Melanie’s Pasta Noodles

• 4 cups No #1 Semolina flour
• 4 Tbs olive oil
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 egg beaten

Mix the flour and salt. Pour flour-salt mixture onto a large bread board and form into a mound with a well in the center. Beat eggs and oil together and pour into the well. Mix with a fork, slowly blending small amounts of the surrounding flour while mixing. When the dough becomes stiff, knead in remaining flour using your hands. (A small amount of flour may be left over.)

Roll dough into a ball and coat with a few drops of olive oil to keep dough moist. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a moist towel. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.

Cut into manageable portions and flatten each piece before running the dough through a pasta machine. (The pasta maker attachment for KitchenAid mixer works well.) Start with the thickest setting and continue to pass through the machine at increasingly thinner settings until the desired thickness is achieved.

Pasta may be cooked immediately, frozen, or dried on a rack for 1 hour.

Boil the pasta in a large pot of very salty water. While cooking, occasionally taste a piece of the pasta to determine when it is done. The consistency should be “al dente” – a bit chewy but not tough.

When the pasta has reached the correct consistency, set aside a little pasta water in case some needs to be added later to keep pasta from sticking together Pour contents of pot into a colander and allow the water to drain from the pasta.