Post wedding - making fresh pasta

The wedding was two weeks ago and we are beginning to settle into the new house. Problem is that we still have a lot to do with the house and are very tired with all the work we need to do. Trying to cook interesting food is not that easy in this environment.

We got some interesting kitchen items as wedding gifts. One the best was a Kitchenaid stand mixer. I used it for the first time last night and made some fresh pasta with it. The only sort of pasta I have made in the past is spaetzle and gnochi.

I tried making a more traditional pasta last night. It went quite well. We rolled out a large sheet and I cut it into fettuccine. Problem was that I laid them all out together and left them for an hour. When I came back to it, it was all one mass of dough. We quickly cut it into small pieces and made it into little thumb pressed pastas. They tasted good, but were too thick and a bit tough because of that.

I made a sauce that had a fresh taste . First I made lardons out Tiroler bacon and once that this produced fat I put in onions and shallots.

Towards the end I added red pepper, lemon zest, leomon juice and cherry tomatoes. I then took it off of the heat and added green onions, balasamic and basil. The pasta was put into the sauce at the end. Tasted good we finished it all.

I am going to try pasta again tonight, I will let the dough sit for an hour and then roll it out shortly before putting it into the water. I will be trying for a linguine. Sauce??? Not sure.

Time to try the kitchen torch. Sheila has used it for melting cheese on crackers.........