In Italy, homemade pasta has always been synonymous with tradition. It's a tradition that takes us back in time, when authentic flavors were always on the table. Even today, surprising friends and family by serving freshly made pasta is a gesture that combines care and taste, for lunches, dinners, and appetizers like those of yesteryear. If kneading and extruding the shapes we like best or rolling out the dough by hand like our grandmothers did seems like an art too difficult to master, fortunately, there are suitable kitchen helpers on the market, such as Ariete's pasta machines, which allow us to enjoy fresh pasta prepared much more easily and quickly than in the past. So let's discover how to use them and some delicious recipes, the kind that have nothing to envy a true chef!

How to make pasta at home

Making pasta at home is a true art. However, not everyone is familiar with flour, kneading dough, pastry boards, or rolling pins, and that's where fresh pasta machines come in. They can knead and extrude it for us in just 15 minutes, as good as handmade. And with minimal effort. All Pastamatic models boast a compact design and are easy to use. Thanks to the 4 different discs provided with the included press, we can enjoy 5 different shapes of fresh pasta: spaghetti, tagliatelle, macaroni, pappardelle, and lasagnette. With a single machine and guided by a clear recipe book full of ideas, we will have the opportunity to knead, roll out the pasta, and extrude it into the shape we prefer with a few simple steps. In addition, those with gluten intolerance can prepare it in a gluten-free version, using gluten-free flours such as quinoa flour, rice flour, or corn flour.

With the electric pasta roller from the same line in the Ariete catalog, it's then very easy to rediscover all the genuineness of lasagna, pappardelle, fettuccine, tagliatelle, filled pasta, and tagliolini. The side motor automatically rolls out the dough, without the need for manual action, for 9 different dough thickness levels that satisfy everyone's palates. We just need to mount a roller on the body of the pasta machine and start the motor, to immediately obtain a uniformly rolled out and perfectly smooth pasta, ready to be dried, cooked, and seasoned. Not only that, in a few simple steps, the Ariete electric pasta machine transforms into a manual pasta roller, complete with a crank like the one our grandparents used to roll out the dough.

Tips for using Pastamatic

Now that homemade pasta, like in the old days and in many different shapes, holds no more secrets, let's go through some useful tips for making the most of the Pastamatic range. First of all, it's good practice to always put the dry ingredients first in each recipe, such as flours and salt, followed by eggs, oil, and other liquid ingredients. Once the appropriate kneading program has been started, we can proceed by adding water through the special slot on the lid, until the optimal consistency is obtained. A good dough should not be too hard, to prevent the hopper from being unable to pick it up, nor too soft, because it would tend to stick.

Homemade fresh pasta: the best recipes

Not all homemade pasta is the same. With Pastamatic, we can try our hand at many different shapes, to customize according to our needs and taste. Below are some useful recipes to start with, all tasty and healthy, just like those expertly prepared completely by hand.

Homemade tagliatelle

Preparing homemade tagliatelle will no longer be a long and complex process thanks to the help of Pastamatic. We need 400g of 00 flour, 1 egg, 50ml of water, 15ml of oil, and salt. Insert the ingredients into the machine in the correct order - so flour, eggs, oil, and salt - and start the automatic program, gradually pouring in the water until the dough reaches the correct crumbly consistency. For an extra touch, we can also add spinach and create colorful "straw and hay" tagliatelle.

Homemade semolina pasta

400g of semolina flour, 140ml of water, 15ml of oil, and salt: these are the ingredients to prepare homemade semolina pasta in an artisan way. We need to insert them into Pastamatic and start the automatic program, also adding the water little by little from the slot on the lid. Once the correct consistency is obtained, start the extrusion program and begin forming the pasta.

Gluten-free fresh pasta

Ariete's Pastamatic is also ideal for gluten-free fresh pasta, by replacing wheat flour with any other type of flour to have fun shaping all kinds of gluten-free pasta. A tasty example is quinoa flour: use 250g of it along with 150g of buckwheat flour, 4 whole eggs, 30ml of water, and 30ml of oil. Insert them into the machine and knead with water until a crumbly consistency is obtained, before proceeding with extrusion.