~ Culinary Q&A & Kitchen Therapy Too (11/23/12) ~

I hope everyone is recovering nicely from their Turkey day food induced comas.  Like a lot of you, Joe and I wrestled with taking the entire day off (from cooking) and ordering takeout, vs., leftovers.  The leftovers won.  We couldn't resist a complete reheat of yesterdays dinner. We two took our plates into the family room, put our feet up in front of the TV and both remarked it was every bit as good as it was yesterday, and the poodles agreed!

On Monday morning it will be time to switch gears and share a few more of my recipes for Christmas and New Years with you.  In addition to those recipes, a few of you have submitted some VERY intriguing requests, and, I am looking forward to getting them posted as quickly as possible. My foodie friends, December on KE is going to be a fun month!  BTW Tim:

~ A Make-Ahead Christmas Morning Hot Chocolate ~ can be found in Categories 9, 11 or 16!

Earlier this week, I recieved a question from a friend and a reader regarding pasta machines.  I chose to feature it on todays Friday Q&A, because:  making homemade pasta just happens to be one of the things I have planned for a December post.  How timely and coincidental is that!

Q.  Marilyn asks:  Melanie, I've got another gadget question.  I need advice on purchasing a pasta machine.  Mine died today (after 22 years).  It was fully-loaded, and ready to extrude, when it made a wierd sound and quit.  I had thawed the frozen marinara sauce (your recipe) from my Summer garden tomatoes and wanted fresh pasta.  I know you make your own "noodles", but thought you might have a pasta machine too.  I would appreciate your advice!

A.  Kitchen Encounters:  Let me start by saying I hope you and yours enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday.  I love you and all of your foodie comments here on KE!

Making all sorts of homemade pasta is one of my specialties, and, as you can see from this picture, I am at no loss for gadgets to prepare it. I've even taught two classes about pasta making!

If it is an electric driven machine you are looking for, I recommend investing in the attachment for your stand mixer.  I have the pasta-maker attachments for both my Cuisinart stand mixers and my KitchenAid stand mixers.  Stand mixers have heavy-duty motors that are built to last a lifetime and simply put:  they will never let you down!

That being said, my favorite way to make pasta is by hand.  It is how I learned to do it thirty-some years ago.  For some reason, I feel that the hand-crank machines give me hands-on control of the process (+ I don't have to worry about it "making a wierd sound and quitting on me").

The best ones are sold as The Atlas Pasta Machine, or, The Atlas Pasta Machine by Marcato.  These extremely well-built, stainless steel demons cost around $100, which is quite reasonable, since they too will last you a lifetime!

I'm really looking forward to posting a homemade pasta recipe or two for you in December, and, once again, thank you so much for all of your great comments here on KE!

Enjoy your weekend everyone, and once again:  To leave a comment or ask a question, simply click on the blue title of any post, scroll to the end of it and type away... or e-mail me directly!

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipes, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2012)

Comments

[Kitchen Encounters]

Marilyn! That sound VERY fair... you WILL make good use of them both!

[Marilyn Cummins]

Melanie, thank you for your valuable information on my pasta machine question! Honestly, I don't know how you do all that you do! I was checking into it myself, and thought about purchasing the attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer, but wanted your thoughts first. Actually, my husband was quite elated about the machine dying ~ every year,for Christmas, he gets me a new kitchen appliance. No more jewelry for me!! So.. I am going to ask that he get me the attachment AND the Atlas machine.
After all, we are entering our 25th married year, and I think that's fair! Besides me, he loves Italian food. Ha! I will be watching for your "pasta" posts.
"Camptown Races Here We Come, do dah, do dah!