Ciao, bella! In honor of PARTY MONTH there is nothing better than serving your guests homemade pasta from your own kitchen. Sound hard? It's not. It's ridiculously easy and even the machine that makes it happen is cheap and easy.
All you need is a few eggs, some flour and the Imperia Pasta Machine. The Directions and photographs are here and it only takes about 30 minutes to make enough pasta for a party of 8. And the machine itself is available for $40 at Fantes as well as at the Broadway Panhandler.
There is also a cousin to the Imperia, called the Atlas which is also very good, but not our top choice. MGR
we have been using the pasta roller attachment for our kitchen aid mixer for over a year now, and it is fantastic.
I love this idea, but have a hard time justifying the purchase of any kitchen appliance/gadget that only does one thing. Like so many others, my kitchen is teeny-tiny. The suggestion about using an attachment for the mixer sounds a little more practical for NYC kitchens.
Also, the next best thing to homemade pasta is the fresh ravioli from Borgatti's on 187th Street in the Bronx. Just had it for dinner last night... mmmm...
The Imperia is great. After owning one and using it for years now, I was pleasantly surprised to see my sister register for one for her wedding. She's no expert in the kitchen, but it's incredibly simple to use and worth the investment.
Basic pasta dough can be used in a variety of ways. Out of the box, the maker has spaghetti and linguine options, but if you just use the roller side to make pasta sheets, those can be used for ravioli, tortellini, etc. While it is just a *pasta* maker, I think it deserves a nod for having more than one function.