Homemade Pasta with Sizzled Sage

As I'm sure you've noticed in the past few weeks, the posting has slowed down a bit... I hinted to why and some of you knew exactly what was happening.

Yup! Again... I know - don't say it! At least I don't think we're moving to another state this time... hee hee! If the house sells, and who knows what will happen in this market, we are planning on jetting closer to downtown to cut down on Jeff's commute time and to have access to more things to do. So, when we have a showing or an open house, it's hard to get a post up and ready... hence the little slowdown.

Okay... let's get back to what you are here for! We've been growing sage for the first time this year and even though I've dried a bunch of it with our dehydrator, the plant just won't slow down! In looking for recipes to incorporate the fresh leaves in, I found this Homemade Pasta with Sizzled Sage which sounded too good to pass over.

Ever since I was gifted that pasta machine, I've definitely been more attuned to finding recipes that would put it to use and this recipe uses the machine twice! The dough for this pasta starts in a stand mixer, but is finished by using the strength in my hands to bring it together with a good kneading. Rich with a whopping seven egg yolks, the dough only has two other ingredients - flour and salt! Don't toss out those leftover whites either - save them in the freezer and make an angel food cake later on! When the trio are added in the mixer, you'll want to beat them until the flour begins to moisten and looks like loose wet sand. Scooped out onto the counter, the dough is kneaded until the sand-y flour turns to a stiff, cohesive dough that isn't sticky. If the dough seems crumbly or dry, you may want to sprinkle in water, a little at a time, until it turns the tide.

To make it easier to work with, let this yellow-stained ball sit at room temperature, well wrapped, for about half an hour - this will relax the gluten and help the dough along through the pasta machine. Unless you have a giant machine, you'll want to split the dough into three pieces before running each through the rollers - you will be going from the widest setting all the way down through the thinnest the machine has for a paper thin sheet of dough. To get full use out of the pasta machine, the sheets are then fed through the spaghetti attachment to create an exquisite mound of golden noodles.

While we waited for a large pot of salted water to come up to a full rolling boil, we melted a few pats of butter and tossed in the fresh sage leaves to crisp up. The leaves are fairly flimsy once they hit the heat, so try and not fuss around once they are in - just turn them over once through the cooking process. Pick the leaves out when they are ready, leaving the infused melted butter in the skillet to keep warm, and set them on a plate to be added to the dish in a bit.

If you've never cooked with fresh pasta before, one thing you may not realize is just how fast it cooks. Instead of the eight to 10 minutes dried pasta cooks in, this batch literally takes just one minute to cook through - any longer with these thin strands and you risk losing that sought after al dente texture. Before you drain away the cooking liquid, set aside a rough third cup - this will be added, along with the melted butter, to simply dress the pasta and keep it moist. Seasoned with salt and plenty of fresh ground black pepper, we served the pasta family style with a scattering of the crispy sage and a shower of fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

While cheese is always welcome and an ounce might not seem like a lot, don't go too crazy with adding extra - a little at the table is good, but you want to let the work you did to prepare the delicate, yet sturdy pasta to be the star. Which is why all this needed was the soft, savory essence of the sage hitting your tongue and that slick coating of butter to keep the strands separate. Creating homemade pasta like this doesn't need to be scary or difficult - in fact, it might be a good activity for little helpers to join in with!

Recipes
Homemade Pasta with Sizzled Sage