Masterclass with Master Chef Bill Marchetti

Ok I know this post is totally irrelevant to whatever I usually blog about but I HAVE to share this with you guys.

                                                               Thats me with Father Xmas :)

I opened my gmail account on Tuesday and there, prettily sitting in my mailbox, was an invitation, by BBC GoodFood magazine, asking me if I'd be interested in attending a Master class on Pasta making by none other than Master Chef Bill Marchetti of Spaghetti Kitchen. Would I be interested? Well HULLO you don't ask any kid if he/she wants s'more candies...Of course I m interested and if you ask (properly) I can also come and set up the booth, arrange the pots and pan, clean up (getting my drift?) M that interested.  Of course I didn't rattle on all this with the GoodFood people. I politely called them up and confirmed my registration. See I do behave properly in public.

                                                    Chef Marchetti prepping up before the session

It was a very informative session. Chef Marchetti busted some myths about the use of garlic and cheese in Italian food as in India, we majorly associate these two components with the Italian cuisine. He also told us, of course in good humour, how they use ten times the cheese in Indian-Italian restaurants as compared to any other restaurants in the world.

                                         Here he is showing us how to laminate the pasta dough

                                                                           Me  trying

                                                                     My fettuccine

I sincerely thank GoodFood magazine for organizing the wonderful masterclass and giving us an opportunity to interact with the award winning Master Chef Bill Marchetti. Looking forward to many more such informative and interactive sessions.

Pasta Dough
Ingredients:
200 grams Italian 00 flour, 
200 grams semolina
(or use 400 grams all purpose flour)
4 eggs, room temperature

Method:

Mix together the flour and semolina and create a mound on the counter top of your  kitchen or table top with a crater in the center. Crack the eggs into the center of the flour and semolina. Use your fingers to gradually draw the dry ingredients into the center, mixing them with the eggs. The dough will be hard to mix at first but eventually it will come together and be relatively smooth.
Knead the dough with the heel of your hand for at least three minutes until the dough is very smooth. The dough should not feel sticky. If it sticks to your fingers, knead in a small amount of flour, just enough so your fingers come away clean when you pull them away. Wrap the dough and let it sit at room temperature for an hour.
To roll out the pasta, on a lightly floured surface, cut the dough into six or eight pieces. Working one piece at a time, fashion each piece into a rough rectangle, then pass it through your pasta machine on the widest setting . Fold dough in half or in thirds and pass it through again. Then fold and pass it through one more time.
Continue passing the pasta through the machine, closing down the opening of the rollers a few notches with each pass (and dusting them very lightly with flour or semolina if the dough is sticking) until you’ve reached the desired thickness. Then, if you wish to make fettuccine or spaghetti, use the pasta cutter attachment to cut the sheets into the desired thickness, or cut the pasta by hand on the counter top with a chef’s knife to whatever size strands or shapes you want.
Once rolled, fresh pasta should be dusted with semolina (preferably) or flour to keep it from sticking if you’re not going to cook it right away. You can lay it on a semolina- or flour-dusted baking sheet or linen kitchen towel, until ready to boil. Or drape it over a suspended rolling pin or pasta drying rack until ready to use.
Chef Marchetti told us that for cooking fresh pasta the standard ratio is
1 litre water : 100 grams pasta : 10 grams salt.

So now you have your own recipe for fresh pasta. What are you waiting for? Go ahead make it and do share your experiences with me.