Our friends at Mangia Mangia, Angela and Teresa have written a fantastic book that celebrates Southern Italian Cooking & recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. You'll see some great YouTube footage which beautifully captures the essence of their book. We just love watching them make pasta!
What better way to honour homemade tomato sauce or passata, than eating it with homemade pasta! Once you have eaten homemade pasta, it really is very hard to go back to store bought dried pasta or "fresh pasta" from the supermarket. Well, actually, that's not necessarily true. I don't think there is such a thing as "bad" pasta! Couldn't you just eat pasta 3 times a day, 7 days a week, whether it was dried or fresh? I definitely could! Or is that just me?
Anyway, back to homemade pasta. Making it at home is a labour of love, but it can also become a family affair, including all the children in the process. It can also give new meaning to Sunday night dinners with the family, when you all come together to share a meal that is made together. It's much lighter and tastier than dried and store-bought pasta, and it cooks faster. It's also more nutritious since no preservatives are added.
Don't be afraid of the thought of making it yourself. You will get the feel of the dough and you'll get used to how your machine works. With a bit of practice, there are no limits either with what you can do when you get the hang of it. Shapes, colours, flavours and textures.
One handy tip includes using the right flour! We recommend using "OO" flour. Letting the dough rest at room temperature for up to half an hour beforehand. And making a well in the centre of the flour for the egg, oil and salt, for mixing the ingredients in preparation of kneading the dough.
The simplest way to make pasta is with a pasta machine. You can use a manual machine and turn the handle or you can attach to motor to the machine for ease and efficiency. We have an extensive range of pasta machines and accessories, and something to meet everyone's needs.
Later in the year we will be running Pasta Making Workshops, from Basic Pasta Making, Shapes Pasta Making and Colours. Our Pasta Making Workshops are hands-on workshops and very social. You'll get to sample the pasta at the end of the night and take some home to share. Check out some photos on Facebook from our Pasta Courses last year. I'll keep you posted with the new dates.
In the meantime, if you want to get started, here is a great article on the history of Italian pasta making, some great recipes and handy tips.
If you or a family member/friend are serious about learning to make good quality wine at home, then you will love our Advanced Wine Making Workshop. It runs over 6 nights from March until August and covers all the stages of the wine making process. The normal price is $499.00. Our special offer for you is $350.00 if you mention this email when booking. Places are limited, so don't miss out.
We also have a couple of places left for our Sausage Making Workshops on the 2nd March, 2013 at both our Clayton and Reservoir stores.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates, recipes, events and articles and specials.
Looking forward to sharing more news from the team at Home Make It.
Have a great weekend...and, all the best for those spending the weekend (like me and my family) making fresh tomato sauce and lots of it :)
