The Art of Pasta Making

by Julie Johnson, Tastemaker in Residence

One of my favorite things in life is embracing how every individual has a unique way of expressing creativity!  Life would be pretty boring if we all did everything exactly the same, right?  While creative expression comes in many forms, time in the kitchen is my top choice for making it happen!  

Creating delicious entrees is also an expression of love to my family while allowing us to gather with good food and conversation at dinner time. Secretly, it’s more about hearing my husband shout out at the end of every meal “another restaurant quality meal at the Johnson house!” 

In my kitchen, creative expression is not about fancy platters or added garnishes to present food with an “artistic flare.”  Rather, it is more about challenging myself to create food with authentic ingredients that are minimally processed.  It is about mixing just a ‘tad of this’ and a ‘tidbit of that’ to create magical flavors!  Or more importantly, creative expression in my kitchen involves stepping outside of what’s convenient.  

In the past year, I started dabbling with creating homemade pasta.  I really became interested in homemade pasta after watching the “Salt Acid Fat Heat” Netflix series.  Fast forward…I’ve completely tossed aside the convenience of boxed pasta and make homemade pasta every time we eat it!  

Creating pasta is really a form of art by combining simple ingredients such as flour, egg, and water into creamy, fresh noodles!  There is something very satisfying about kneading the dough, rolling the dough to achieve the desired thickness, cutting the noodles (or passing them through a pasta maker) and creating layers of pasta between pieces of parchment paper.  And, the cooking time is really quick…only 2-3 minutes in boiling water!  Toss the pasta with your favorite ‘from-scratch’ sauce and you will have yourself a feast!  

Dinners with homemade pasta are sure to end with my husband shouting, “another restaurant quality meal at the Johnson house!”