Bugster2 wrote:
Those noodles look great Beth. How do you make them? Do you make your own dough? Do you have a pasta cutter? I am terrible at making pasta.
Bugs, noodles are super easy. Takes about 10 minutes, plus dough resting time.
For a single pot of soup I used 2 egg yolks, 1/2 t. salt and a few shakes of ground pepper. The pepper isn't mandatory, just our taste, but the salt is a must. I whisk the yolks and seasoning together to dissolve the salt. I do reserve the egg whites just in case I get too much flour mixed in because if I add water or milk the noodles just fall apart when added to the boiling broth. Once the salt is dissolved in the yolks I get rid of the whisk and use a sturdy spoon to stir in the flour ~ starting with a scant 1/2 c. of AP flour. I try to incorporate as much flour as I can with the spoon ~ it'll be a really sticky mass.
When I cannot stir any more I scrap it out on to a floured board ~ in this case I just used one of my little plastic cutting boards (you can see it in the pic, I ended up rolling out and cutting the noodles on it) because it's got a rough texture and holds a good amount of flour. I put it on top of a damp dish cloth on the countertop so it doesn't slip around. The dough gets some bench flour, a fair amount, sprinkled on top liberally and I start to knead it to add as much flour as I can and to smooth the dough to incorporate the flour. When the dough is really stiff and smooth I break it into two or three pieces and form each into a disk (much like pulling apart a golf ball sized piece). Each disk gets wrapped in flour and either rests in the refrigerator if I'm making the noodles later or the next day or on the countertop if I'm going to roll them out right away.
Each disk of dough rests for at least 30 minutes. Then I just use the same cutting board to roll them out. I try to roll into a rectangle or oval the size of the little cutting board ~ about 10" X 7". I make sure there's enough flour under and on top of the dough so it doesn't stick and I keep moving it. Last night I had two disks of dough so I rolled each out and set the first one aside as I rolled the second one. When both were rolled thin I stacked them and cut them down the middle, length wise, floured the cut edges so they wouldn't stick together and stacked them ~ four 3 1/2" strips of dough on top of each other. Then I cut the strip in half again to end up with eight 3 1/2" stacked strips, adding a bit of flour any place they were the least bit sticky.
Once I had all the dough strips neatly stacked on top of one another I started to slice them into 1/8" strips 3 1/2" long ~ they 'fatten up' a bit when they cook. I cut the noodles and then sprinkled with a bit more bench flour to be sure they didn't stick together.
As soon as the noodles are cut you can add them to boiling broth. I just slide them into the broth from the same little cutting board, making sure the broth continues to boil and they don't sink to the bottom of the pot and become one gigantic clump of dough (don't ask how I know this could be an outcome......). It's OK if the bench flour from the board sifts into the broth at the same time as the noodles ~ just thickens up the broth a bit. I don't rush adding the noodles, just take my time and stir them as they go into the broth. It takes probably 10 minutes of a low boil for the noodles to cook, but can take as long as 20 minutes ~ depends upon how much flour is incorporated, how thick they're cut and your personal taste.
It takes a bit of practice to get the feel of the dough but it's not hard and doesn't take long to do ~ and they taste WAY better than store bought, especially if you're already feeling crummy from a cold.
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