Home made *Pasta Affair*

Something along the lines of a previous post "Pizza a la **Pazzala**", heres some instructions for making your very own pasta....so easy and most delish!

Ingredients for Basil Pesto Pasta

Pasta: 

500g cake flour

5 eggs

(makes enough for 5 people, work on the basis of 100g flour & 1 egg per person)

Sauce:

200ml Basil Pesto (1 1/2 packets of Ina Parman's works well!

100 g mushrooms

50g fresh basil

100g fresh rosa tomatoes

1 onion

olive oil (for frying)

pinch of salt

Step 1: Get yourself a pasta machine (@Home for R250 or see your nearest Antique store)

Step 2: Mix Flour & Eggs together and knead.

Step 3: When mixture reaches an even consistency, wrap in cling-film and put into the fridge for 30 minutes

Step 4: Break mixture into smaller, more manageable balls and start putting it through the machine. Use the setting to thin out the pasta mixture (usually has settings 1-7, start with the thickest and work your way to the thinnest).

Step 5: Start putting the thin sheets of pasta through your choice of spaghetti/linguine settings, making sure to keep flouring each side of the pasta. Once the pasta is in "strings" use a stick/broom to wrap the pasta over to dry

If your feeling a little more creative, add some food colouring to the mixture :)

Step 6: Begin getting your sauce ingredients ready. Chop the basil, mushrooms and tomatoes and fry in a pan with a little olive oil.  Keep aside to add to the final product:

Step 7: Fill a large pot with enough water for the pasta and leave to boil (add some salt and olive oil). Add the pasta and cook for 5 minutes, or until al dente (throw a piece agains the wall, if it sticks, the pasta is ready!)

Step 8: Drain the pasta & add the basil pesto and the rest of the ingredients and voila! Pasta at it's finest! :)