Fresh Pasta!

Okay, if you have never had fresh pasta, I suggest you get your butt to a restaurant that makes it, and order that dish. It. Is. Phenomenal. But it has to say "fresh pasta" on the menu, otherwise it's commercially made. I don't know how I'm going to go back to eating my boxed stuff. Not that hard to make either, you just need to buy a pasta maker, which Chef K. says is only about $30.
That is fusilli ("butterfly"), angel hair, tagitelle, and ravioli.

I'm so tired! I went in to work today for just a couple hours and it kind of drained me - and then I ran (okay, I napped for 30 as well). How am I going to do this once I actually am working full time??

Anyway. Making pasta is pretty easy. It's semolina flour and bread flour. Make a well for egg and olive oil. Start stirring gently at the egg, slowly pulling in the flour. Once it sticks to the fork, you can take over with your hands. Fold in quarter-inch turns, adding flour to help with stickiness (only bread flour). Do this until done. Nope, sorry, can't describe "done" - not hard, not soft, just Done. Then you turn it through the pasta maker until it comes out thin enough to see your fingers. Dry. Keep drying. Keep drying again. Then turn it through the shaper for whichever kind you want. Ravioli you obviously do your own cutting. I didn't take a photo, but I also made tortelloni with the next batch. I really liked those. They're fancy! I took home a second batch of formed pasta, par boiled (partially cooked), to freeze and make later. I'll need to come up with a good sauce...
The ravioli is filled with 1) the roasted sweet apricot squast and 2) ricotta cheese, parsley, and salt. No, not together. The next batch I made had the ricotta cheese. So those will need different sauces - the former is supposed to be made with butter and sage, the latter with...probably a red sauce. Or olive oil.
I showed Chef how to make manti - Turkish dish - and he wants me to bring in some, but I just don't have time to make it before Friday. Sad. Friday is our last day with him.

We didn't have the quiz today either, and he said we're not going to. Man, he's so great!


Lessons learned:
Any chef after Chef K. is going to seem sucky - he's so awesome! And he doesn't need to marry a Korean, I asked... Takers?
Oh, cooking lesson? Be patient with the drying process - the second batch I waited almost 25 minutes and Chef K said it turned out really well. And buy a pasta maker - this was great! I'm definitely putting it on my list.