Pasta fresca (fresh pasta)

“Fresh pasta should be made with ‘00’ flour. This is the finest grade of durum wheat flour, so fine it feels and looks like talcum powder. Do buy an Italian flour; it will be superior to any other kind. You can find it at Italian stores and online. The eggs should be from free-range corn-fed chickens. Cheap eggs and poor-quality flour give unappetising results. Eggs should be large (approx. 63-73g). We keep our own chickens and sometimes their eggs can be small, so a splash of water makes up the difference in size. Some people add a little salt for flavour, some add water for elasticity or economy, and some add olive oil to stop the pasta drying quickly. We use only eggs and flour. The standard recipe for fresh pasta calls for 1 large egg to every 100g of ‘00’ flour.” This is an edited extract from The Long & the Short of Pasta by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi (Hardie Grant Books, RRP $34.99).

Good

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet