Who doesn’t love a great bowl of pasta? It’s probably one of the most popular meals in the world, with good reason. Who can resist delicious meaty sauces, fresh veggies and those perfect little noodles with just the right amount of chew? Even better when it’s all combined into one big bowl. However, these days you can find ready-made pasta in almost every supermarket. There are so many different flavours and varieties to choose from. Do you want penne or fusilli? Perhaps something healthier like whole wheat, or maybe even quinoa pasta? There is also thawed frozen pasta that is ready to cook and comes in almost as many different flavours as dry packaged versions. And that is why I stopped buying store-bought pasta and started making it at home again.
Store-bought pasta has a lot of additives and not much nutritional value
If you buy store-bought pasta, you will notice that there are a lot of different ingredients listed on the back of the packaging. The main ingredient on every package of pasta will be “semolina”, which is a fancy word for “durum wheat”. The rest of the ingredients are usually additives that make the pasta last longer, keep it from clumping together and make it look nice by giving it a golden colour. However, those ingredients are not very nutritious. Companies add things like preservatives, artificial colouring, and a variety of artificial flavours to make their pasta look and taste better.
Homemade pasta only requires 3 ingredients
The three most basic ingredients to make homemade pasta are flour, eggs and salt. That is it. The ingredients for store-bought pasta are a bit more complicated. You have to know the different additives that go into store-bought pasta and how those additives compare to the main ingredients of homemade pasta. The main ingredients in store-bought pasta are durum wheat flour, water, a bit of egg, and a ton of additives.
You can make it in under 15 minutes
Store-bought pasta will take you around 15 minutes to make. open the box, bring water to a boil, add salt to the water and drop in your dry pasta, cook until al dente.
Homemade pasta, on the other hand, can take you between 15 minutes to two hours. That is if you are using a pasta machine and making your own pasta. However, if you use a pasta recipe as I do, it only takes about 15 minutes. That is from the moment you take the ingredients out of the cupboard until you have put them into a pan and added your sauce. let me show you how without a pasta roller (however I still highly recommend owning one)
1 Cup Semolina Flour (all-purpose flour works just the same but semolina has a better flavor)
2 whole eggs
pinch of salt
pour your flour onto a clean counter and make a “volcano” add your eggs and salt and slowly with your hands start folding the flour and eggs into each other.
Be sure to keep your counter coated in flour so the dough doesn’t stick. and keep kneading the dough until it feels smooth.
-Without a pasta roller- Roll out the dough on a floured counter to the thickness of the pasta you would like to eat and then slice up the pasta to a width that matches what you want.
-With Pasta Roller- Roll out the dough on a floured counter, roll to the thickness you want and then run it through the cutting side.
Drop the pasta into boiling water for roughly 1-2 minutes. Add to your sauce and never buy store-bought pasta again!
Pasta is one of the most basic and easy meals to make
However, it is also one of the most expensive. Homemade pasta is a bit more work, but it is cheaper and healthier because you are not putting all those preservatives and artificial ingredients into your body. If you love a great bowl of pasta, like me, then you should start making it at home and save yourself some cash.