While the rest of the country is out grilling and cooking hot dogs, we had homemade fettuccine and homemade pesto. We did our red, white, and blue stuff, yesterday. There’s a real fine line between flag-waving and goose-stepping, in my not-so-humble opinion. We try and keep it to a minimum.

Homemade pasta and a sauce from items out of our own garden, on the other hand, are things we do try and do often. It’s those left-leaning liberal priorities of ours. What can I say?!?

Speaking of left-leaning and liberal, we’re getting our solar panels installed on the roof this coming Saturday. As if we weren’t already the talk of the neighborhood. Pictures on Sunday!

But back to tonight’s dinner…

Victor made his basic pasta dough – it’s tried and true, no-fail every time.

Fresh Pasta

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp salt

Spoon 2 3/4 cups of the flour into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Beat the eggs, olive oil and salt together in a small bowl until blended. With the motor running, pour the egg mixture into the processor. Process until it forms a rough and slightly sticky dough. If the mixture is too dry, drizzle in a very small amount of warm water and continue processing. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl onto a lightly floured counter.

Knead the dough with the heels of your hands until it is smooth, silky and elastic – 5 to 10 minutes of constant kneading.

Flour the work surface and your hands lightly any time the dough begins to stick while you’re kneading.

Roll the dough into a smooth ball and place in a small bowl. Cover and let the dough rest at least an hour before rolling and shaping.

The pesto is totally eyeball. It’s fresh basil, pine nuts, freshly grated parmesan, fresh garlic cloves, olive oil… The secret is to blanch the basil before chopping. Dip into boiling water and then wring it out, completely. No bitterness!

The final dish also had cauliflower from our garden that I canned a few weeks ago.

A great way to celebrate our independence from packaged food!