As a parent of two, I know my way around noodles. In the dozen years since my first-born arrived on the scene, I have prepared more pasta dinners than you can imagine (unless you're a parent yourself, in which case you can definitely imagine). My children aren't picky eaters, but they know one thing to be undeniably true: Pasta is a truly perfect food. In fact, having children allowed me to finally appreciate the fact that a plate ofbuttered noodles, topped with nothing more than a snowdrift of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, is perhaps one of the best and simplest things you can eat. That's doubly true if you make the pasta yourself. If you have apasta machine(or patience and arolling pin) ourSemolina Pastais a super-simple way to put it to use. Made withsemolinaand'00' flours, eggs, water, and salt, it's a five-ingredient recipe that yields toothsome noodles that are so flavorful a pat of butter is really all they need (though adding some tomato or pesto sauce wouldn't hurt, either). If you want to spring-ify your pasta, try this recipe for verdantFresh Herb Pasta. Customize the blend of herbs and greens based on what you can find at the market; it's also a great use for any tender green shoots that have emerged in your garden, including the first chives or spinach leaves. Fettucine is hardly all you can make with fresh pasta; perfect the basic dough, and you can use it to make these pillowy homemaderavioli, which are stuffed with a combination of ricotta, Parmesan, and pecorino Romano cheeses. Or make these Chinese hand-pulledbiang biang noodles, which are incredibly fun to make (they don't require any equipment at all) and even more fun to slurp — just ask my kids. |