Making Pasta

We have bought fresh pasta a few times from local places, but I always wanted to make my own. I asked my mother-in-law how to make it fresh and she said it was easy: 1 egg for every 100 grams (or a cup) of flour. Then one of my girlfriends told me just to knead it a lot before rolling it out. Yesterday  I decided to make some pasta, but I really didn't know what I was doing or how to start. I watched a few videos on Youtube but they were mainly from very precise British men and smoking older Italian women one hand on the spatula and the other on her cigarette...I needed someone who loved and knew how to make the real stuff! You can't just cook from detailed proportions, it is important to taste it and adjust as you go. And I wouldn't follow the advice of anyone disrespecting their food while they have cigarette ashes dropping next to the pan. So I listened to my gut, consulted my inner Italian fatty and asked her what to do, she said, "How do you think Italian cave women made pasta? They didn't go to culinary school or have Youtube, they just pounded out the dough the best they could to feed their families." Ah, problem solved. So, while debating if Italian cave women really existed or not I made some pasta. I would share the recipe if I had it but I just kind of winged it:

Finished Product: Tortelli di Ricotta e spinaci

It started with me saying "If I were from Naples how thick would my pasta be?" Then "Since we are making ricotta and spinach what proportions would taste right?" I ended up mixing half a cup of cooked chopped spinach with half a cup of good ricotta, and covered it with a layer of Parmesan cheese, mixed it all well then decided it needed some "noce moscata"...that I don't know in English it would be nutmeg I think. Ingredients get confusing when you read the labels in Italian. It needed an egg white to hold together. This was the process:

The yummy filling

Ok, I just put flour on the table, now what do I do?

???????????

Consulting my inner Italian fatty produced a kneaded smooth pasta ball

Cooking old school style

All stretched out and ready for the next step

Cutting the pasta in little squares

Ready to get a dollop of filling

My first tortelli

Dinner is ready!Tossed with butter, more Parmesan cheese and sage

 These little guys were not that hard to make. The most difficult part was rolling the pasta out but it was more time consuming than difficult. My dinner guests gave me rave reviews on this so I am happy with it. However, even though there is an Italian fatty in my soul, the American fatty outrules her and thinks that tortelli with veggies is weak. My inner American fatty prefers meat, red meat, and thinks that this recipe would be much more satisfying if made with ground beef, mozzarella, a tiny pinch of oregano and black pepper then served with a tomato sauce or a creamy mushroom sauce. Yum-o. Next time I recreate this I will take notes on the proportions and timing then share it.