A Heavy May Snow Makes You Crave.....

Here we are, May 10th 2020, and we have roughly 7 inches of snow on the ground - and more coming down!  Fortunately, it's the fluffy variety, and with a forecast of part sun today, I have a feeling it will mostly be melted by nightfall.

So the question that came to mind was: What should we cook today while we are stuck inside due to weather?  Easy peasy - let's make gravy and homemade pasta!

Our friend Cindy shared this recipe with us - and we LOVE it! We let it simmer most of the day and the house smells so good....


Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
4 hot or sweet Italian sausage links
2 pounds hamburger or ground sausage, or a combination of both
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (28 ounce) can crushed Italian tomatoes
1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (15 ounce) jar of your favorite well seasoned spaghetti sauce
1/4 green pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes


Instructions

Chop onion.

Saute chopped onion until soft. 

Add sausage to brown . Add hamburger to brown.

Add tomato paste plus 1 can water; simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, watching carefully to keep from burning.

Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, jar spaghetti sauce plus 1 jar water, chopped green pepper and seasonings.  We used tomatoes from the garden that we pureed and then froze.

Simmer until thick.

While the sauce was simmering, we made the pasta.  For this, all you will need is 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 large egg.  If the resulting dough is too dry, you made need to add a tiny bit of water;  if the resulting dough is too wet, you may need to add flour.

Place 1 cup of flour on the work surface and create a 'well' in the middle.

Add the egg to the well, and using a fork, whisk the egg, slowly incorporating the flour from around the well.  

Take your time here.  You will eventually work in all the flour and form the dough into a ball.  At this point, evaluate the dough to see if it is too dry, too moist or just right.  It shouldn't be tacky, and it shouldn't be crumbly.  Address any issues with the dough here.  When you are happy with the dough, let it rest for 15 to 30 minutes.

While dough is resting, you can get your Atlas pasta machine set up.  You will want the rollers to be at their furthest apart setting.

Divide the dough in half, covering with a moist towel the half you are not working with.  Flatten the dough half into a disk, and run it through the pasta maker.  

Fold dough over by thirds, and run it through again.  You will need to do this several times until the dough is smooth and flawless in appearance.

Now, start adjusting the setting incrementally to bring the rollers closer together.  Run the dough through, and then re-adjust the setting, bringing the rollers closer. Continue with this process until the dough is the thickness you desire.  If the dough becomes too long, you can always cut it in half.  

Once you have the desired thickness, you will want to run the dough through the pasta cutters.  My machine has two settings - Fettuccine and Spaghetti.

After the dough has been cut into the desired pasta shape, you can either dry it on a drying rack, or you can let it rest on a lightly floured counter top.

Continue this same process with the remaining dough.

Once all the dough has been cut into pasta, you can boil the pasta.  Keep in mind that fresh pasta takes much less time to cook than boxed pasta - so test the boiling pasta frequently for desired done-ness.

Ladle hot gravy over drained pasta, topping with fresh Parmesan cheese, if desired, and enjoy!