Making Pasta With My Father & The Simple Recipe

I wasn't sure what to buy my father in honor of Father's Day, and I like my gifts to be meaningful. So I thought that instead of purchasing something just for the sake of having a gift, I would choose to spend time with him and have the memory of doing something fun together. We've spoken of making homemade pasta sometime, so I thought that this Father's Day weekend would be the perfect time to invite my folks over and pencil that in to do. We discovered that it's something quite easy to make and tasty to eat! I had fun taking pictures along the way to document our happy, pasta making memory. But first, here's the recipe:

Now, here are the photos of the process from start to finish! 

Beating the eggs.

Adding the flour and salt.

Mixing to make the dough.

 Dough in the final stage.

We floured the counter, and also coated the dough with flour. Then we kneaded it, rolled it into a ball, coated the counter again with more flour and began rolling out the dough.

  

And rolling....(it tends to want to keep shrinking back!)

My Father - the star of the show!

  
Yes, more rolling, and more flouring on the underside to ensure that the dough wouldn't stick to the counter.

  

 Now the dough was thin enough to start making the pasta strips.

We didn't want the pasta too long, so we divided the dough in half to make strips from the top and bottom halves.

  

Using the ruler and a pizza cutter worked fantastic!

Some of the pasta noodles

 (The total batch makes enough for 4 people)

Pasta at the start of the cook time. Once you put it in the pot, immediately stir it to prevent the noodles from sticking together.

Near the end of the cook time. See how the pasta expanded?

Pasta drained and ready to be plated up. We coated it with a tiny bit of olive oil so it wouldn't stick together.

Our 3 topping choices:

meat

white sauce

 

red sauce

and of course, parmesan cheese!

My father's plate

My mother's plate

My plate - with both red and white sauce because I couldn't decide which would be better....

 ~♥~

And we all agree unanimously that the pasta was very delicious no matter which way we prepared it!

Broccoli and Garlic Penne Pasta

It's on the menu for dinner tonight!

What You'll Need

1 cup Swanson® Chicken Broth or Swanson® Chicken Stock
1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves, crushed
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups broccoli florets
1/2 of a 1-pound package penne pasta (about 3 cups), cooked and drained
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

 

 

How to Make It

1 Heat the broth, basil, black pepper, garlic and broccoli in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low.  Cover and cook until the broccoli is tender-crisp. 

2 Add the penne and lemon juice and toss to coat. Sprinkle the penne mixture with the cheese.

From Campbell's Kitchen

Carbonara ~ Italian Pasta Dish

Despite the fact that I'm half Italian, I'd never eaten or made Carbonara until I was in my mid-30's! The first recipe I tried was Rachel Ray's, and it was certainly "delish" as she would say. Since then, I've tweaked the recipe to make it a few different ways, and my family loves it no matter which way I dish it up. So, here's my latest version of Carbonara:

 Begin by sauteing about 1/2 c. chopped onions and a couple cloves of garlic, sliced, in a generous amount of butter in a large, deep frying pan. Add in a nice handful of bacon bits. When the garlic begins to turn lightly golden, add a bit more butter and sprinkle about 1/4 c. flour over the onions and garlic. Stir to coat, and let flour dissolve so it begins to resemble a paste. Add approx. 1 to 1 1/2 c. of milk, and stir with a whisk to incorporate flour paste into milk, allowing it to thicken the milk as it heats up. If cream mixture is too thick, add more milk until cream is loose enough to your liking. Salt and pepper to taste. Put on lowest setting and stir periodically. Then:

Get a pot of spaghetti boiling in salted water, cooking enough for 2-3 people. When al dente, drain in strainer, and pour pasta into frying pan with cream mixture. Then:

 Toss thoroughly to coat spaghetti well. Dish up, sprinkle with a generous amount of parmesean cheese and enjoy! This is such a nice change sometimes from the usual pasta and red sauce. But don't just take my word for it, let me know what you think!