Pasta al fail.

Amongst the many great presents I got this holiday season, the ones I was most excited about was the KitchenAid pasta maker attachment I received for Christmas. I think the taste of fresh pasta is obviously superior and Lidia makes it look so easy on TV it should be a cinch to make myself. But when I tried to make a simple egg noodle last night, I received a rude awakening that put my culinary skills into question.

For those of you who have never made pasta before the steps appear to be rather simple:
1. Mix the dough.
2. Let dough rest.
3. Roll into smooth sheets.
4. Cut sheets into desired noodle length.

Well I got steps one and two down pretty easily, I thought. But when I went to take the dough out of the plastic wrap after its rest, the dough had become very wet, sticky, and extremely difficult to handle. And every time I tried to run it through the machine it would stick to the machine and come out uneven. So I would flour it then run it through again, and then flour and run it through again. And finally, after about an hour of doing this the dough was finally making smooth clean sheets.

Moving onto step four I installed the ribbon cutting attachment and prepared the sheets of pasta with a heavy coating of flour. But when I fed it through pasta slicer the pasta did not cut into clean little strips like they do on Lidia's show they came out as a jumbled wrinkled mess and all twisted together. So I had to start all over again. But this time, being an old pro, I got the sheets smoothed out again in an quick 25 minutes.

I reattach the ribbon cutting attachment and feed the heavily floured sheets through the slicer a second time again. This time: Success! The pasta was cutting into clean seperated ribbons, I laid them out on the counter and prepared the water to boil.

But when I moved the pasta from the counter to the pot they became tangled again and the noodles began sticking to each other until they were inseparable. And I was back where I began, a sticky lumpy ball of pasta dough. Being frustrated and hungry I ditched my pasta and boiled a pound of dried spaghetti we had in the pantry.

But on the plus side, the homemade pasta sauce I made tasted really good. And my mom bought a really nice black cherry vinegar that I used to make a really delicious salad dressing.

I will have to try making pasta again; when I have more time and don't have a hungry grumbly family in the other room waiting for dinner.