Here at #idle we usually prefer meals that require minimum effort for maximum taste (like today's pre-cooked beetroots with quinoa, crumbled feta and pecans). So making a case here for making pasta from scratch, might seem a little odd. But, just like Mary, there's something about those fresh dough-strings.
First of all, let me just emphasize the fact that pasta is simply the most comforting and consolatory type of food to be found. I'm sorry for the no-carb camp, but it just is so. Plus, it's way cheaper than a shrink or retail therapy.
Now you might think: Okay, fine, but why not just open a plastic wrapper and toss its contents in the pan?
Because, the act of making pasta, which is indeed quite an intensive and time consuming proces, has really got a medetative aspect. The kneading of the dough, the working of the rolling pin, taking your dough through the machine time and time and time again until it has just the right thickness, and finally dividing it into long elegant strings which you hang over a kitchen chair until the water is boiling. Just because it takes a while to prepare, it forces you to slow down. To be present with what you are doing - rather than just boiling store-bought spaghetti on auto-pilot.
So basically, preparing home-made pasta is doubling up your food for the soul (once in the making, and once in the eating).
Wanna share the experience? I'd recommend this recipe from The Silver Spoon (you might want to double your ingredients if you're a big eater, though). I promise your efforts will be royally rewarded, both in experience and taste, and that the simplest of tomato sauces (like a botlle of passata with some glazed onions and shredded salami topped with mozzarella) will suffice to turn this in a delicious dish.
