The Best Tools for Making Perfect Fresh Pasta at Home
What you need to turn even the smallest kitchen space into a flour-dusted pasta factory
As an amateur cook aspiring to follow in the path of mother’s effortlessly perfect dinners, I had always been fascinated by the idea of making pasta by hand. But when my first forays into the kitchen revealed that I couldn’t even get boxed brownies right, making homemade pasta for my Italian family seemed like an impossible feat.
Fast forward through a few more epic kitchen fails, and I was away from home for the first time, studying abroad in Florence. I could cook well enough to feed myself and follow a basic recipe, so I decided to take a course on fresh pasta at a local culinary school. In a colorful, homestyle test kitchen in the quiet Oltrarno neighborhood, I spent the day making fresh tagliatelle and ravioli, and I couldn’t believe how simple it was. Now it’s my favorite meal to experiment with for Sunday dinners at my grandparents’ house, but I also crave it in my Alphabet City apartment with a galley kitchen small enough to fit on a boat.
This list of tools will help save time and space while making your favorite pasta dish by hand.
Gnocchi Board
This is one pasta tool I always choose over using shortcuts by hand. It’s easy to store and gently indents gnocchi without damaging their shape. This not only looks better, but also helps sauces cling to the pasta. And there is nothing more sad than lumpy gnocchi that leaves all of its delicious sauce at the bottom of the plate.
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