I got it in my head this weekend that I really wanted to make some homemade pasta. Perhaps it was the tasty fresh pasta I tasted in my last visit to Toronto at Cucina, or just watching Hell's Kitchen and seeing Chef Ramsay yell and scream at people all day that got me in the mood.

Either way, I went ahead and did my first attempt at it. I got a pasta press, some semolina flour and some eggs. I love the simplicity of it all, simply turning the two into a dough, letting it rest, rolling it out and flattening it with the hand-cranked machine. The machine also cut the pasta into beautiful noodles of linguine, and let it dry for an hour. It cooked really fast, giving me perfect al dente noodles in about four minutes.

I teamed up with Kostas who made a fresh pesto the old fashioned way, grinding up basil leaves, romano, parmesan, pine nuts and olive oil by hand to make a very pungent and delicious pesto. Having some extra pasta leftover, Kostas then made another sauce with San Marzano tomatoes and ripped basil leaves, putting some very creamy and fresh mozzarella at the end. It was delicious, the tomatoes form San Marzano are so incredibly sweet and tasty, and they alone could form a delicious sauce with nothing else needed, unlike the standard tomatoes I cook with which normally take a long time to cook into something sweet and not too acidic.

It seems that most of the recipes I've seen use all-purpose white flour, and yet it seems clear to me that pasta is traditionally made with semolina flour. I used completely semolina, but I have also heard of the two flours being mixed together for ideal results. I think I also made the pasta a touch too dry, causing the texture to not be as smooth as I would have liked. I'm going to have to play around with different amounts of olive oil and different types of flours to see what effect it has on the final pasta.

I'd also like to find a guide to different thickness of pasta and how that affects what the ideal sauces are for the noodle. I think there is a lot of interesting knowledge handed down from chef to chef, but perhaps unsurprisingly, I want to approach this from a scientist's point of view and understand the theory of food. What effect does salt have on water, and why do eggs come out mushy if you add them before cooking? Why will a wet fish end up being steamed unless you cover it in salt initially? To me, these are truly the most interesting questions in cooking.

It's strange that some reality show on cooking has the effect of inspiring me to attempt to cook, but Chef Gordon Ramsay talked about food with such love and such passion that I can't help but get excited over the preparation of food. It makes me regret getting an apartment with such a small kitchen. At the time of decision, it wasn't so terrible an idea; just over a week ago, if you opened my fridge, it was completely empty except for some bottles of vodka! At least now there are some eggs in there. :)

All in all it was a great experiment with great results, and I will definitely be making more homemade pasta over the next few weeks. It really is remarkable the difference that it makes to use completely fresh ingredients and make something from scratch. Everything just tastes so much better, it is so much cheaper, and you can completely design and make the meal to fit exactly what flavors you enjoy. Who knows, maybe my next big thing is learning to cook!