Right off the bat, I have to give you ESers credit for suggesting the Pioneer Woman’s pasta recipe. I used it for my second go at making pasta and it blew the recipe from the pasta machine box out of the water. It’s funny how only a few tiny little differences can make such a sea change in the final product. I guess you bakers out there already knew that, huh? I don’t know if it was the flour-to-egg ratio, the beating the eggs by hand (which was fun!) or something else that put this one over the top, but it finally got me that fresh fettuccine I was looking for.
Still, as tasty as fresh pasta is, it’s still just pasta, and if you ask me it needs some added oomph. I was tempted to add some truffle oil or basil or something weirder right into the dough, but I wanted to first see how the basic recipe worked, so I resisted the urge this time. (Yep, I’m proud of myself and yep, I’m open to suggestions for the future.)
So the flava experimenting was left for the pasta add-ons. Looking around my kitchen, I saw the usual suspects: bacon and pine nuts. Two ingredients I’ve blabbed on about for years, yet had somehow never completely been brought together. Until now.
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