Cooking pasta at home usually means opening a box or bag of dried pasta, dumping it into some boiling water and waiting for up to 10 minutes. Why would anyone want to change this simple meal process and do it all by hand?

For several reasons actually. First in my mind is the taste. Nothing comes close to the almost melt in your mouth experience you get from homemade fresh pasta. The texture, taste and sauce combine to really elevate your dining experience, all because you took a few minutes to make it yourself. Pasta doesn’t have to be tasteless anymore.

The second reason is you can control what goes into your pasta. Do you love the taste of sun dried tomatoes or pesto or basil, well, you can add that into your own pasta as you make it. Want to use all organic ingredients? You can use organic semolina flour. You can even make your own blends of flours to use and experiment. For example, you could add some whole grain flour to increase the fiber content of the dough too.

The third reason is that homemade pasta takes less time to cook. It really is a fast food since most fresh pastas cook in only 3 minutes. Given that many boxed pastas need to be cooked 8 to 10 minutes, 3 minutes is a dream.

Now, you probably are thinking you agree with those 3 points but I bet you are thinking that making fresh pasta is really a chore. After all, those hand cranked pasta machines take too much counter space and make such a mess on your counter. And that leads to the last reason why there is no reason to settle for cardboard pasta anymore.

With new pasta attachments for the Kitchenaid mixers, making pasta is simpler and faster than boiling the big pot of water. It really is fast. You can go from a dry bag of flour to ready to cook pasta in less than 5 minutes. Seriously. All you do is place the flour in the bowl of the mixer with the recommended amount of water and beat until it resembles course meal. A great way to test the readiness of the mix is to squeeze a handful. If it holds together well and does not crack, then it is mixed enough. Next, simply popin your roller attachment.

Take a portion of the dough mix and form it into a disc about the size of a CD and about 1/4 of an inch thick. Set the roller setting to the widest gap and on the lowest mixer speed, feed the dough into the roller. Fold the dough in half and feed into the roller again. Repeat this about 4 to 7 times to allow for the gluten to develop and for the dough to become silky. Next, start thinning the pasta dough by using smaller and smaller gaps on the roller. Eventually you will get to a nice thickness (depends on what you are making). Now it is time to cut it. Replace the roller attachment with the cutter attachment and feed the dough through, again on the lowest speed. You now have homemade fresh pasta made in less time than it took me to boil my pot of water.

That really is as simple as it gets. The attachments are easy to clean. They are smaller than those manual crank models that require octopus like dexterity and they store easily in a drawer. There are attachments to make lasagna noodles, spaghetti, fettuccine, and even ravioli. So, there really is no excuse for not enjoying the taste and texture of fresh home made pasta, especially if you already own a KitchenAid mixer.

By: Marcy Givens

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The following is a small collection of some of my cheap pasta recipe’s which are a must for anyone on a budget.

I have found they are loved by children and adults alike.

Basic Pasta Sauce

1 Medium Onion Diced

1 Clove Garlic Diced

1 Can Chopped Tomatoes / Pasata Sauce

Good Pinch Oregano

Sautee the onion and garlic until soft add the tomatoes and oregano.
Depending on your tastes you can modify this recipe. I also add diced carrots, celery, green and red peppers (capsicums) and mushrooms and for the non vegetarians bacon pieces. Therefore insuring a good supply of vegetables. It helps to make a large batch then you can freeze it until required. I find plastic drinking cups covered with plastic wrap great as you use 1 for a couple of people or more depending on the amount of people you are cooking for.

Sausage Pasta Bake.

400g Pasta

500g Sausages

1 Medium Onion Diced

1 Can Condensed Tomato Soup /Chopped Tomatoes / Pasta Sauce

Pinch oregano

Fry the sausages, once cooked remove from the pan and slice into bite size pieces. Sautee the onion, once soft add the tomato soup and the oregano then add the sausage to the pan.
Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted boiling water, once cooked drain and rinse.
Mix the pasta into the sauce then place into an ovenproof dish, sprinkle with cheese and bake until golden brown.

Tuna Pasta

400g Pasta

1 400g Can Tuna

1 Medium Onion Diced

1 Can Mushroom Soup

Pinch Oregano

Sautee the onion until soft, add the soup then gradually add extra water or milk depending on your taste until the sauce reaches a creamy thickness. Add the can of Tuna (drained). Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted boiling water, drain and add to the sauce serve immediately.

Mushroom Pasta

400g Pasta

1 Medium Onion Diced

200g Mushroom Sliced

1 Clove Garlic Diced

Olive Oil

Sautee the onion, mushrooms and garlic in the olive oil.
Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted boiling water drain then stir in the onion and mushroom mixture.

Spaghetti Bake

400g Spaghetti

1 Can Tomato Soup/ pasta sauce

Pinch Oregano

1 Quantity of Cheese Sauce

Cook the spaghetti in salted water meanwhile heat the tomato soup add a pinch of oregano, once the pasta is cooked drain place in an oven proof dish and mix in the tomato soup. Meanwhile make or heat a quantity of cheese sauce then pour over the Spaghetti sprinkle with cheese and bake in the oven until golden. Serve immediately
My kids absolutely adore this.

Chicken Pasta

1 Large Chicken Breast diced

1 Medium Onion Diced

200g Mushrooms Sliced

1 Clove Garlic

1 Can Condensed Mushroom Soup

Pinch Oregano

400g Pasta

Sautee the chicken until brown add the onion, garlic and mushrooms once cooked add the mushroom soup plus extra water to make to a creamy consistency. Pinch of Oregano. Simmer for around 10 to 20 minutes to let the flavours infuse. Cook the pasta in salted water once cooked drain and serve immediately with the chicken sauce on top.

By: Emma Thompson

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