Home-made Egg-free Pasta

I always wanted to make some home-made pasta – I even gave D a pasta machine a few years ago as a birthday present, but somehow it never saw the light of day until today. There always seem to be more important things to do than make home-made pasta. Due to the egg content, neither of my girls have ever eaten fresh pasta and looking online a recipe that wasn’t completely un-like normal pasta was near impossible to find. Luckily I have a cutting from the weekend Guardian newspaper a few years ago in which Giorgio Locatelli gave his recipe for egg-free pasta – so this is the one my recipe is based on, just with the water content slightly changed as I found his far too dry. Giorgio is a legend of Italian food and since his daughter also has multiple allergies, including egg, then his recipe must be worth a go. Worth saying he is also a lovely guy – we met him when eating at his celebrated Locanda Locatelli restaurant in London.

It is essential to use “OO” pasta flour for the correct finish and while it may seem like a lot of salt, you do need it for flavour. This dough was tough to bring together and knead due to the small amount of liquid used, and obviously doesn’t have the characteristic eggy yellow colour of conventional fresh pasta. But, having used the machine (a necessity) it turned into long silky ribbons which were an absolute delight to eat. Pasta making was an unmitigated success. Next challenge: stuffed pasta…. watch this space!

Fresh Egg-free Pasta (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, peanut-free, sesame-free, soya-free, vegetarian and vegan)

serves 3-4, depending on appetite!

• 400g OO pasta flour
• 10g salt
• 140ml warm water

– Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the warm water.

– Bring together to form a firm dough (it will take time) and then knead for at least 10 minutes to make it smooth. It’s hard work, but necessary!

– Rest for a couple of hours.

– Split into three and roll out using a pasta machine, gradually reducing the thickness until it reaches notch number 6.

– Gently fold up and place on a tray covered with polenta to keep it as dry as possible.

– Continue with the rest of the dough.

– Attach the cutting part of the machine and cut into long ribbons. Hang over a broom handle of further dry out.

– Cook in vigorously boiling water for a couple of minutes max, until ‘al dente’.

– Serve with any sauce you like. Worked a treat with some home-made pesto. Also did some with a tomato sauce.