Kuo Kitchen - Homemade Pasta and Focaccia

hand cut fettucine

Mmm. Carbs. Cravings for carbs. Salt. Salt Fat. Salt Fat Acid Heat, and OMG Samin Nosrat is a foodie home cook INSPIRATION.

Okay, let me reel it back in. Basically, last week, I visited my brother and his family in Texas, and my sister-in-law and I KILLED it in the kitchen. AKA we made tons of from-scratch delicious things, and they are what carb heaven must look like.

Focaccia bread. Who of you who has watched Samin of Salt Fat Acid Heat glory make focaccia with a bread expert has not since dreamed of creating pools of olive oil in a wonderful, salty, crusty, beautiful and golden focaccia bread?! And think about biting into that brined bread (BRINED BREAD!) with gusto?!

freshly baked and olive-oiled focaccia

Homemade pasta. How about rolling out smooth balls of dough until they become satiny sheets of pasta, ready to be made into all sorts of beautiful pastas by your own hands! It is as satisfying as it sounds (once I got over the nerves of handling a pasta roller for the first time), and even better when you get to eat the final product.

fettucine with ragu

I know, I promised to reel it in. But pasta and bread making is EXCITING! Because, then you get to eat, and then you realize why old-school Italian grandmas spend so much time on the process, and why they're so adored. So next time you've got a free day, try these recipes!

Check out Samin's Ligurian Focaccia bread recipe here. Apparently, the Ligurian style to eat focaccia is to dip it in coffee but...well, HungryDeb style is to dip it in ragu.

My SIL and I experimented with some pasta doughs based off a couple of different recipes, and I'll share my favorite -

Ingredients:

- 5 eggs

- 2 cups 00 flour

- 1 cup semolina flour

- sprinkle of salt

- extra flour for dusting

Directions:

1. Mix together the flours and salt. Mound the flour in the center of a large baking sheet, and dig a well in the center of the mound. Add the eggs. Beat together the eggs with a fork and begin to incorporate the flour.

2. When about 3/4 of the flour is incorporated, use your fingers to mix the dough. Once the dough comes together in a cohesive mass, sprinkle some flour on the dough and your hands. Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic (it should bounce back when you press a finger into it). Wrap the dough in plastic and set aside for at least 30 minutes (up to 4 hours) at room temp.

3. Cut off an eight of the dough and rewrap the remaining dough. Flatten a bit in between your hands. Run through a pasta roller at the lowest setting (1). Fold in thirds. Run through again, and fold in thirds again. Run through one more time. Then, run the pasta through the pasta roller once through each setting (up to 5).

4. Make the pasta you'd like, with sauce or filling of choice! We made a ravioli with a sweet potato, ricotta, and parmesan filling, and a fettuccine with ragu sauce (perfect for dipping the focaccia bread).

sweet potato ravioli

So delicious, and it's really the perfect, filling sit-down meal. Add a glass of wine, and you've got an awesome night! What are some of your favorite types of pasta?

ravioli cooked in brown butter

- HungryDeb