Fresh Pasta...Fresh Herbs...Fresh Vegetables...Yes! It's Almost Springtime!

Yes, it's almost springtime...almost...Temperatures here in Paris not yet so "spring that's sprung". Anyway, as if our strong wish could make things happen...we want to see green on our dishes, we want our meals to be lighter (eh oui, soon we have to leave our "manteaux" -overcoats, in the closets and show the world our "real selves"-OMG!), so just pasta with fresh veggies and herbs suited the occasion!

But it also happened that my dear Heavenly Housewife, from "From Donuts to Delirium", invited a blogger to join her making home-made pasta. I accepted the challenge for two reasons: First and foremost because for me, this "not so Heavenly Housewife"'s blog is almost therapeutical: HH writes using this typical, ironic, subtile English sense of humour that I love...and she makes me laugh, and for me, that's the best medicine..! Second, because home-made pasta is Sunday tradition, "chez moi" (at home), probably due to our Argentinian-therefore-Italian background...

The idea of "invite a blogger to your table" was actually started by Valli, from More than Burnt Toast. It is a good "challenge" to take a blogger-friend out of her/his comfort zone, and to share experiences, so I encourage you to do it too! 

Here are the rules:

1) Choose a dish to prepare and invite 1 blogger to create that dish with you. You can source your recipe from a cookbook, magazine, blog or any other source.2) Decide upon a date that you can both mutually post your recipe.3) Link back to More Than Burnt Toast http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com/ somewhere in your post.4) Please feel free to use the Avatar/Badge above “Invite a Blogger to Your Table.5) Once you have made your dish with your blogging friends and posted it or you can choose to stop or continue on and “invite another blogger to your table” to make something different.6) Cut and paste these instructions into your post and contact a friend.

But, going back to my dish, that could be part of Chefex (if you buy fresh pasta), you will need barely a couple of minutes to do this, because it is just a question of using a mandoline or sharp knife to cut raw zucchinis in julienne, slicing some mint leaves, chopping coarsely some hazelnuts, and adding a touch of lemon juice! 

What really feels me with pride is to share with you, this piece of my life: my 16-year-old daughter, and her father sharing this recurring self-imposed Sunday challenge, in our minuscule, not so full of light kitchen (yes, that's the negative side of the "grandeur Hausmannien")

We can barely move there, the photos come out awful! but I don't mind...We are happy sharing all this, and a "Hollywood" kitchen would not make our pasta better or tastier... We are a boisterous family, we criticize each other harshly, but then, two hours later, we all sit around this pasta, and we laugh, barely talk because we are hungry and the pasta is delicious...that's my Sunday lunch...as simple as that!

To make fresh pasta dough, you will need: 

*flour, 500gr *eggs, 5 *olive oil, 3tbsp * salt, one pinch

In a stand-mixer, with the hook, put the flour with the salt, the eggs and the olive oil. Start mixing slowly until the dough is formed. Then, flour slightly your work top, and knead the dough until the dough is resistant to your touch...it bounces back when pressed. Let rest for 30'. Cut the dough in small balls. Put your pasta machine in "1". Put the dough ball (previously flattened a bit by hand) in the slot. Pass it again several times until it is even.

Sprinkle the dough with flour if necessary. Change the machine to "2", then to "3" until desired thickness. Let the tagliatelle, or spaghetti rest and "air" to dry a bit, hanging from these hangers for 15'. In the meanwhile, put abundant water to boil. Once boiling, add some coarse salt, and put all the pasta in. Stir with a fork, to make sure it does not stick. Cook till "al dente". 


For the greens and herbs:


Cut the zucchinis (how many, depends on quantity of pasta and your taste) in julienne. Slice some leaves of mint (again, it depends on how strong you like to feel the mint), some chopped hazelnuts, and one spoonful of lemon juice. Before adding this, I sprinkled the pasta with olive oil, to prevent it from sticking.