The Omnivorous Fish

Pasta class taught by Joe Fish? I’m so there. I’m sure some of the folks I met at Shuna’s knife class would love to be invited as well. Would there be gnocchi, too? I’d also love to put it up on my blog, along with a general Joe Fish shout-out, as soon as I post about the lovely dinner we are now eating.

The pasta is incredibly light and delicate. I actually might have rolled it a bit too thin — I might want a bit more bite to this noodle, to stand up a little more against all the good vegetables. You were right — I cut the noodles by hand, and loved the rustic look and texture of them.

Things I learned:

Pay attention while you’re feeding the dough through the rollers. I kept rumpling pieces of dough and tearing them because I wasn’t feeding them through carefully enough.

Use some oil. I made this dough with no oil at all, and I have a feeling it would be somewhat easier to work with if there were just a little fat in the dough.

Use enough benching flour while rolling out. I mistakenly folded some sheets in on themselves without flouring properly, and lost about half my rolled-out sheets, which stuck together in drying, unworkable masses. Undaunted, I re-hydrated all the dough (even tougher than the first time around), re-kneaded, re-rested, and re-rolled. Still came out great — it was just a lot more work, and took a lot more time, which is why we’re just eating dinner now. Someone just went back into the kitchen in search of another heaping bowlful, and I don’t think that’s mere hunger talking, not at this point.

One more question, if you’ll indulge me: I’m assuming that the towel-lined pan with the nests of noodles on it goes into the freezer, and then once the nests are frozen, they can be bagged. It might be obvious, but just give me corroboration so I don’t leave the baking sheet and the dish towels in the freezer… ;D