I love making fresh pasta and I love eating it. My freezer is kept stocked with my favorite homemade sauces: bolognese, duck ragu, wild boar ragu, and tomato sauce.  At any time, I can whip up a batch of pasta either by hand or with a Kitchen Aid.  I roll it out immediately on the first setting until it reaches the width of the pasta roller.  It gets covered with plastic wrap and rests on the counter while I heat up the sauce and grate the cheese.  Depending on the type of sauce, it is either a meal in itself or prelude to a simple roast or sauteed meat.

Fresh Egg Pasta for Tagliatelle

100 grams of 00 flour per person

1 large egg per 100 grams of flour

Place the eggs in the bowl of a mixer .  Add all the flour . Mix on low speed using the dough hook.  Every few minutes stop the mixer and push down any flour that has collected on the sides of the bowl.  Continue to mix the dough until it forms a soft ball that comes away from the sides of the bowl.  The dough will be soft but not sticky.

Cut the dough into 100 gram portions.  Flatten each piece out and run it through the first setting of the roller.  Fold in half, and continue to run it through the first setting.  Repeat 5 or 6 times until the dough is smooth and shiny.  Wrap in plastic and let it rest while you prepare your sauce.

Once again, flatten each piece of dough and feed it through the first setting. Follow with the second and continue up through the sixth setting.  By this time your dough should be thin enough for a flat noodle like tagliatelle.

Lay the sheet of dough on a cool, lightly floured surface. Each sheet should be about 15 inches long.   Bring each end into the center . Bring the outside folds into the center again.  Using a chef’s knife, cut the dough into 1/4 inch slices.  Unravel each ribbon.  If the dough sticks to itself, you need to add more flour.

Scatter the ribbon noodles on a lightly floured pan.  Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  When ready to serve, add the pasta to the boiling water , stir once and boil the pasta for about a minute.  Test one by biting into it.  It should be toothsome, not mushy.  Drain in a colander and return to the pot.  Add just enough of your favorite sauce, toss, sprinkle grated parmegian cheese and open the wine.

This past week I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of students in “Using Public Relations as a Marketing Tool” taught by Howard Geltzer at New York University.   As I was preparing my presentation I felt compelled to bring real food into an academic environment since my business is about food and culinary travel. Of course, I don’t think Howard expected me to devote time to a tasting.  While he was presenting the agenda, I was trying to figure out where I could slip this surprise in without causing too much disruption. I was a guest and Howard was the host, educator and consummate PR man.

Words can be powerful but they are no substitute for the sensory experience of taste and smell.  If I was going to talk about my business, Cucina della Terra, a cooking school in Italy, 3000 miles away, I needed to demonstrate how certain foods are distinctive and worthy of a trip to the country of origin.

By the time I reached the classroom I was loaded down with shopping bags filled with napkins, paring knife, parmegiano reggiano, an Argentine reginatto, a 25 year old balsamic vinegar and a highly commercial unaged balsamic, sliced ciabatta, and two bottles of olive oil: one from my own harvest in 2008, and one from Sicily that was unfiltered but with no DOP status, and of course some wet wipes. While everyone else had briefcases and computers slung over their shoulders, I was schlepping shopping bags of food.  Talk about feeling like the New York bag lady.

In a very simple way, I created a contrast of tastes.

To a group of students focused on a topic in business, there attention was diverted to thinking about the food in front of them.  Packaging became less important than the experience of taste and the quality of what we tasted.   Ultimately where our food comes from and how it is produced is far more important. So, the next time you are reaching for a highly publicized product, think about why and for what you are putting your money down  - and ask yourself if it’s worth it. ?