Foodie Monday: Homemade Pasta

Recently, my husband found a recipe for homemade marinara sauce and meatballs. It is delicious and seems easy. He’s made it three times in the last month and was so delicious we had it for our Christmas Eve dinner. We might never have store-bought sauce again! The meatballs, made separately, are delicious as well and added to the sauce after it has cooked for a while. The recipe is in the March 2021 Food Network Magazine.

But, we’ve never made pasta before. That is about to change! My sister-in-law must have gotten the idea to buy a pasta-making appliance for our kitchen aide mixer after getting a boastful post from my husband about his “new” love for making sauce and meatballs. By the 27th, we had all we needed to create homemade pasta, with the exception of the flour. As it turned out, on the 28th, we took our oldest son and his aunt (my sister-in-law, the gifter of the pasta-making appliance) to the airport in Minneapolis – St. Paul. They were going to Italy for a heritage-seeking vacation. This was a trip that was to take place in the summer of 2020 but was canceled due to the pandemic. Now, was the time! Since this is their trip and not mine, I will not report on much more of it other than to write that they are safely enjoying all that Italy has to offer, including a pesto-making class in La Spezia.

But, after dropping them off at the airport (recently COVID tested and with vaccination cards in hand), we buzzed over to Cossetta’s Italian Market. This is a market on 7th street in St. Paul that we fell in love with after visiting with our youngest and his girlfriend early last year. Her parents (both in the food industry and therefore, in the know) recommended it to us. We had decided to buy our pasta making flour there! And, I was also looking for a cannoli form. Success with finding the flour made our trip worthwhile, not to mention the chocolate-flavored pizzelles we just “had” to purchase! I did not find the cannoli form but now will know to search elsewhere.

After celebrating the new year this past weekend, we are all set to try to make pasta in 2022. And, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our middle son has been the only one to try the homemade sauce and meatballs of which he had second helpings. He enjoyed it with us on Christmas Eve. Once our Italian travelers are back, we’ll have to indulge them with a taste of their trip with our new homemade pasta!

Thankfully, we are not on a Keto Diet any longer!

Mangia Bene!!