate dish.
For this inaugural pasta machine attempt, I used the King Arthur Flour Italian Style Flour Blend (their version of 00) and their accompanying pasta recipe. I made two slight modifications – I let the eggs come to room temperature before starting the dough (tip from the Marcato guide) and I used the flour well method to incorporate the eggs into the flour.
After the dough rested, the fun began! I have to admit I was nervous I would break the machine before getting started, but once I got over that fear, it really almost rolled itself!
I first used a test piece, as instructed by the manual, to go through the roller and cutter settings to clean the machine. And then I got started with the "real" dough, having it go through the thickest setting several times before feeding it through the tighter roll settings. Each progressive roll through the machine required a good dusting of flour on each side to make sure there wasn't any sticking to the machine.
And then through the machine one last time for the cutting of the strips, which was really, really fun.
The pasta then cooked really quickly – about 3.5 minutes – in a pot of well-salted boiling water.
The noodles were springy, salty, and really delicious after they were cooked. I was almost tempted to eat them plain!
I decided though to use the sauce I had been cooking while the pasta was resting, a butternut squash sauce that will be posted later this week. The final product was fantastic. The noodles took to the thick sauce well, and it was really a delight to eat these chewy, well-salted, and silky noodles.
Thank you, thank you Marcato for your product!
Leave a Reply