I continue to run into a problem with pasta. It seems that I either forgo a zero waste attempt or I get a product that is non organic. Basically, any pastas I find in the bulk sections of my go-to stores are highly processed and not organic- but then I can't find any organic pasta that isn't packaged in a quasi-plastic package or sorts - the kind that is definitely not recyclable.
When I started the zero waste transition back in the Fall, I just sucked it up on the organic side and bought the non organic bulk pasta.
But guys, it. tastes. awful!
Even my husband and kiddo complained. I think we have been a bit spoiled with the fresh made and organic goodness we've had over the last batch of months because I swear now I can taste a difference in highly processed foods. There is a weird after taste that is somewhat reminiscent of pop rocks and stale saltines. Not a fun combo.
So the third option it is: make pasta.
I enlisted the help of my friend who is a pasta making diva, Alison Donin. She brought over this lovely book, The Pasta Bible, and her magical KitchenAid pasta attachment for my KitchenAid thingy.
Making the dough is super easy. It was flour, water, salt, a few other ingredients and then you get to throw in whatever sounds good. I chose to add garlic and spinach. The dough was made in 10 minutes! It's the making of the noodle part that takes a while. You do not need a magical KitchenAid attachment, as I have read about methods of flattening the dough and slicing for noodles, but the magical KitchenAid thingy is a tool of beauty- and gave us dozens of noodles all the same thickness and uniform size. The attachment is pretty spendy so find yourself an Alison Donin, borrow, or save... for a while, or plan for an extra hour for manual making of the noodles.
In any event, do not spend any cash on a "noodle dryer", because using spoons, spatulas and other utensils held down to kitchen counters via big cook books on top of them, work splendidly for drying the noodles.
We didn't follow one of my cardinal rules and only made one batch- next time I shall make a crap-ton! ( Especially because you can freeze a bunch and still have great tasting pasta weeks down the road). The pasta that night- complete with homemade sauce from canned tomatoes from the garden ( bam zero waste!) was the best. ever. really. My husband is not one that ever panders to me so when he says something is the best, it's a winner.
Thanks, Mrs. Alison Pasta Diva.