Homemade, Handrolled Garganelli

 

This is the summer of homemade cooking adventures. Well, homemade cooking adventures are  pretty typical of our household. But this summer I am being more deliberate about what I am cooking with R and D.

I decided that I wanted to make homemade pasta with them this week. Here's how the conversation went...

C: This is a skill you should have, boysies.

D: Seriously, Mom. We can buy a bag of pasta at Trader Joe's for a dollar.

C: Well, you should make it at least once.

R: Exactly once.

They were still good sports, rolled up their sleeves, and washed their hands. A quick note: I initially called this 'penne' but my friend who is from Italy and owns a local Italian restaurant saw my photos and said it was 'garganelli.' 

I pulled our my encyclopaedia of pasta and learned the differences between penne and garganelli. While both are tube-shaped with diagonal ends, penne is extruded and garganelli is rolled; that difference results in no seam for the former and a seam for the latter. Also the ridges on penne run parallel to the length and the ridges on garganelli are perpendicular. 

Though homemade pasta takes a little bit of technique, it requires very few ingredients.

Ingredients makes 4 to 6 servings

• 2 cups pasta flour plus more for dusting
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• Also needed: plastic wrap, rolling pin, gnocchi board and dowel, baking sheet

Procedure

Place flour in a heap on a clean workspace. Use a measuring cup or just create a hollow in the flour.

Break eggs into the hollow. Sprinkle in the salt. Use a fork to incorporate the eggs into the flour. Add in the olive oil. Knead into a smooth dough, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

After the dough has rested, cut the disc into quarters. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough as thin as you can by hand, approximately 1/16".

Slice the dough into rectangles.

Place the rectangle on the gnocchi board. Use the dowel to roll the rectangle into tube. Press firmly to seal the seam of the tube.

Place rolled garganelli on a baking sheets. Dust them with more flour so they don't stick.

To cook, drop the fresh garganelli into boiling water. Boil until they float to the surface - just a minute or two. Drain and toss into your favorite sauce.

We tossed this into a pink (tomato and cream) sauce and topped it with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

That's all there is to homemade garganelli. It's doubtful that they will make this again, but I will! Stay tuned...I used another batch in my Big Night-inspired timpano. D's complaint for that dish was that it was a waste to hide beautiful homemade pasta inside a drum.