Food Processor Pasta

Food Processor Pasta Soups For The Winter

Homemade pasta is good anytime but it's especially good when you add it to soup to warm up a cold winter day. And a good food processor can help you whip up a great soup fast and easy.

A cold winter day can be made almost bearable with a good bowl of homemade pasta soup. You can add some homemade egg style pasta to enhance and add that extra touch of flavor to any version of your homemade soup. It doesn't matter what your basic ingredient might be, chicken, beef or stew meat, or just vegetables. Here's an easy pasta recipe and some good food processor tricks that can make any soup taste better and be more filling.

The key ingredient is homemade pasta that is very similar to egg like noodles and a little roasting of the main soup meat or vegetables. One thing to watch out for is not to overcook since the pasta will fall apart if cooked too long. So you wait until all the other ingredients have simmered and cooked to your satisfaction and then add the pasta for the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

Lets start with the pasta first since it does take a little time to make and dry. In fact you can enough pasta for several different soups since it will keep well for several days after drying. I named this pasta recipe my soup pasta since I change the basic ingredients a little to make it more like egg noodles than regular pasta. This method works great with any kind of soup. Here's the basic recipe:

· 2&1/4 Cups of unbleached flour
(wheat would be more healthy but then it wouldn't be like egg noodles)
· 4 large eggs
· Pinch of salt and pepper
· Water (3 to 4 tablespoons)

Normally I prefer to use oil instead of water for any pasta but since we want the flavor of the eggs to be predominate, we'll stick to water in this recipe. When making a normal pasta batch I also like to include some type of natural flavor like spinach or other vegetables to give the pasta a little kick in flavor. But for soups I keep it simple and want more of an egg flavor. That way the pasta will absorb some of the other ingredients flavors.

You can use a food a processor or make this by hand. You'll be using your food processor for chopping the other ingredients anyway so it will be out and ready to go. By the way, another trick I use on any soup is I take a few of the vegetable or seasoning ingredients and puree them to create a good starting base stock for my soups. This speeds up the cooking process since this allows the flavor of the contents to quickly permeate through the soup without hours of simmering. I also often roast the meat for a few minutes to get that roasted flavor that can add to any soup with meat.

If you use a food processor for the pasta, a plastic dough blade would be best but a metal chopping blade can work just as well. Combine the dry ingredients in your food processor bowl and pulse a few times to mix. Whip the four eggs to blend the whites and yolks. Then use the food processor at low speed and slowly add the eggs to the flour and continue until the dough becomes a ball and works away from the edge of the food processor bowl.

Now you need to start kneading the dough until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Make sure you sprinkle powder on the work surface and the dough to keep it from sticking and don't tally since we used water instead of oil and it has a tendency to dry out quicker. This usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes. This is also a great time to let the kids or others help since it's not hard and anyone can do it.

Once the dough has reached the consistency you want, cover and let it sit for about an hour. I'm not sure what magic occurs during this time but when I skip it the pasta is not the same. This little break also gives you some time to prepare the meat or vegetables to be used in the soup. If you want to cut down the simmering time, use your food processor to cut the meat and vegetables in smaller pieces and they will cook faster.

One of the tricks I learned early was to take the meat or vegetables and roast or sear the outside before adding to the soup mixture. You can do this in a hot skillet, grill, or with oven broiler. I'll coat the vegetables or meat with a little olive oil to keep it from sticking and help caramelize the outside. You can also let the meat or vegetables marinate in oil and vinegar for a few hours for extra flavor if you want.

You should also use an appropriate broth, like chicken or beef to provide the basic stock of the soup. You can make you own with chicken or turkey necks, feet, or beef bones. This does add to the prep time but can give you a much better flavor than the bottled or canned broths from the store. If you do buy the broth, make sure you check the ingredients to see that no nasty chemicals have been added to enhance the shelf life or expand the flavor.

Now it's time to take the dough and make the actual noodles for our soup. We usually do this by hand but you can buy a small hank crank pasta machine for about $15 dollars that can speed up the process. When I'm in a hurry and preparing everything myself, I usually use the pasta machine and make fettuccini style noodles. But when I have the time and helpers, I do it by hand.

The first thing you do is brake the dough into workable sizes, maybe the size of a lemon or line. You roll out each piece to about 1/8 of an inch thick, and then roll up like a paper towel package. Make sure you use plenty of flour to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling surface and itself. Then slice off about 1/8 inch wide strips. You unroll each strip and place it on a dry rack or somewhere it will dry easily from all sides.

The drying cycle is optional although I prefer the noodles to be hard before I cook them. Some people don't and I haven't really seen too much difference in taste. But if you dry them you can store any extra noodles for later use (they should be fine for 3-5 days) or freeze them for longer storage.

During the drying stage I pour the stock into the cooking pan and then add the vegetables or, and, the meat. I let it come to a quick boil and then turn down to simmer. Now here's where you want to pay attention or you're pasta will loose shape and dissolve. Let your soup cook to your satisfaction and then add the noodles and continue to simmer for about 20 minutes. This is where some people let the soup over cook. You don't want it to turn into a porridge (unless that's the plan) so don't over cook.

I guarantee this type of soup will be a big hit on any cold winter day. And if the kids are house bound, due to the weather, this is a great way to keep them busy for a while preparing the soup. We usually stretch it out when we need something for the kids to do but you can really make this from start to finish in a few hours including the drying time. And after you do it once, most of the time you're just waiting for the pasta to dry, rest, or while the soup is simmering.

You could make this type of soup any time of year but it really is great for the winter months. And your food processor can help in several different ways in making a better soup. I've made a summer version and then cool it and served it cold with fresh summer vegetables. Changing the ingredients gives some variety and you can experiment with different flavors. It's a fun family meal project, low cost, and provides a healthy meal.

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