Fresh Pastas Fuzi Mlinzi And Pasutice Food

FRESH PASTA

Steps:

• Beat together the eggs, yolk and olive oil with a fork in a large spouted measuring cup.
• Combine the flour and a large pinch of kosher salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse briefly to combine. With the food processor motor running, gradually pour the egg mixture through the feed tube and let it run until the dough forms a ball around the blade. (If the dough is too sticky to form a ball, add a tablespoon or so of flour and process again. If it is too crumbly to form a ball, add cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and process again.) Once the dough forms a ball, process until smooth and springy, 20 to 30 seconds.
• Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead several times, until the dough comes together in a smooth ball.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. (The dough can be made 1 day ahead, wrapped and refrigerated. Let it come to room temperature before rolling.)
• Anchor a pasta machine to your countertop or secure the pasta attachment to a stand mixer. Set the machine to the widest setting. Unwrap the dough and cut it into 4 equal pieces. Wrap 3 of the pieces while you work with the fourth.
• Flatten the dough into a rectangle and lightly dust with flour. Roll it through the pasta machine at the widest setting. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter and feed it through the pasta machine. Repeat the folding and feeding of the dough through the machine 2 more times. (Rolling and folding in this manner will help strengthen and smooth the dough.)
• Set the pasta machine to the next setting (one setting thinner than the widest). Flour the dough as necessary and feed it through the machine. Repeat, feeding it through one more time.
• Adjust the machine to the next thinnest setting and feed the dough through 2 times as above. Continue changing the setting and feeding the dough through 2 times for each setting until you have fed the dough through the second-to-last setting. The dough should be thin enough so that you can see your hand through it.
• If you are cutting your pasta into noodles: Stop rolling the dough through after you have gone through the second-to-last setting.
• If you are making filled pasta, like ravioli: Change the machine to the final setting and feed the dough through.
• Cut the dough in half crosswise and cover it with plastic wrap. Repeat the folding, rolling and cutting process with the 3 remaining pieces of dough. Cover each piece of dough as you finish. You should have 8 pieces of dough total.
• If you are cutting your pasta into noodles: Affix the cutting attachment to the pasta machine. Choose the desired setting and feed the dough through. Lightly toss the noodles with a little flour on a baking sheet to prevent sticking and cover with a dry kitchen towel while you process the rest of the dough. Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, 3 to 4 minutes.
• If you are making filled pasta: Proceed according to your recipe's instructions.

FRESH PASTAS: FUZI, MLINZI, AND PASUTICE

Steps:

• Put the flour in the bowl of a food processor and process for a few seconds to aerate. Mix the eggs, olive oil, and the water in a measuring cup or other spouted container. Start the food processor running, and pour in the liquids through the feed tube. Process for 30 to 40 seconds, until a soft dough forms and gathers on the blade. If the dough does not gather and is wet and sticky, process in more flour, in small additions. If it is dry and stiff, process in more water, by spoonfuls.
• Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for a minute, until it's smooth, soft, and stretchy. Press it into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before using. To use later, refrigerate for up to a day, or freeze it for a month or more. Defrost frozen dough in the refrigerator; return it to room temperature before rolling.
• Rolling and shaping pasutice and fuzi: To roll the dough in a standard home pasta-roller, cut it into six pieces. Keeping the dough lightly floured, roll the pieces at progressively narrower settings, gradually stretching them into strips about 2 feet long and as wide as your machine allows, usually about 5 inches. Cut each strip in half crosswise, so you have twelve strips about a foot in length. Lay them flat on a lightly floured surface, and keep covered with towels.
• One at a time, slice the strips lengthwise into long ribbons, about 1 1/2 inches wide, using a sharp knife or a rotary pasta-cutter and a ruler to guide the blade. You should get three such ribbons from a 5-inch-wide strip.
• To make pasutice: Cut across the ribbons with parallel diagonal slices, spaced 2 inches apart, forming diamond-shaped pasutice (also called maltagliati).
• Lay them flat on a lightly floured tray or sheet pan, spaced apart in a single layer. When the tray is filled, cover the pasutice with a lightly floured towel, and lay another layer of diamonds on top. Leave the pasutice at room temperature on the tray for a few hours. For longer storage, freeze on the tray until solid, then pack in ziplock plastic bags until you are ready to cook them.
• To make fuzi: First cut a pasta strip into ribbons, and then into diamond-shaped pasutice, as described above.
• Roll each diamond around a lightly floured chopstick or similar-sized thin rod to form a hollow tube, resembling a quill. Press on the overlapping pasta to seal the cylinder and slide it off the stick. Roll all the pasta diamonds into fuzi, using up all the remaining dough.
• Place the fuzi, spaced apart, on a lightly floured tray, and cover with a floured towel. Fill another tray if needed (do not put one layer on top of another, like pasutice). Leave at room temperature for a few hours, or freeze on the tray, then pack in plastic bags until you cook them.
• To make mlinzi: For mlinzi, you'll need a rolling pin or a pasta machine to roll the dough, and several half-sheet pans (12 by 18 inches) or other large baking sheets. Arrange your oven racks to hold as many baking sheets as fit comfortably inside, and preheat to 300˚.
• To roll mlinzi by hand, cut the dough into four pieces. On a lightly floured board, roll each piece to a rectangle about 11 by 17 inches (to fit in a half-sheet). To roll out in a pasta machine, cut the dough in six pieces and roll each piece at progressively narrower settings, into strips about 2 feet long and as wide as your machine allows. Always keep the dough lightly floured and roll until very thin, as for any fresh pasta.
• Lay the rolled pasta out flat on the sheet pans, cutting it as needed to fit. Arrange as many pans as you can in your oven, rotating them and shaking so they don't stick. When they appear dry, flip the mlinzi over. Bake a total of 18 to 20 minutes, until the mlinzi are completely crisp and crack apart when bent. They should be pale gold all over, or even darker, for a nuttier taste.
• Let the mlinzi cool on the sheet pans, or move to wire racks. When all the mlinzi sheets are baked and cool, stack them up on a tray and leave them uncovered, in a dry place, so the air circulates between the sheets and they remain crisp.