Homemade Lasagna Rolls

Lasagna Rolls aren't anything new under the sun.  In fact, they are everywhere on the internet.  (see here for some)  But I wanted to make them with homemade noodles, because let's face it, isn't everything better homemade?  Especially pasta?  I think so at least.  :)  And, pasta is really quite easy to make, and lasagna noodles are even easier because they are bigger!

Homemade Pasta: (same as homemade noodles, so go here for my tutorial.:)
~ 2 c. Flour
3 Eggs
Pinch of Salt

You'll also need:
Home Sauce or sauce of your choice
Ricotta cheese
Fresh Basil

1.  Place the flour in a bowl or on a pastry board.  Make a well in the center of the flour.  Place eggs (minus shells) int he center of the well and either mix with a fork or with your hands until well combined.  Then turn it out onto a well floured surface and knead until smooth.  (may need to add more flour at this point.)   Roll it out as thick or thin as you'd like or about 1/8".  Then cut into long wide strips like lasagna noodles.  Place on cooling rack while you repeat until all noodles are cut out.

2.  Bring water to a boil, then boil about 3 lasagna noodles at a time.  Since they are fresh pasta they cook in just about 3 minutes.  Place cooked noodles in strainer to drain, while you cook the rest.

3.  Assemble the rolls by laying out the homemade noodles, smearing ricotta on them and sprinkling them with bail.  Roll up and place in shallow baking dish.  Repeat.

4.  Cover the rolls of lasagna in sauce and Bake in 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until heated through.

Serve immediately and enjoy!  :)

Orecchiette with Sundried Tomatoes

Orecchiette is this very interesting little pasta.  Giada refers to it as "little ears" because that's what it looks like, and because that's what it means in Italian.  Since it's something I am going to eat though, I refer to it as little bowls....that's just me though.  :)  I found mine as a steal of a deal at Trader Joes, and I will definitley be buying more.  They are deslish!  Pair it with sundried tomatoes, EVOO and garlic and viola!  Dinner!  :)

Here's what you'll need:
Orecchiette (Prepared as package suggests)
Sundried tomatoes, sliced
Garlic, minced
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese
Basil for garnish

1.  Saute garlic in about 2 T. Olive Oil until just browning.  Quickly add in sundried tomatoes and 2 T. water stirring for about 1 minute.  (If you keep it on the heat too long they tomatoes may burn...as you may see by a few of mine that are a little over done looking...although they still tasted great...)
2.  Toss the pasta together with the tomato mixture until coated.
3.  Plate and shred some parmesan on top and garnich with fresh basil if desired.
4.  Enjoy!  :)

Lemon Pasta

Recently, my husband and I had dinner at a friends' house.  They served us a great dinner, and one of the dishes was pasta very similar to this.  So, naturally, I had to try to recreate it at home!  I think it turned out pretty well too.  :)  Check it out....

Lemon Pasta
Whole grain pasta, Spaghetti or Linguini (Just grab a handful of pasta--about enough for 4 people as a side dish)
1 lemon
~ 1 c. of shredded Italian cheese (experiment with it, I used a blend of 5 Italian cheeses and really liked it)
1 T. Olive Oil
Basil for garnish (optional)

1.  Cook the pasta.
2.  While the pasta is cooking zest the lemon and then juice it.  Set aside the zest and juice.
3.  Drain pasta when it is done cooking and return to the pot.  Reserve about 2 T. of the water.
4.  Stir the pasta, water, lemon juice, lemon zest and cheese together in the pot.
5.  Pour the pasta into the serving dish and drizzle the olive oil over it.  Then garnish with the basil, and addition zest if desired.

Enjoy!!  :)

Homemade Sweet Potato Pasta

Well, I can now say that I have made homemade pasta!  I guess I already could say that though, because this time last year I made some gnocchi.  But, now I really, truly, and in every sense of the word, have made pasta!  I made lasagna noodles, spaghetti noodles and a few little curly ones.  :)

I used the Fannie Farmer cookbook for general instructions, but since I wanted to make sweet potato pasta I just made up my recipe.  I fell in love with sweet potato pasta last year at the farmers market in Fort Collins where we could buy it.  So, I wanted to make some, and hopefully be able to recreate that!  :)  Plus it's good experience for general cooking expertise, etc. (And fun!!)

So, I will put the recipe and then also a tutorial like normal.  :)

Sweet Potato Pasta

3 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cooked (boiled)

2 Eggs, separated (or equivalent egg substitute)

Pinch of salt

~2 c. Whole Wheat Flour

1.  Start whipping up the egg whites in your mixer.  They'll start out looking about like this...

2.  Keep whipping those egg whites until they expand and look something like this...

3.  Mash the sweet potatoes until most of the lumps are gone.

4.  Add the mashed sweet potatoes into the egg mixture by the spoonful.

5.  Keep adding the sweet potatoes, and also add the salt at this time until well combined.  (As well as adding egg yolks if you are using them.)

6.  Start adding flour to the mixture about a 1/2 cup at a time.  (I still was using my flat beater, but really should have switched to my dough hook.  So if you have a dough hook, I recommend using that for the flour stage!)  :)

7.  Keep adding flour and mixing until it pulls away from the sides and into a ball.  (About like this, but I actually added a little more flour after this pic was taken.)

8.  Then turn it out onto a floured surface and divide into 4 rather equal sections.

9.  Take one section and start rolling it out.  Roll it as thin and evenly as you can. (I started rolling on my floured pastry board, but then switched to using floured wax paper to be able to move it easier.)

10.  Let it rest for a few minutes, and roll out the other sections of dough while you are waiting.

11.  Cut into desired strips.  Half of the pasta I made today I made into lasagna noodles.  So here are some....

And here they are ready to dry on the cooling rack....

12.  Repeat 11 for the remaining dough.  Here's a way to cut spaghetti noodles that I learned from the Fannie Farmer cookbook.

That did work well but I couldn't get them very thing that way....so I just did my own thing.  And they turned out pretty well!  (Pictured below)  :)

Ooo, then I had some scraps left over and decided to just make some fun little curly noodles.  So, here they are...

And last but not least, here are some of my spaghetti noodles hanging out to dry.  (Okay, truth be told they weren't hanging "out" to dry...but they were hanging, and drying! :)

Now!  I just can't wait to cook these all up for dinner this week!  Be sure to be on the lookout for a new lasagna recipe to go along with these noodles too.  :)

I'm so glad I finally just made some homemade pasta!  It's something that's been on my list, and I guess I just hadn't done yet.  So, now I can check it off...and just may be making some more very soon.  :)  It was fun, pretty easy and I am SOOO excited to really see how they taste!