Thank you everyone that gave me tips on my last post, this time around I actually picked a recipe out ( https://www.bailiesaiz.com/eats/HomemadePastaSmallBatch ) along with rolling it out thinner, and kneading for 10 minutes. The shape was no where near perfect but I could feel and taste the improvement. Decided to use up some homemade(ish) spaghetti sauce I had frozen. Garnish is Parmesan with homegrown basil.

I wound up following u/Chef_1976's advice to blend a little but, so I took a scoop out and blended it with some pasta water and left the rest as is.

It was damn delicious.

Rough recipe:

-1 lb pasta

-2 cans (30oz) cannelini beans (rinsed, drained)

-Sun dried tomatoes (I just used a big spoonful of jarred sun dried tomato pesto)

-Basil, oregano, thyme (dried, fresh, whatever you can get)

-An onion

-3-4 cups of diced tomatoes

-Baby spinach (I used 6 oz because thats what I had but I would use at least 8)

-A head of garlic

-Parmesan cheese

-Salt and pepper

-Red pepper flakes

-Half a lemon

Makes about 7 servings.

Quite interesting honestly, just do it as a game!

Something about the sauce, I used 500g beef and 500g pork mince. A can of tomatoes, some onions and garlic, carrots and wine. Add some basil if you like, and put salt and pepper how much you want.

Nice experience, can’t wait to my next dish!

Wishing i still had some damn was it good. Before anyone asks yes i've used guanciale and while not traditional some dried basil but still very tasty. Defenitely making again

Homemade Bolognese and 4 cheeses

At the market, I found some beautiful white and striped eggplants, and since they don’t need much preparation, I decided to make a simple sauce with roasted eggplant, roasted red peppers and feta.

Halve two red pointed peppers, remove the seeds and place them on a baking tray. Clean two small eggplants, trim the ends, slice them and arrange them on the tray as well. Add the feta cheese, drizzle everything with olive oil and roast for 35 minutes at 200°C (390°F).

When the vegetables are done, bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add one tablespoon of salt and cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

Remove the skins from the roasted peppers and transfer them to a blender together with the roasted eggplant and feta. Add basil, cilantro and parsley, the juice of half a lemon, a little chili and a splash of mirin. Add two ladles of pasta water and blend until smooth and creamy.

Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta, toss everything together and serve.

This looked much nicer than the first red cabbage test! Tasted better too. Took 2 hours to make 6 from start to finish but the weave only took 20 mins and I’d do it again for very special occasions for sure 👍🏽 The tomato dough was made with paste and paprika bloomed in olive oil (which turned a deep red and was very cool) and the yellow dough turmeric and water. Filled with Ricotta whipped with pepper and grated parm because that’s what I had on hand and this was mainly another test batch. Would go with probably goat cheese or make them bigger and add an egg yolk.

I don't know what I did wrong they were definitely thick even after rolling it out until the light passed through it like the recipe said, but came out delicious either way, made a quick butter garlic sauce from scratch and a little parm

Got a bunch at the farmers’ market. Had never had them so I tried them simply and then a bit more decadently.

I went solo to Portugal for three weeks and eventually got tired of eating out. This was the result of that feeling, probably the best spaghetti I’ve ever made in my entire life.

I guess I should have marked it “store bought” since I got the ingredients at the store…

I am prepping dinner and I cooked up some spinach and white beans and sun dried tomatoes and fresh tomatoes and parmesan and such for pasta. It tastes good but its kinda a big pile of mush.

Should I blend it up or add some butter and pasta water and use it as is?

Shown without and with freshly grated parm.

Olive oil, soffritto, lean ground beef, zucchini, bell pepper, garlic, petite diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and seasoning.

As I wrote in another question, I was given a pasta extruder machine but I don't know what to do with it. Then I realized that maybe I shouldn't even bother since dry pasta is so inexpensive ($0.97 for 16oz of spaghetti on Amazon). Does fresh pasta really taste much better than dried pasta? Is homemade pasta better then fresh pasta from the supermarket?

