I tried making homemade pasta while isolating and found it was much easier than I expected

Frank OlitoMay 6, 2020, 03:05 IST

Making pasta is a surprisingly easy process.Frank Olito/ Insider

When the coronavirus canceled my plans to travel to Italy this summer, I decided to make homemade pasta to bring a bit of Italian culture into my home.
I was surprised to learn pasta is mainly made of only flour and eggs, so the recipe was shockingly easy to follow.
A pasta maker made it much easier to roll out the dough and to cut the perfect noodle, and a clothing rack worked as a makeshift pasta dryer.
The finished dish was delicious — one of the best meals I've had during the lockdown.
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Back in February, I planned a trip to Italy for this upcoming July. I was excited to visit Rome for the first time, to see Vatican City, and to take a road trip down to the Amalfi Coast. Like most people, my plans were canceled when the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe.

As I entered the second month of social distancing in my Brooklyn apartment, I started thinking of ways to experience the Italian culture without leaving my home. I decided the best way to do that was to make the country's national dish — pasta. But I didn't want to make any old pasta from the box. Instead, I wanted to create it from scratch.

Following the recipe from Gimme Some Oven, I made homemade pasta, and this is how it went.

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Once cooked, I drizzled some of my grandmother's secret sauce over the pasta and paired it with some garlic bread.

The finished product. Frank Olito/ Insider

After letting the noodles dry for 15 minutes, I cooked them in boiling water for just three minutes.

Cook the pasta. Frank Olito/ Insider

Once the pasta was cut, I had to find a place to let the noodles hang and dry, so I improvised.

Let the pasta hang dry. Frank Olito/ Insider

Next, it was time to cut the lengthy and thin dough into pasta noodles.

Cutting the noodles. Frank Olito/ Insider

I rolled out the dough until it was so thin that it was almost translucent.

Make sure the dough is thin. Frank Olito/ Insider

Though the lengthy dough might be difficult to handle, it's definitely fun to play with.

Playing with the dough. Frank Olito/ Insider

The most challenging part of rolling out the dough was that it gets very long and difficult to handle.

The pasta dough gets really long. Frank Olito/ Insider

The first step with the pasta maker was to roll it out as thinly as possible.

Roll out the dough. Frank Olito/ Insider

Now it's time to introduce you to the pasta maker.

The pasta maker. Frank Olito/ Insider

Once I was done kneading the dough, I wrapped it in foil and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Wrap up the dough. Frank Olito/ Insider

When it finally started to look like a dough, I had to knead it for 10 minutes.

Knead the dough. Frank Olito/ Insider

As the egg and flour combined, it slowly started to resemble a very sticky dough.

The dough will be sticky. Frank Olito/ Insider

After that, I very slowly whisked the eggs and gradually incorporated the flour.

Slowly whisk the eggs. Frank Olito/ Insider

It was time to fill up that crater with six eggs, a drop of olive oil, and a teaspoon of salt.

The eggs in the flour. Frank Olito/ Insider

Next, I had to make a hole in the flour so the eggs could have a place to rest.

A hole in the flour. Frank Olito/ Insider

The first step was to pour 4 cups of all-purpose flour directly onto the counter.

The flour. Frank Olito/ Insider

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