18. Cheese, Pasta and Rolling Pins

I use my pizza cutter to make the thin "spaghetti" noodles.  They are not perfect, but my family does not seem to care.

Home made pasta is something I love eating, making and photographing.  Making it  can be messy and this is definitely one of those days when I not only ate my food, but wore it and found it days later in every crevice of my kitchen...LOL

I make my piles about the size of my fist.  I try not to stack the fresh pasta too high.

Making pasta is like making bread.  It does take practice but once you master it, you walk a little bit straighter, hold your head taller, give yourself high-fives in the air  AND do the victory dance( of course, this is all done in the privacy of your kitchen...LOL).  Or maybe that is just me but OH it does feel good to see those little strands separated, in cute little piles just waiting for that boiling water.  YUM

I love rolling pins.  I collect several things for my kitchen and these are something I use a lot.  This one is awesome because it's all one piece.  These are my favorite.  I buy them from all types of places, but never brand new.  I want the connection of those who used them in the past.  I love history too.

 I shot these pictures in low light .  Pasta can be challenging to shoot.  It picks up a lot of light (after all, it is a light (color) surface and working with a white dusting of flour).  When I think of making pasta, it takes me back to a day gone by.  To Italy in a small pasta shop with several generations all working together to perfect their craft.  I think of aprons covered in flour.  I want to be a participant in this setting.  Unfortunately I don't live in Italy nor am I Italian.  So I have to create these images as though I was there, 50 years ago.  I close my eyes and smell my pasta....I wanted these pictures to TAKE you there too.  ENJOY! 

To achieve an old, vintage look to your pictures, this can be achieved multiple ways.  You can desaturate you pictures in PS, apply an action in PS or apply a texture in PS.   You can also shoot with black and white film and control the light.

To make your fresh pasta ,you can find an easy recipe here.  Cheesy Sauce recipe below.

To make Gluten-Free pasta, you can find the recipe I used in these images here .  We love this pasta.  It taste just like regular homemade pasta.  I make a double batch for my family of 5.  I could make more and they would eat every last noodle.  LOL
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Roll your dough as thin as you can get it.  Use lots of dusting flour or for me, I use potato starch.  This pasta can be used for spaghetti, ravioli or lasagna noodles.   I used it to make lasagna and those pictures can be found here .

This GF dough is very strong.  You can really move it around and flip it.  I have not had any problems with it tearing or ripping.  Practice makes perfect.

 


Cheesy Sauce Recipe (for pasta or steamed veggies):

1/2 stick of butter
1/2 stick of cream cheese
2 T. flour ( if making Gluten Free, use Sorghum flour)
6 oz cream
1/4 c. milk
1/2 jar of Old English cheese or 1/2 cup of shredded cheese of your choice
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a small sauce pan, add flour.  Stir for 1 minute with whisk.  Add milk and cream.  Continue to cook until thickened.  Remove from heat and add cream cheese,  Old English cheese, salt and pepper.  Stir until blended and keep warm.  Serve warm over pasta or use as a sauce for steamed veggies.

I sauteed some veggies and added them to our pasta and sauce.  YUM

Pasta can be tricky to get the lighting just right.  It reflects a lot of light.  This image is a bit dark, but I like how the noodles in the front can be seen really well with the sauce.