Fresh Pasta

Place about 1 cup of flour in a bowl (or a mound on your pastry board) and form a hollow in the center. Break the egg into the hollow. Add a small amount of salt (depending on your prefrences) and about 1 tsp oil. Mix with a fork until you have a ball of dough. You may not use all of the flour. The dough should be moist but handleable. Turn the dough out onto a floured pastry board/sheet/counter, etc., and knead until smooth and elastic (I will often put the entire recipe in my Kitchen Aide mixer & let the dough hook do the work!). Cover the dough with a towel and let rest for 15-30 minutes. This makes it easier to handle when rolling and cutting. At this point, you can either use your pasta roller/cutter machine or do it the old-fashioned way and roll it with a rolling pin. Roll the dough until it is quite thing (depending on what you prefer for your pasta). You may want to divide the dough instead of doing it all at once. I use a pizza cutting wheel to cut the dough if I am not using my pasta roller/cutter. You can then either cook it immediately in rapidly boiling water or broth, or let it dry a while. If you want to store it for any length of time, you will need to let it dry completely or freeze it (I prefer to freeze). If you are drying it, you will need to have an air-tight container to store it in, or it will mildew. Be sure to dust with flour prior to any long-term storage. This recipe is usually enough for 2-3 people. It can be increased as desired quite easily. Adding 1 egg means another cup of flour, etc. The size of the egg will be important - I usually use extra large. PS: this recipe is husband and child approved (that covers both the Navy & the Marines!). Once you try it, never ask them for a preference - you'll be making pasta forever!