500 g white flour
4 eggs
1/2 cup of dried porcini mushrooms
We used a pasta maker. If you don’t have one, then you can use a rolling-pin, a knife, and a pinch of steely determination.
First, you must soak the mushrooms in boiling water. This soaking process takes about one hour.
When they’re nicely soaked, drain the water and toss your ‘shrooms into a food processor. Blend into a delicious mush.
Mix the mushroom mush in a bowl together with the flour and eggs. Knead your concoction for several minutes until you get a ball that’s not too sticky; one that springs back a little bit when you depress it.
Wrap up your ball in plastic wrap (cling film? Glad wrap? Whatever.) and throw it into the fridge for half an hour. This will make it all cold and clammy – just the way I like it.
After you withdraw your sweaty ball from the fridge, separate it into eight small balls. Working with one ball at a time, give it a few rounds in the pasta maker on the thickest setting. Fold. Repeat. Fold. Repeat. Soon you will have a lovely smooth sheet. Run the sheet through your pasta maker getting incrementally thinner as you go. Finally, slice it into fettuccine and hang it to dry.
Fresh pasta cooks in seconds, so make sure the cooking part is the last thing you do before serving your meal.
Fill a large pot with water and add plenty of salt. When the water starts boiling throw in the pasta, stirring for about 30 seconds. Strain and serve, splashing in olive oil in to prevent it sticking together.
