So, in my quest to hone frugal domestica-survivalist skills I’m still seeing how many different meals I can make with a bag o’ flour & getting back to basics.

This time I’m attempting pasta from scratch. I’ve never made pasta apart from gnocchi many years ago so this was a totally new experience for me. I was a little limited due to my lack of kitchen-gadgetry. I guess it all adds to the survivalist theme.. making do with what you’ve got. All I had was my steel waterbottle that I used as a rolling pin & a knife, so I experimented with 3 styles-

• Ravioli. Seemed a straight-forward one, so that was an obvious choice for a beginner like me. All I had to do was roll 2 flat sheets of pasta, sandwich lumps of filling in between & then cut it into little squares. Meh, I didn’t even bother photographing that one. I’m sure you can figure it out.

• Tortellini. I was keen to give tortellini a try. It’s real pretty & intricate-looking, but after watching a quick youtube vid it really looked easier than I had guessed. It’s definitely a fancier looking pasta compared to boring square ravioli but only a little extra effort (& patience) is needed.

• Orecchiette. Similar to conchiglie, these are a basic “shell” shaped pasta, not filled like the previous 2. They won’t look like the factory-made ones you buy in a packet, they’re much more rustic when made by hand. I really enjoyed making these, simple but effective. When you’re making a shell-pasta you’re essentially wanting to create a shape that will hold sauce. These have great sauce-holding capabilities.

Ok, here goes!

Fetch 3 eggs & a couple cups of flour/ semolina. I used flour. These are approximate quantities since eggs vary in size & flour will hold more moisture depending on where you live in the world, storage & the weather conditions.

You might want to add a pinch of salt & a teaspoon of olive oil if you like. A bowl of water in your workspace will be handy too.

These quantities would be enough to feed 4.. totally depending on how you serve your pasta & just how hungry you are, but you get my drift..

Make a flour crater & poor the eggs in the middle (mix a pinch of salt with the eggs if you desire). Mix together from the middle outwards, adding all the flour eventually until the mixture comes together.

Knead the hell outta that dough until you have a real smooth ball. It takes a while. I found it easier to work in two batches for this quantity. If your mixture is too dry to come together you can add a few drops of water or oil, even another egg if you really need.

Then you need to cool it in the fridge for half an hour or so until it hardens a little. Make sure you wrap the balls up well so it doesn’t dry out though.

When I got the balls out of the fridge I decided to divide it into smaller batches still. I’ve only got a small workspace, plus you don’t want batches drying out while you’re working. So now I’m working with quarters.

Flour your surface so the dough doesn’t stick. For tortellini you need to roll out the dough as thin as you can really. If you have a pasta roller then.. you suck. No, really I’m envious. It was hard work rolling it out.

Note-There are plenty of round things around the house you can use as a rolling pin- jars, wine bottles, piping, just make sure it’s clean.

Cut the sheet into squares. Don’t go too small, it’ll get really fiddly when you start the folding. 5cm at least.

Dollop a little “filling” on there, whatever you’re using. I’m using some of the homemade cheese I’ve been making (a sundried tomato & basil variation). See my previous posts on making cheese at home. Don’t go crazy & overfill them. You really can’t fit much in there.

Dab a bit of water around the edges & fold the square in half diagonally.

Press to seal tightly. You don’t wanna lose all the filling when you boil these guys.

Wet a corner & wrap the triangle around a finger.

Stick the 2 ends together. The water should hold it tight.

Tada! You have a tortellini.

..1 down.. 50 to go..

Once again keep them wrapped in plastic until you boil them. You can also freeze any that you don’t cook

Now it’s time for orecchiette. This one is a lot easier, especially since you don’t need to roll a flat sheet.

Step 1, make a long snake!

Cut the snake into little pillows.

Here’s the bit that takes a little practice- Roll your thumb from one side to the other, squishing the little pillow.

The pillow will flatten & hug the shape of your thumb into a concave little shell.. hopefully.

It doesn’t matter if they don’t all look uniform. They’re “rustic” remember.

As long as they’re little shells to hold sauce they’re doing their job.

Done!

Now, when it comes to boiling them up I won’t specify how long to boil them for. Mine took a lot longer than I thought they would. You’ll just have to test them as you go.. which is how you should cook anything really.