Squats for Sauce

My favorite food to both cook and eat is Italian cuisine! There's something sexy about Italian food: the silkiness of the sauce, the curves and ridges of the pasta. I love a great sauce that can be spicy, savory and sweet all at once. I'm always looking to improve my marinara each time I make a new batch. Tuesday I made my best batch yet! While I didn't take pictures of each step I completed, I still want to share my recipe with you.

The Marinara:

I began by sautéing medium diced yellow onion (a whole onion, I like a punch) until it was starting to become translucent. Then I added a whole head of roughly chopped garlic (again, a punch!), and a whole shredded carrot for sweetness. I seasoned the onion mix with salt, pepper, a tsp. of sugar and about a tbs. of red pepper flakes. Once the mix was soft, I added two small cans of crushed red gold tomatoes and a small can of tomato sauce. I allowed the sauce to come to a boil, and then turned the heat down to low and simmered it for about 30 minutes. The sauce was a nice balance of salty and sweet, with a great spicy kick! I guess you could call it more of an Arrabiata sauce! 

Sorry the clarity isn't the best. This was a last minute blog idea!

The Noodles:

As for my homemade noodles, I decided to break out the trusty ol' food processor. I began with a cup of flour and one egg and pulsed it a few times. Then I added a pinch of salt and about a tbs or two of oil to the mix. I then began blending the mix and slowly adding water to the flour mix until a dough ball began to form (if the mixture becomes to liquidy, add more flour). Once the dough was formed I dumped the mix onto a floured surface and kneaded it for a minute into a ball. Then I chilled the dough in the fridge for about 30-60 minutes. After it was chilled, I rolled the dough out (rather thin) and cut it into thin, long strips. And, because I missed my workout for the day- for each noodle I cut out, I did a squat (hence: Squats for Sauce). My legs were actually feeling it by the time the noodles were finished. Once my noodles were finished, I cooked them in salted boiling water until they rose to the top of the pot (about 2- 3 minutes). Then I tossed the pasta with parmesan cheese and finally sauce (the cheese sticks to the hot pasta, which gives the sauce something to stick to). The noodles were chewy and had a nice bite (al dente if you will). Over all flavor of the meal was amazing! I'd suggest eyeballing a noodle dough to anyone- just experiment and see what happens!

Wish I had better pictures for you. Sorry!