There were many afternoons after rolling out the pasta for that evening's service when I felt like the worst cook in the world. I couldn't get it. It was too dry, too wet, it ripped when I was in the final roll, you name it, I messed it up. I was so scarred that I didn't make a single attempt at fresh pasta for two years. Thankfully I discovered whole egg pasta dough and the world opened up again. The best part about doing whole egg pasta dough (as opposed to just using the yolks), is it is forgiving. Mixing, kneading, and rolling are all infinitely easier when compared to the finicky yolk/00 pasta dough David had me doing at Mill Valley Beerworks.
Check my recipe for fresh pasta here.
Then I started thinking about Evan Funke, the chef at Bucato in L.A. When David and I were at MV Beerworks, Evan came up and did pasta with us one day. Mostly I remember his neck tattoos and how that soft dough didn't stand a chance in his huge hands. Now he does only pasta fatta a mano at his restaurant. He's a total badass and for my next challenge I really want to get myself one of those long skinny rolling pins - a mattarello - and give it a go. It was this beautiful video of him by Life & Thyme that did it. It also put me in a trance and led me down the rabbit hole to watch an hours worth of Italian videos of people hand rolling pasta - grandmothers, plump young girls, cool spiky haired guys - see, everyone can do it! The whole thing was very motivational. I'll let you know how that goes.