In terms of dry pasta, do you pasta experts have a favorite brand? How about brands of pasta sauce? Yes, I know that homemade is probably better but I don't cook. I live in NYC so I can probably find any popular brands, including foreign ones. But keeping it simple would be easier on my peasant budget!

Hey, when making homemade pasta for pastas such as spaghetti, is it best to use only 00 flour or blend with semolina as well? I'm looking for that firm texture, and feel it's hard to get with 00.

Ok so basically through pure trial and error over the last few months I've been figuring out how to make my own pasta sauce, specifically tomato and meatballs with onions and mushrooms in it (I apologise if it has some fancy name I don't know about I'm new to this)

Below is a few images of the desired texture I want, unfortunately I've only been able to achieve this once and I'm not entirely sure how to recreate it

I do not have a recipe with precise measurements currently but this is what I do when making the sauce

I dice two or 3 whole onions finely and add them to the pot with some water to soften them up, (I used to use oil but it wouldn't cook off and would make the sauce all oily)

Then once softened up (5-10m on high heat) I add in 1 can of chopped tomatoes and one can of cream of tomato soup along with 2 table spoons of tomato puree and one tablespoon of pre minced garlic

At this point I add the spices and this I do measure, being 2 table spoons of dried parsley, the following are all 1 tablespoon, oregano, and thyme along with a few cracks of black pepper

I then add in the mushrooms cut as you can see above to the pot

Then fry the beef meatballs just enough to get a cooked exterior and add them to the pot, I don't use oil for the meatballs because of the problem said earlier

I then add the meatballs in along with 100ml of beef stock

This will then sit with the lid shut for near 30-45 mins on a low heat

Then I remove the lid give it a mix and cook the pasta like normal but when the pasta is done I drain most the water but keep the rest then add about 500g of pre grated cheese (I know it's lazy lol i cba)

Then I add some of the pasta sauce to the pot of cheesy pasta and I managed to get the following result.

However the problem I have is it either is too watery or doesn't cost the pasta like shown above so I'm asking

is anything I should change to more consistently obtain this thicker sauce texture?

And if so how would I do that?

Incase it comes up I am based in the UK so some ingredients are unavailable to me and I use an electric hob

Thank you for reading hopefully you could be of some assistance 🙏

(Small addition images 14 onwards are my failed attempts)

Also I want to figure out how to do this without consulting online recipes so that's why I'm asking people here

Potentially unpopular opinion, but here we go. I see that Rummo is regarded as one of the best easily accessible grocery store brands, so I decided to give it a shot a bunch of times.

It looks good dry, but once cooked it reminds me of a much cheaper brand. Lots of pasta falling apart in the water, a gummy texture (in an unpleasant way), not very much wheat flavour.

I really wanted to like it. I thought maybe different shapes were better than others so I tried a bunch and felt the same.

To me De Cecco is way way better - better flavour, integrity, texture.

Am I alone on this hill?

Let me start by saying I don't cook. Most of my food comes from cans, jars or the freezer. But because I love noodles, ramen and pasta, I was given a used pasta machine. It mixes the dough and comes with a bunch of dies. I don't want to invest in new ingredients (which always end up being wasted because I don't cook) so I want to see what I could make with what I have. Even if the results aren't optimal or very good. I have a bag of bread flour and all purpose flour. That's it. I can go buy eggs if necessary and I have access to water. The flours were given to me but have never been opened. Like I said, I don't cook. Since I don't want to waste them or the pasta machine, I'm wondering what I can come up with using it and either or both flours. Just simple spaghetti or noodles is just fine. I don't care much about appearances or texture as long as it's palatable, and not break apart in sauce or soup.

I also have a few cans of garbanzo beans. Can I puree the beans and use that instead of water or eggs to provide moisture? How much? It would definitely up the protein and fiber contents!

Thanks for taking pity on me and offering some advice!