Just when you think you are getting the hang of something, you learn something new. Unfortunately, the ‘something new’ in this case falls into the ‘what not to do’ category. It tasted like a four year old snuck up my boiling water and squeezed a big glob of Elmer’s Glue into the pot. OK, it wasn’t that bad, but there was something amiss.
I’m pretty confident in my dough ratio: five eggs to four cups of flour. I let it rest for an hour, then roll it out with the pasta attachment on my KitchenAid. At this point, everything seems cool. Depending on what size pasta I want, I slice it differently. With this dish, I need it pretty skinny. For the KitchenAid cutter to work, the pasta needs a dry surface (not sticky). I throw on extra flour to help the process. Then, I tossed the pasta in extra flour to keep the strands separated. This extra flour made it’s way into the pasta pot. Depending on how much water I use, this can either be a non-issue or have a negative effect on the final dish. On this particular day, I needed more water.
The finished pasta was mixed with tomatoes, garlic and red pepper flakes that simmered in olive oil. Topped with Kocurec Family sausage, green onions and Parmesan cheese. A little extra salt and red pepper flakes righted the ship.