Making our own pasta

Maria found a small cache of semolina flour in the cupboard, last evening, mixed it with 2 parts of regular flour, and tried out the pasta maker I got to review for the Amazon.com Vine program.

Although Maria is an excellent cook, with a good command of Italian cuisine, she had never used a pasta maker. And, of course, neither had I.

The Pinzon 5.9-inch pasta maker comes with a very sketchy one-page instruction sheet that mostly deals with cleaning and maintenance and tells you virtually nothing about how to operate it.

So I turned to the Internet and quickly found a couple of how-to videos on YouTube.com. The thing is dirt simple to operate once you understand how it works, but it you’ve never seen one working, you’re at something of a disadvantage.

Maria was very impressed with the simplicity of operation and quickly cranked out a pot full of noodles that she combined with Italian sausage and a red sauce to make a very tasty dinner.

And yes, home-made pasta does taste better than the store-bought stuff. The Pinzon pasta maker is going to get a good workout once we get a reliable source for semolina flour.