Pasta or dinner for a woman named after a river in India (Wnari)

Wnari has been needling me to cook for her for awhile. And since I can never say no...

What I made:

Fresh Pasta

Recipe from: The Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected Recipes for Every Day. Say what you will about her but I love this cookbook. It has little instructional and is basic. A good alternative to the Joy of Cooking, etc. etc.

3 cups flour
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
(Plus a teaspoon of water if you lose some egg white. Will explain.)

Ms. Stewart wants you to make a mound of flour on the counter and dig out a hole in the middle. In this hole, you put all of the wet ingredients. Then you slowly stir it with your finger or a fork (I tried both in desperation neither really worked). Needless to say, I got a little bit of egg white on the kitchen floor. Next time I am just using a bowl. Novel, I know.

When it is all mixed in, kneed it for about 10 minutes or until it is elastic. It should be very stiff. If you lose any egg or liquid, the dough won't come together. Add a teaspoon or less at a time.

Roll out the dough. A mason jar is not a good implement to roll out dough with. So if you don't want to invest in a pasta machine, get a rolling pin. Luckily my dad called during this whole process and I finagled the nine month loan of the pasta machine we used to make pasta together when I was three years old.

Roll it really thin. It plumps in the water a lot. Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough. Hang it to dry.

When cooking, boil water. Add salt to the water. It should be enough to make the water taste like salt. Add pasta. Cook for 30 seconds to one minute after water returns to boil.

Pesto or something like it

This recipe is all me. Never made it before. Of course, it turned out looking like poop. I am not exaggerating.

Olive Oil (1/3 cup)
Pasta water (1/2 cup) I was told that this is the secret to all good pasta sauces from two reliable sources.
Three red peppers, roasted
1/2 head of garlic, roasted
Four cloves garlic, raw
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts
2 bunches of basil (about three cups packed, I think)

Blend it all together. Toss on hot pasta.

The two people that saw this pesto in the daylight commented on its diarrhea like appearance, but it tasted really good. Solution: Serve pasta by candlelight and no one can tell what it looks like. Maybe that is why restaurants are always dimly lit...Next time, I just have to remember that red and green makes the color brown and this is not always a good thing when you are cooking.

What I did really like about this recipe is that the roasted garlic gave it a nice rich flavor and the raw garlic added a light spiciness. Thanks, M.