How to make Fresh Pasta with THE Best Alfredo Sauce

Finding the best recipe for fresh pasta isn’t easy but once you get a hold of one that has the right texture and tastes great, you’ll hang on to it forever.

I’m pretty sure I’ve found the one for me and now I’m sharing it with you.

Getting the ratio of dry ingredients to wet is the toughest thing to get right in making fresh pasta. The dough for pasta is very dense and difficult to work with by hand. In this day and age, we’ve got so many kitchen gadgets available that make the job much easier. Using different techniques calls for recipe adjustments, in my opinion.

After much trial and error, I found that 2 eggs plus the yolk of another along with a tablespoon of olive oil mixed in with 1 and 3/4 cups of “00” flour and 1/3 cup of semolina flour worked best for the food processor method. That extra egg yolk gives a nice finish to the dough.

Using the food processor to combine everything takes the shoulder work out of the way. Just pulse the ingredients together until you get a crumbly mixture that holds together when pinched.

Dump the mixture onto a work surface and bunch it together, giving it a minute of kneading. Wrap the dough tightly in some plastic and let it sit for 30 minutes. That gives the gluten in the flour time to get to work. When you unwrap the dough, it’ll be very easy to work with.

The fun part!

You’ll need a pasta machine to get your dough thin enough to make noodles. I’m using the pasta maker attachment made for the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. On the side of any pasta machine, there’s a dial that has numbers 0-9. 0 is the widest setting and that’s where you’ll start.

To keep the dough manageable, cut it into four pieces and work with one piece at a time. Keep the ones you’re not working with covered with the plastic until you’re ready to roll them through.

Flatten the piece of dough with a rolling pen and make sure the dial is set to zero on your machine. Turn the machine on speed 4 and send the dough through.

Fold the dough over to even it up and send it through on the zero setting again.

Turn the dial up a notch to 1 and send the dough through again. Continue turning the dial up a notch and sending the dough through until you reach the thinness you want on your pasta.

I’m making fettuccine here and the highest setting I went to was 5, which is pretty much the standard thickness for noodle shapes like spaghetti, lasagna and fettuccine. For ravioli, you’d go a notch or two thinner.

Once you have your pasta sheets rolled out, dust them with a little flour on both sides and fold them. Lay them on a tray and cover with a damp paper towel to keep them from drying out.

After you have all the dough rolled out, change the attachment to the cutting size you want. Just like when rolling the pasta, you’ll turn the speed to 4 and send each sheet of dough through.

As the noodles come through catch them about half way and hold until they’re finished being cut.

Give  them a little twist when you lay them back on the tray and cover with the damp paper towel while you finish the rest.

When you’re pasta is all cut, it’s ready to cook. The terrific thing about making it fresh is that it only takes about 3 minutes to cook. Just boil some water with a little salt for seasoning and drop the noodles in. They’ll come out with a nice texture and flavor. Now all you need is a great sauce. You can try my fantastic marinara or have a gander at today’s featured Alfredo sauce. My crew LOVES this one.

For the Alfredo sauce, you’ll need heavy whipping cream, butter, garlic, salt and Parmesan cheese. And, I’m just gonna go ahead and tell you, I totally cheat by using cream cheese. It makes the sauce have the perfect consistency and gives it a straight up boost in flavor.

If ever you need to thicken a white sauce or a creamy soup, cream cheese is the best secret weapon. Just the facts, man.

Simply heat the cream, garlic and butter until the butter melts over med/low in a sauce pan.

When the mixture just starts to look like it’s going to bubble, add the Parmesan and cream cheese. Heat through and stir until the cream cheese is completely melted and it’s done. Simple, huh?

Serve over your fresh pasta and enjoy!

We don’t have this sauce very often because it is heavy but when we do, it gets devoured because it’s so scrumptious. That little bit of garlic makes it SO tasty and the cream cheese makes it nice and creamy. It hugs the noodles perfectly.

Served over freshly made pasta? Oh, yeah! Now you’re talking, “let’s dig in!”

I hope you’ll try making your own fresh pasta. It’s a pretty entertaining deal and definitely give the sauce a try. It’ll be a favorite for you and your crew, too.

Fresh Pasta with THE Best Alfredo Sauce

Connie Taylor

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Servings 6 - 8 Servings of pasta and sauce

Ingredients

  

• Fresh Pasta
• 1 3/4 C "00" flour
• 1/3 C semolina flour
• 2 eggs plus 1 yolk
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Alfredo Sauce
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 garlic clove minced fine
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp butter not margarine
• 1/4 C Parmesan cheese grated
• 4 oz cream cheese cut into chunks

Instructions

 

• Fresh Pasta
• Place the flours in a food processor and pulse.
• Add the eggs and olive oil.
• Pulse until combined and crumbly.
• Pour the mixture onto a clean surface and bunch together.
• Knead the dough for about one minute.
• Cover with plastic tightly and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
• Cut the dough into quarters.
• Working with one piece at a time (keep the others covered) press the dough out with a rolling pen so that it's thin enough to go through the largest setting on the pasta maker.
• Run the dough through on the lowest setting and fold to even the shape into a rectangle.
• Run through the lowest setting again.
• Turn the dial on the pasta maker to the next setting and run the dough through.
• Continue turning the dial to the next setting and running the dough through until you reach the 5th thickness setting on the dial.
• Dust the pasta sheet with flour on both sides lightly.
• Fold and cover with a damp paper towel until ready to cut.
• Proceed with the other pieces of dough.
• Once all the dough is made into sheets, run them through the pasta cutter of your choice to make the noodles.
• Place the noodles on a tray and cover with the dampened paper towel until ready to cook.
• To cook, boil a large pot of water with salt for seasoning.
• Drop the noodles in and cook for 3 minutes.
• Strain and serve with sauce.
• Alfredo Sauce
• Place the cream, garlic, salt and butter in a large sauce pan.
• Heat on med/low until the mixture begins to bubble.
• Do not allow to boil.
• Stir in the Parmesan and cream cheese.
• Heat through and stir until the cream cheese is completely melted.
• Serve hot over cooked pasta.

Notes

happybellyfoodie.com

Summary

Recipe Name

Fresh Pasta with Alfredo Sauce

Published On

2021-05-18