In honor of being back, I am returning to my last post topic. Gluten free pasta. You may recall that I have been in a year long battle to find a proper gluten free pasta recipe. I finally landed on recipe that I was sure couldn’t possibly work, but it turned out it worked on the very first try. Even better news, it worked the second time and I was able to replenish my pasta stash. If you want to know more click here for a refresher on this recipe and my the story that goes with it.

The recipe has been a total success!!  But there are some have issues I have noticed while making this pasta. So, I thought I would bring those to light as I know they have affected the process for me. Here we go!

First up, gluten free pasta can be finicky, so give yourself time and a little of patience when you make this recipe. Or maybe include a glass of wine or your favorite adult beverage to help take the edge off. Trust me, it helps!

The beginnings of our pasta dough.

Since this pasta needs a truck load of moisture to give the dough the proper structure, it can be a real pain to work in enough flour. It really does take a fair bit of patience and time to get the dough fairly dry and smooth. Even on my second attempt, which I just made, I didn’t add quite enough flour. I did add quite a bit more than the first try, but it still needed more. So, be prepared for that as you work your dough. Remember, the dough should be smooth and dry. If it feels tacky as you are working the dough then keep adding flour. If you don’t get enough flour in the dough when you run it through the pasta maker it will be too wet and will break apart in your pasta machine. What I found most interesting is the amount of dough that gets wasted in this recipe. I am talking about bits and pieces that fall off or crumble as you are rolling the dough or running it through your pasta maker.

Dough Scraps

I am convinced is that because you need so much flour, and any gluten free dough can be really fussy, that no matter what you do you lose some of the product. It isn’t a total loss though as I did manage to salvage some scraps and get some more noodles out of the remnants. But there is dough that is lost and can’t be revived no matter what you do. This is particularly evident in the edges of the pasta sheets.

Pasta sheet with brittle edges

Those pieces get brittle or just break off I end up having to shape the sheets with my dough cutter to get the most usable bits of dough processed. Or you have the dough all the way across the sheet. The most effective fix I found was to just run the pasta back through until you could form a more complete sheet. Sometimes I had to run it through three or four times. I don’t think I can say it enough, but be patient and remember your beverage!

Having said all that, you can’t go wrong with the recipe. Why, you ask? I think this picture says it all and this was my second attempt!

The finished product

I know a few of you are hoping to try this recipe. I can’t wait to see what you guys think! This is a really cool recipe and I am so glad that I have been able to find a way to make this work.

Enjoy!

Let’s face it, I have been very absent from the blogging scene as of late. Although I continue to eat, create food in my kitchen, and explore all culinary delights I have been left feeling a little lost.

Fair warning, I am going to get personal and share about who I am, so if that isn’t your cup of tea then feel free to not read any further.

My sense of loss is bigger than blogging at this point in my life. I suppose you could say I am going through a bit of retooling. I have moved back to the small town where I grew up, bought a house, bought a truck, and refocused on those little things that are important to me. Like most of us, I am prone to the foils of society and being a human. For a long time I have struggled with myself confience, value, fit in the world, finding my direction in life, and understanding who I am. Unfortunately that gets in my way sometimes and my progress is slowed or even stymied. Truthfully, I am not always the best about pushing through and the effects seem to take me backwards rather than forward. I have been devoid of my usual humor, energy, and joy. It has impacted a lot of my life and I have lost touch with those things that bring me joy.

In fact, my desire to cook and spend time in the kitchen has been reduced to almost nothing. I have only had a handful of moments where I feel like I am connected to the idea of cooking and the joy it can bring. Instead, there has been a lot of reflection both good and bad, work to identify those things that I want to change, and how to make those things happen. It is a slow process and isn’t happening overnight by any account. Once again I was confronted by the thought that maybe this blog wasn’t really what I hoped it would be or what kind of an impact I hoped it would have.  Maybe my passion and vision of what I was sharing was totally missing or misguided. You might be wondering what changed, right? A few days ago, I decided to check my blog stats and delete the seemingly endless number of  messages that were spam. At that moment, something caught my eye. I hadn’t posted any new content in a few months, but my blog was still being viewed. It was only two views, but those two views felt like they were sending me an important message. A message that said, despite what you think you may be making an impact and not even know it. I was suddenly aware that I wasn’t going to ever give up on blogging. In fact, my goal is to have Patrick’s Table be marketable enough that perhaps I inspire others to follow their passion. When I started this journey I had people both in my circle and those I could only connect with electronically that inspired me and gave me hope that maybe I could do this. We all deserve a chance and the opportunity to have what we want in life.

Am I back in full force? No. Am I giving up? No way! You guys are getting rid of me that easily. I have done the most important thing. I have taken the first step to help me find my way back. I am writing, honoring the goal of this blog, and staying true to that vision. I knew from the beginning that I would always be me and I would share my successes and failures just the same. I would share both the good and bad about who I am and that would never change. I would potentially share my feelings with complete strangers or people that I have grown to become friends with and love. And despite all that being relatively public, I would be okay with that. Because at the end of the day, I would be representing me.

in this moment I am taking a step in the right direction. One step at a time. I look forward to sharing more cooking and food adventures for a long time to come. I also look forward to finding my way on my own personal journey, whatever that may be.