The first time I made pasta from scratch was when I was probably around twenty one. I was home at my parent’s house from college. I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but my mom was out for the evening. 

The sky was starting to turn dark and my Dad wandered in to the kitchen with a look of total bewilderment. My mother was an excellent cook, so the house didn’t have food as much as ingredients. To make things more confusing, my mom shopped in bulk, so there were few hints from containers. The cabinets were full of unmarked bags, jars and repurposed yogurt containers of mysterious substances. Are the brown granules cinnamon or cumin? Is the white powder wheat flour, corn flour or something else? 

My college go-to was spaghetti, but inexplicably there was no form of pasta anywhere in the house. No macaroni, not even ramen. I had recently seen a cooking show where the chef made pasta from flour and eggs. We had flour and eggs. So I scooped out a cup of wheat flour?! and added an egg and stirred. A dough formed. This was before Google, Alexa or Youtube, so I could not look it up and had to go from memory. I didn’t know about the concept of resting the dough before rolling and slicing it up. I boiled the chunky pasta in water and made a dish resembling soggy shoe laces. I drenched it with tomato sauce and my Dad and I ate it. 

It was the first and last time I made dinner for my Dad. He didn’t live long enough to see me become a wife and mother. I try to show my kids how to cook, so they won’t get caught out like that day. 

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp water

Directions:

Make well in flour and salt, add egg and mix. Add water if necessary. Form and knead dough. Wrap dough and let rest 30 min. Roll out in floured surface and slice. Boil about 3-4 minutes. Enjoy with loved ones.