Time to Make the Pasta

Food.  We love food.  It's beyond "foodie-ism," it's more like, life.  Like air.  And in a really healthy way.  We just love everything about it, we love to shop for it, to discover different ways to prepare the surprises we receive in our CSA share, making it, sharing it with others, and--of course--eating it. The more time we spend doing all of this the more time we want to spend doing it and the more we learn. It's a beautiful, wonderful, self-perpetuating cycle.

One of our recent forays into the world of fresh food has been to learn about and make pasta from scratch.  It turns out it's dead easy.  I highly recommend it.  Warning notice: once you start you won't want to turn back--seriously. We were first inspired by our dear friends, Gary & Gary, when we stayed with them for Christmas in Scotland a couple of years ago.

 The master chef.

The girls getting to help about a bit (I actually think this was desert but, whatevs).

Two of my very favorite people--I wish we were closer, alas...All the same, this picture, taken by Aoife, makes my heart happy.

Anyway, ever since that trip James has been talking about getting a pasta maker.  So, when one of my other absolute favorite people in the world, Jenny over at The Cookbook Junkies, offered up an Imperia pasta maker I jumped at the opportunity to call it ours.  So, the hand crank machine, along with a beautiful book, Flour + Water (Pasta), were James "big present" this year.

We got to work right away...

 Mix it up, bang it up, put it in a pot...

 Okay, maybe roll it out first.

 Gotta get creative in small spaces.

 We've made two kinds of pasta so far.  Tagliatelle and ravioli--both, a-mazing.

Forgive my light, my kitchen is kind of dark but the pasta is so pretty it almost compensates.  It also turns out that fresh pasta like this is way more hardy that I ever would have imagined.  Hearty too, but not as in too filling.  Hmmm, interesting, I am going to have to think about that one more...

One of the final products:  fennel and arugula + lemon cream tagliatelle.  Crazy!  It's a big hit with everyone in the house.

So, after a test run with Grandma and Grandpa, the natural next thing to do was have a pasta making party with our best friends, the Noguès family.

 Let's get this party started.

 Such great little helpers.

Omg, how I love these little princesas!

We had a great time and we ate so well.  The filling in the ravioli that day was roasted carrot with mató cheese + brown butter sage and walnut sauce.  I am writing it down as a first attempt at archival, I need to make it again and actually write things down, like quantities and everything (wait, who?  me?), because it's a recipe well worth sharing.

Anyway, in addition to an update about King's Day, because yes we are still celebrating that, expect to see a little more about food in the near future.  I mean, we're actually getting a black radish in our CSA share this week, so WTF? am I going to do with that?  I am pleased to let you know I already have several ideas in the works and am excited about trying them out.  I'll let you know.

In the meantime, una abraçada ben forta y bon profit, bon profit, bon profit a tots.

XO