Home Made Umbricelli

Before I start explaining anything, I have to point out that this isn’t a whole recipe – it’s just about how to make the pasta itself. If you want a suggestion as to how to serve this pasta, check out this recipe here. Making your own pasta can be complicated, but it is also incredibly rewarding. While it takes a little longer than buying pasta straight from a shop, it is 1) cheaper, if you buy good Italian pasta like I do, and 2) much tastier. Here is a recipe that works especially well with umbricelli. 

Ingredients (serves 3)

• 400g regular flour
• 175ml water
• 30g egg substitute (or the equivalent of 1 egg)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Preparation (30-40 minutes)

Mix together the flour, salt, and egg substitute. Make a little well in the middle and add all of the water and olive oil. Make it into a dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until it looks nice and solid. If it’s too sticky, add some more flour, if it’s too dry, add a little more water. It should be dry enough that you can play around with it without it getting stuck to your fingers. Take off about 1/6th of the dough, make it into a little ball, and then, using a rolling pin, roll it into a thing, wide, long strip. Using a knife, cut along the long side to make lot’s of ‘spaghetti’ style strips, but thicker in circumference than spaghetti. Take each umbricello and slowly roll it between your hands from the top to the bottom, to make it no longer flat and rectangular and more cylindrical. Sprinkle with some flour and put in a tray. Repeat this until all of the dough has been done.