At the end of this post - there's a giveaway, so read on!
Philips have recently put out a pasta maker as part of their koncept �restaurant at home�, meaning you can produce restaurant quality food in the home. This is an extrusion-style pasta maker, and I was really excited to try it since I�d never tried one before. Normal pasta machines � the kinds with a crank � still require you do make a dough, and then spend a lot of time running the dough to the proper thickness, then cutting it. It�s fun but takes a long time, and I find that the pasta often gets pretty sticky and messy. With an extrusion-pasta maker, the pasta is pushed out through different nozzles, to make different shapes. I was given this machine for an honest review, but I happen to love it.
So, to make pasta, you simply add flour to your machine � I used 400 g durum wheat and 100 g regular all-purpose flour. (This is a double batch which made plenty for our family, but you can also make a regular batch which serves 2, generously.) Next, put on the lid and start the machine. Add the liquid � I had two eggs, and enough water to make a total of 190 g.
And that is it. That�s all. The machine kneads the dough, and when it�s firm enough, it�ll start pressing it out through the pasta mold. For our first run, we made spaghetti. You have to cut it as it comes out, which means you can make it super short or as long as you want. The resulting pasta was great! It was firmer and a little drier than the home made pasta I�ve made before, so it didn�t stick at all. It needed a little longer cooking time � about five minutes � but that was fine. My three picky eaters � husband and kids � all loved it.
We tried penne the next time, and again, very successful! Our third run was plain pasta sheets (which we used to make these) and again - it was so simple. For these, I used less durum wheat and more all-purpose flour, in an attempt to get a slightly softer dough. It was still a little on the dry side, which is a side effect of the durum. In addition to just pasta, you can also make noodles or even dumpling dough, and you can flavor your pasta as well as long as you keep an eye on the wet-dry proportion. I've even seen someone try to make fresh tortilla chips in the machine - amazing! I *have* to try that next.
Cleaning up is also easy enough. You dissemble all the parts and wash them, and when they�re dry, put them back together. It took me all of three minutes. Which is, incidentally, less time than the pasta needs to cook. I do find the pasta from this machine a little drier than other "fresh pasta", and it needs to cook for a little longer than the pre-made kind. I don't mind this at all, though.
My one and only problem is that I have NO place to store this. It�s a big machine and it�s fairly heavy. I�d love to have it close by but it just really takes a lot of valuable bench space � so you might want to think about that. But other than that, if you love pasta, definitely consider this.
Philips have very generously allowed me to give away one of these machines to one of my readers as well! In order to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post with a recipe for your favorite pasta dish. Don't forget to leave a way to contact you, if you win. I'll hold a random drawing on Sunday, May 17. (Sweden only, I'm afraid.)
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