After quite a big night out with my workmates last night, it's safe to say I'm feeling a little slow and perhaps a bit shady today. In times like this, while I don't feel like doing much, I still find pottering around the kitchen, quite a therapeutic and relaxing thing.
I may or may not have mentioned before but I love
Gennaro Contaldo, and it fills me up with warm fuzzies when I see him teamed up with
Antonio Carluccio, cooking and travelling through Italy on the TV series;
Two Greedy Italians. A couple weeks ago, Hubaloo Jase and I saw the Two Greedy Italians make a simple Silk Handkerchief Pasta mixed through with a hand pestled Basil pesto. It looked SO delish, and so simple... and best of all, all made by hand.
While I didn't have a massive appetite today, I was still determined to try this recipe out, and also was up for a mini Italian snack :) I have always find it daunting to make silky sheets of Italian Pasta, but this literally worked a treat...and it was my first attempt!
Gennaro also had a great tip for when you roll out the pasta. If you place the sheet of pasta at the edge of your table and lift the sheet up slightly, blow at it, and if your pasta sheet flutters, then it is silky and thin enough for cooking. If you find that rolling out a big sheet is proving too difficult to get the desired fluttery thinness, don't worry, tear up the big sheet into the handkerchief size sheets and you'll find it easier to roll out the smaller squares.
I'd have to say this was the healthiest hangover meal I've had! The easiest recipe to remember as well: 250gm 00 flour, 1 egg + 3 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of water maybe, and away you go. And since the pasta was fresh, boiling it up took mere minutes before flavouring and then devouring. While I only cooked up 6 handkerchief sheets, I will say the
whole 250gm 00 flour recipe will safely serve 2 hungry individuals for dinner or 4 people for an entree or snack. As I didn't have enough energy to pestle up some Basil Pesto, I flavoured mine with Truffle Oil, halved grape tomatoes, a few little Basil Leaves, toasted pinenuts and a good grating of Parmesan Cheese.
You can flavour this pasta with Pesto, or perhaps a Carbonara type sauce, or toss with some pan-fried Mushrooms and salty cubes of pancetta... mmm delish.
Now that I've had a little boost of confidence from this small pasta making experience, I think investing in a pasta making machine is on the horizon ;)
Hope you're all enjoying the weekend!
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