Basic pasta

• Place 2 cups of flour in the center of a large board. Shape the mound in such a way that there is a ‘well’ in the center. Beat the eggs, oil and salt in a small bowl, and pour them into the well. Incorporate the flour into the eggs, little by little.
• Once the dough becomes too stiff to mix, start to knead it by hand. Sprinkle flour onto the kneading surface and knead until it is dry.
• Keep on kneading for about 5 minutes or until the dough becomes elastic.
• Divide the dough in half and flatten into small rectangles of a size which could fit through a pasta machine. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour at room temperature.
• Feed the dough into the rollers in an electric pasta machine. Pass the strips through the machines at least twice, or until the dough is smooth enough.
• Cut the strips into 16 inch lengths. Roll the pasta on the narrowest possible setting, covering with a clean cloth and letting it rest for about 30 minutes.

All that needs to be done is to cook the pasta.

Trivia

• It wasn’t Marco Polo that founded Pasta. Utensils used for making pasta have been found in ancient Entruscan tombs. This means that while the Italians can claim to be ‘kings’ of pasta, due to their strong attachment to it, they can’t really claim to be the founders of the dish.
• The main reason why pasta became a mainstream dish at all is because of the industrial revolution in Naples. The mechanical process allowed for large scale production of pasta, making it affordable to the common people.