Friday, January 28, 2011

New Toys!

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful meal somewhere terrific this evening!

Yesterday, I got a special delivery! I had some Williams Sonoma gift cards that I used last weekend to buy myself a new toy for the kitchen, and I'm VERY excited to use it! What did I buy, you ask!? Well, I think I've mentioned that I much prefer fresh pasta to dried, and that on most occasions, I make my own. I do this with attachments for my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Currently, I own a pasta roller, as well as a cutter for both fettuccine, as well as spaghetti. In addition to the rollers, I also have an attachment that works with the meat grinder to make some of the shaped pasta, but it's not ideal for my needs. So I purchased....drum roll please...


A PASTA PRESS!



This attachment, for the KitchenAid Stand Mixer, presses the pasta dough through specially shaped discs to make Spaghetti, Bucatini, Rigatoni, Fusilli, and both large and small Macaroni. Who's excited!?!? I AM!! I've been waiting to buy this accessory for a long time now, so I'm ecstatic that's it's here! I plan on making some of these shaped pastas now, instead of purchasing them. The more things I make from scratch, the fresher we keep our diet, and that's something I stand 100% behind. I also have plans for a bread maker in the near future, which is a very exciting prospect for me!



Fresh pasta is a process for sure, I won't deny it, but it is worth every second. Once the dough is made, rolled out and cut, it takes about 3 minutes in the boiling water, and it is just so soft and succulent. It absorbs sauces and flavors much better than dried pasta, since it's more of a doughy consistency, and really accentuates those flavors. You can even take a weekend and make a bunch of pasta, and refrigerate it or freeze it for the future. I challenge each and every one of you to a taste test between fresh pasta and dried pasta. If you try it, and prefer the boxed variety, I'll eat my socks! :)

Stay tuned for some delicious fresh pasta recipes!

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