Home made Pasta Noodles

Searching for the perfect pasta recipe! One that that is tasty and  tender and doesn't take forever to cook! Delicious homemade noodles are a favourite memory of my childhood.. My husband follows recipes precisely as he did with Michael Smith's homemade pasta recipe

Ingredients

• 4 cups flour 
• 6 eggs
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

After many tries, we found the dough was too difficult to work as not very soft or tender to roll out or work through the pasta maker.. The noodles took for ever to cook and certainly with 6 eggs in the mix, not the tastiest!

Michael Smith did comment "Cook until the pasta floats to the top, 3 minutes or so. It should be al dente, cooked through but still chewy." 

I grew up with home made noodles. Homemade chicken soup with tender, plump, yellowish, perfectly hand cut noodles floating on the broth with a garnish of green parsley was my favourite!

I never saw my mom making noodles as she made this during the day when we where in school.. We would come home from school to see sheets of thinly rolled out dough draped on clean tablecloths hanging on doors to dry. The next day we would see the dining room table covered with floured cut noodles on a tablecloth to dry!

Sadly, when I used up the last package  of my Mom's homemade noodles frozen in my deep freeze, I cried! I never did have her recipe, just knew when there was an extra supply of eggs from the farm, she made  noodles to freeze!

I was determined to make great tasting noodles.. 

I convinced my husband to use my Aunt Mary's recipe 
5 extra large eggs
5 cup flour
1 cup hot water 

 

The dough was easy to handle, making a soft ball! It rolled out well in the pasta maker, but bunched and did not go through the blades to make noodles. Since everyone was hungry, some of the dough was rolled out, cut into strips, dusted with flour and then cut into small julienne pieces.  The rest of the dough was refrigerated. The noodles cooked quickly in the boiling water.

The youngest food critic loved the noodles with a little butter and parmesan cheese!

The birthday boy said "It was Freaking awesome!"

The next day, the rest of the dough was placed through the pasta maker armed with tons of flour which was used to dust the sheets of pasta and flour was sprinkled on the blades to make Fettucini!

Success with extra dusting of flour!

Last picture is nostalgic with memories of mom making noodles!

Pickled Grapes

My brother had an abundance of Concord grapes at the front of his house this fall.  I made him concentrate  juice for jelly from some of the grapes.  I decided to pickle a few bunches of the grapes and leave them on the stems.  

 I used the recipe with ginger and jalapeño peppers. The jalapeño peppers were from his garden. I picked up what I thought was crystallized ginger, only to find out it was pineapple!  

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 10 whole cloves
• 1/4 cup crystallized ginger
• 2 medium jalapenos, diced
• 1 bunch green or red seedless grapes, 

Having seen the above pictures, my daughter requested some jars to give as Christmas gifts for her friends, I used the following recipe with peppercorns and to one of the jars included crystallized ginger.. I also added 2 dried chilies to the brine! I also left the grapes on the stems and it was difficult to pack tightly, therefore didn't to mix up 2 batches of brine

1 pound red or black grapes, preferably seedless
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 (2 1/2-inch) cinnamon stick, cut in half
1/4 teaspoon salt