Thursday, February 4, 2010

Homemade Egg Noodles

Making my own noodles has always been something I wanted to try and when it wound up as number 39 on the Saveur 100 this January my fate was sealed. Making a pot of soup is a nice thing to do on a cold day and a better thing to do for someone under the weather. The stars aligned and I was on my way.


Most important for the egg noodles are the eggs. I used eggs from a local farmer that I bought at the Community Winter Market last week. Small and tall yolks with brilliant color. This photo doesn't do them justice.


Incorporate the beaten eggs into salted flour. About this point, you can't imagine it'll ever come together.


After a good workout of kneading for 8-10 minutes, suddenly it really does come together. But how will this dry blob be rolled into noodles?



After a 30 minute rest in the fridge, nicely hydrated noodle dough, ready to roll.



I've made lots of pasta but never hand rolled any and I think I expected this to be more difficult. I am happy to say that it was really easy. I didn't need to add a lot of extra flour since I used the roll-pat and soon the dough was super thin and leathery to the touch. Have I mentioned how much I love my roll-pat?



The noodles weren't sticky but I dusted them lightly with flour before rolling loosely to prevent them from sticking to each other after cutting.



I didn't plan to use them immediately, I set them out to dry and added a bit of time when cooking them. Since these noodles were slated for soup after I did cook the noodles I kept them to the side. Noodles keep absorbing liquid and get mushy the longer they sit in broth. Especially the homemade ones.



I've add a few handfuls of kale to the broth and soon a ladle of steamy turkey soup with lots of carrots, celery, onions and garlic will be ladled over those tasty homemade noodles.

Hopefully, just what the doctor ordered.



Homemade Noodles

Saveur-Janurary 2010

Whisk together 2 cups of flour and 1 t. kosher salt in a bowl. Form a well; add three beaten eggs. Whisk to make a dough; knead on a floured surface until smooth, 8-10 minutes. Form into a ball; wrap in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes. Cut dough into quarters. Working with 1 quarter at a time, begin rolling dough.

Continue rolling in several directions (you may need to add a bit of flour to the surface), picking it up and stretching it occasionally until it reaches a 3/16" thickness.

Gengly fold up the dough, sprinkling four onto the dough as you go to keep dough from sticking to itself.

Cut folded-up dough crosswise into 1/2" wide noodles. Repeat with reamining dough pieces. To cook, boil in salted water until al dente, 3-4 minutes.

2 comments:

pve design said...

Have you ever made fresh egg dumplings?
My Mom would make those - I love the taste.
pve

Emily said...

Ohhhh, Jen, it's making my mouth water!! It seems pretty daunting, but I may give it a try. Thanks for posting such a yummy recipe and demo. I hope you all feel better soon!