Lemon Pepper Fettuccine

I love Italian Cuisine. One of the things I love is fresh pasta. Making your own pasta is a satisfying way to work with your hands to create something delicious from ingredients you choose from your pantry. This is my first try at making pasta, and I think it came out pretty nice. There are so many ways to make homemade pasta these days, but I wanted to start out by taking a basic pasta recipe and putting together some wonderful flavors for my first attempt.  

Kitchen Tools to Make Homemade Pasta

• My hands ( smile )
• KitchenAid 2-piece pasta cutter set. Includes Pasta Roller and Fettuccine Cutter.
• One of my wine racks is to hang the pasta to dry. This tool was a last-minute creative drying rack. In my next pasta-making adventure, I will have the real thing, and that is “Pasta Drying Rack”. 

Basic Pasta Recipe

• 1 ½ cups (350 grams) Pasta Flour, Unbleached All-Purpose, or Semolina. (I used Semolina for this recipe.)
• 3 large eggs @ room temperature
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice ( about the juice of 1 lemon)
• ¼ cup grated lemon zest ( about 3 lemons)
• 2 teaspoons freshly milled black pepper

You will need extra flour for dusting your board and pasta roller/cutter. Also, add an extra 1 or 2 tablespoons of water to make a softer, pliable dough that’s easy to roll.

Steps

  

1.     Place flour in the center of your pastry mat, large wooden board, or other work surface. You may also use a large bowl. Form a flour volcano with a crater or hole in the middle.

2.     Combine eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and pepper in a medium-sized bowl, blend well, then pour the mixture into the crater.

3.     With your hands, begin to incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim.

4.     Once the flour has been incorporated and the mixture has formed a mass of dough, transfer the dough to a floured work surface.

5.     Keep incorporating the flour, turning the dough mass over several times while kneading so that the moist side of the dough is exposed to the floured surface, making sure the flour will be absorbed. Scrape up and discard any leftover hard bits of dough.

6.     Use the heel of your palm to push the dough down and away, and then fold the edge back over the top to keep a round dough ball. Do this process for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth.

7.     Now let the dough take a rest for about 30 minutes.

Now set up your KitchenAid Mixer with pasta roller attachment, then cut your dough into four (4) sections and flatten each section with a rolling pin. Be sure to keep your working surface dusted with flour. No, dust your pasta roller with flour and then feed your pasta into the roller. (You may follow the instructions supplied by the manufacturer.)

Once you complete the rolling of your pasta, then change out the pasta roller attachment with the Fettuccine attachment to make your pasta strips.