Pasta biking.

I had a dinner to make for someone, and had been craving spaghetti and meatballs myself (I used mostly elk meat --a gift from a friend), and decided to go whole hog (so to speak) with the from scratchiness. I had a bunch of tomatoes and peppers in my garden for sauce, and some semolina flour for noodles. The noodles were my downfall, and I was late with the dinner. Oh well, I had fun making them, even if I was ashamed when I finally showed up at my friend's door. 

My mother in law gifted me with a "pasta bike" a number of years ago. We don't get it out too often, but when you want a thin layer of dough for some reason it's invaluable, so I give it precious cupboard space. 

For the recipe I used this one and had great luck with it. I did a recipe and a half's worth because my friend has a lot of kids. Easy easy easy. The recipe isn't the problem. You mix it up quickly--I did it in my Bosch (I killed my kitchenaid twice, so moved my loyalties to Bosch. Of course I tried it out night before last and it's dead, so I'm pretty sure I'm now on round two on repairs of the Bosch....sigh). Once the dough is made, you divide it up, and put in a plastic bag to keep from drying. 

 Each piece gets rolled through the machine on the widest setting. Make sure you flour them well, sticking made me lose a good half hour before I started dusting them well. I don't know why I never remember that from time to time making this stuff! 

Fold in half, then run through three more times on this setting folding in half first each time.

 After those few wide setting runs, roll your dough through once each (no folding) at the higher settings -- moving your dial up a notch each time until you are at 4 or 5. 

You should finish with a beautiful sheet of pasta, and it's time to cut! My "bike" has an attachment you slide onto the back with cutting blades. This is the one you use for fettucine. 

Isn't that cool? Very satisfying. 

The trickiest part is finding room to let it all dry. I washed some hangers and hung them from my fruit tower. Anyway, give it a try some time --when you have a lot of time! Makes a tasty noodle.

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