Some of my favourite memories from when I was little was playing chef in my nana and papa’s garden, instead of mud pies, my nana used to give me flour and water to mix and ‘cook’. Little did I know then that had I got the quantities right I could’ve made my own easy fresh pasta!
Now, ordinarily you’d use egg in a pasta recipe for that added richness, but if you don’t have any in the pantry or your vegan then this is the recipe for you.
It’s so simple and a great one to get the kids involved with.
From the pantry
- Plain flour
- Water
Get cooking
Firstly, decide how many people you’re making pasta for as that’s how many handfuls of plain flour you’ll need.
For arguments sake, we’ll do this recipe for two, so put two large handfuls of plain flour in a large bowl.
Mix in water a little at a time, you want to add just enough to bring it all together as a dough.
If the dough is really sticky add extra flour, if there is excess flour or the dough is very dry add a little extra water.
Once happy with your dough, knead it for a couple of minutes, or until smooth and shiny.
Dust your surface with flour, place the dough on it and grab a rolling pin, or a bottle.
Roll out your pasta until it’s about 2mm thick.
Give your rolled out pasta a good dusting of flour so that it doesn’t stick to itself, then loosely roll it up.
Use a sharp knife to slice it ½ cm thick, pick it up and toss your pasta ribbons with your hands to separate them.
As it’s fresh you’ll only need to cook it in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, then drain and toss with your chosen sauce.
Serve up and dig in!
Add a little colour
If you’re getting the kids involved, why not add a couple of drops of natural food colouring to your dough to make some rainbow pasta.
You might want to use gloves when kneading so the colour doesn’t stain your hands!