Cooking With Hanzipan

Mummy and I picked up some semolina flour yesterday and then decided to make some pasta from scratch. I can remember her hanging pasta between the backs of two chairs when I was little… ah the good old days. These noodles are thick, chewy and a pretty buttery yellow color when they’re all done. They would work really well in a soup (I’m thinking chicken noodle soup… mmmm… without the chicken, that is. Oh how I miss chicken noodle soup.) or old school with a bit of pasta sauce. If you have a pasta machine, great! Crank it to about 6 and roll away! If you’re doing it by hand, make them as thin as possible, they’ll still be chewier than you think when they’re done cooking.

Twelve Mile Noodles

This recipe makes a lot of pasta (a few pounds of ravioli or enough noodles for about seven people) so make a half batch or refrigerate it if you’re not planning on feeding an army.

3 c. Semolina Flour

1 c. All purpose flour

2/3 c. water

3 eggs

2 T. oil

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add wet ingredients and combine thoroughly (I find that making a little well in the center of the dry ingredients and then pouring the liquid into the center and slowly combining the two, working my way from the center outwards works well if you’re hand mixing).

Make a large ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Let it rest for an hour, or refrigerate overnight (if you refrigerate, let it rest and warm up to room temperature for at least an hour before you roll it out).

After an hour, divide into six sections. Roll out each section as thin as you can into a long, narrow rectangle. Thoroughly dust with semolina and then, roll the dough up, beginning on a narrow side so that you have a narrow, thick roll (like a cinnamon roll).

Carefully slice the dough into 1/8 inch sections. Unroll each slice and hang to dry for about 30 minutes. Toss into boiling water for four minutes or refrigerate for up to three days or so (once it’s completely dry). Makes enough for about seven hearty servings of pasta.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

I’m glad I only did a small handful! Any more and they would have turned into the Hulk and busted their way out of the jar.

I’m an impulsive baker. The only time I’ve ever planned to bake something before I started mixing things together was Thanksgiving when I had to plan around a huge hank of meat that would be taking over the oven for hours. Anyway, my point is that for baking they always tell you to use softened butter. Most people soften it either by sticking it on the counter for an hour (boooorrriinngggg) or nuking it for 20 seconds (which never works well, it always gets melty in places). I found this quick way to soften butter via Craftzine.

Images and instructions courtesy of elise.com.