Knotted soup....aka more pasta!

Ok, watch out world, I'm a dough making machine now!

Matt told me about a soup his grandmother used to make, knotted soup. Pasta knots filled with fried onions and paprika. Sounded easy enough with my new found dough confidence!

To a saute pan, I added a finely chopped onion, a generous seasoning of paprika along with salt and pepper and watch the magic begin.  I love the smell of fried onions! Yum!

Since I never saw this being made before, I was going with my gut, and my gut had me making a big mess!
I rolled out dough and put ALL the onion mixture onto and then tried rolling it up...WHAT. A. MESS.  I was rolling about 2inches of dough, cutting it and trying to pinch it closed all the while onions were spewing out the ends and all over! Notice you will see no photos of said mess. :)  I wound up having to cook up more onions!

Finally, I figured out how to roll the dough with the mixture and not make a mess.  Use the onion mixture sparingly! That is the key! The photo below demonstrates a good amount.  I also rolled the dough out and cut it so that the piece I was working with was only about 6 or 7 inches wide.  Perfect length to roll and tie into a knot!

I made some pretty knots, and some not so pretty knots.  And maybe a few knots found their way into the trash! But all in all, I impressed myself and the soup turned out really well!  I made a basic chicken soup with chicken stock, onions, carrots, celery, potatoes and chicken to which I added the knots too.  I could have either used a larger pot or I should have only used  a quarter of the amount of vegetables that I did! Oh well, live and learn.

I'm pretty much obsessed now with all the possibilities of making my own...raviolis! Tortellini! Dumplings! Empanadas! Periogies! Stay tuned!

The onion mixture cooked up.

The rolled out dough with onion mixture ready to roll!

Pasta filled knots just a chillin'.

My soup almost cooked over! 

The finished dish! It really was delicious.  :)

Handmade pasta

I made pasta! And you know what?...it was pretty easy!

I have to admit, I was a bit worried! I was making it for a dinner for my parents and brothers, but I knew there was boxed pasta in the house if I really messed it up, so not all would be lost!

Turns out though, it worked out and it was quite tasty!

Most of the recipes you can find on the intent are relativity the same.  Pasta is flour, egg and a bit of oil. And elbow grease! Can't forget that!!

You can use all purpose flour, semolina flour, whole wheat flour...it really depends on what you want to do. I made 2 batches-one was half all purpose, half semolina and the other was all all purpose.  Honestly, I didn't taste much of a difference. Play around and see what you like best.

Serves 6
5 cups flour ( AP, semolina, mix)
6 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

On surface, mound flour. Make a well in the center of the flour and break the eggs into it along with the oil and salt.

Beat the eggs and oil and gradually add in the flour.  It will be sticky and goopy, but keep adding in flour until it all comes together and is no longer a sticky mess!  You should wind up with a ball of dough.

Place in a bowl covered with a towel, or wrap the dough call in plastic wrap.  Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

After time passes, pull up your sleeves and get ready to roll! Cut the dough ball in half, cover the other half so it doesn't dry out and get rolling! If you have a pasta machine or a Kitchen Aid with the pasta attachment, use that! If not, get your rolling pin and start rolling. Add flour to your pasta and rolling pin as needed so that nothing sticks.  Roll, roll, roll. You want it thin, but not sticking to your work surface thin. Use a sharp knife to cut it into strips.  Pile it up and toss it with some flour do it doesn't dry out.

Get yourself some boiling water, toss it in, give it a good stir to reduce sticking, (sticking is the enemy with pasta!!), and give it a good 3 to 4 minutes and you'll have yourself some handmade pasta.  And you know what, it's good. It's good and hearty and tastes extra good because you know you made it yourself.

I made a shrimp and scallop scampi and a tomato sauce for our dinner. Delicious! Also had eggplant caponata on crostini with ricotta. Yum! Recipe found here!:
http://katcooksbakeseats.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-little-italian.html


What's next?? Ravioli's!