Portabella, Olive, and Sun Dried Tomato Red Sauce with Homemade Fetuccine

Saturday night, we decided to stay in for a dinner and movie date. We both love to cook, so when someone mentions having spagetti for dinner, it does not mean jarred red sauce and dried noodles in a box. Not that you cant get great pre-made sauce and pasta, but its not quite the same. The first time you experience homemade pasta, you will never want anything else. 

Pasta is a lot easier to make than most perceive it to be if you have a stand alone pasta roller or the pasta maker attachment for your stand mixer. Start to finish, you can have it done in half an hour. Give it a little more time, perhaps on the weekend, and you can make extra, hang it to dry, and have some for later. When cooking dried pasta, add about 5 minutes, but make sure to check them along the way. 

Just as you can make the pasta ahead, the red sauce can be made and frozen for up to 6 months. This can be packed in individual servings and heated for lunches or single dinners.  Creating your own past sauce is not only delicious, but much better for you because it does not require preservatives. 

Red Sauce
Makes 4 1/2 cups

1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 lg Yellow Onion, diced
4 Garlic Cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup Carrot, finely grated
1 heaping tbs Italian Seasoning
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
2 (28oz) cans Peeled Whole Tomatoes, crushed by hands and juices reserved
1 cup Tomato Puree
16 oz Baby Bella Mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/4 cup halved Kalamata Olives
Kosher Salt
Fresh Parmesan, shaved

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, saute until golden and soft, approximately 8-10 minutes. Add carrots and spices, cook 5 minutes more. 

Add crushed tomatoes with juice and next three ingredients.Bring to a boil, stiring often. Lower heat and let simmer for 20 minutes. Sauce will be thick. 

Add olives and season with salt to tastes. Serve over Homemade Fetuccine and top  with fresh basil and shaved parmesan. 

Adapted from Food Network

Handmade Fetuccine
Makes 5-6 servings

1 cup Flour
1 Egg, beaten
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Water
Pasta Maker


Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the egg. Stir to combine. Use your hands to create a firm dough. If the dough is too dry and will not come together, gradually add water until solid dough forms. Spilt dough into 4 equal part. 

Flatten out one quarter of the dough a little bit. Set the pasta maker on the largest setting of the sheeter. Run the dough through it 2-3 times folding it in half each time. Set pasta maker to second largest setting, repeat. Do this until you have ran it through the thinnest setting and the dough is smooth. Replace sheeter with pasta cutter attachment. Run dough through the spagetti or fetuccine cutter once. You may need some help from someone else to handle all of the dough. Repeat process with 3 other quarters of dough.

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add generous amount of salt and couple of teaspoons of olive oil to prevent sticking. Add pasta and cook for 3-4mins or until al dente. 

Remove from heat and strain. Plate with red sauce and shaved parmesan cheese.