I love making homemade pasta, there is something so satisfying about it, I really love farfelle pasta so I decided to make some that was studded with fresh sage and thyme. I roasted some squash with some herbs and garlic and added it in with the creamy mushroom sauce.  I made the dough with mostly egg yokes and two whole eggs so it was really yummy. I think it is so easy to make. this year I am going to aim to try and make more things from scratch, like pasta, noodles, bread ect, as lets be honest it always tastes that little bit better when you know you have made It your self doesn’t it?. I think pasta is probably my favourite dish, I could quite happily eat it every single day. I usually like lots of sauce with mine, but I was quite restrained with this recipe and just used some crème fraiche.

recipe for dough

• 3 heaped cups pasta flour tippo 00
• 8 egg yolks
• 2 whole eggs
• bunch of sage (8 leaves) and leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme
• 1 tsp olive oil

for the squash

• 1 butternut squash
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• salt pepper
• 6 sage leaves torn
• leaves from 5 thyme sprigs
• 2 garlic cloves

for the sauce

• 1 brown onion
• oil for frying
• selection of mushrooms I used about 200g
• splash of balsamic vinegar
• 5 sage leaves
• leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme
• 300g crème fraiche

to roast the squash, peel and cut into chunks and toss in the oil with the herbs and salt and pepper. peel and smash the garlic and roast for 25 minutes .

to make the pasta you can do it by hand or in a food processor, I normally do it by hand with a fork, but because of the chopped herbs I did it in a food processor.

first add the herbs and flour and process until the herbs are finely chopped and distributed through out the flour then add the egg yolks and mix then add the oil and 2 whole eggs one at a time until the dough comes together, tip out and knead together until the dough is smooth and cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to rest for about half an hour.

cut 1/4 of the dough off and leave the rest covered, roll out the dough with a pasta machine, rolling it through on the widest setting, then folding it in half and rolling it through again, I do this three times, then I turn the pasta machine down to the next setting and roll and continue turning the setting down until it is nice and thin and silky. cut into long  strips approx. 1 1/2 inches wide then using a crimped edge pastry cutter cut into small rectangles approx. 2 1/2 by 1 1/2 inch, pleat the middles and pinch tightly between your fingers and place on a floured tray. continue with the rest of the dough until you have enough.

for the sauce

finely chop the onion and add to the pan with the sage and some oil, then once it had got some colour add a splash of balsamic vinegar then add the chopped mushrooms and sauté. then add the crème fraiche and stir, add the squash and mix together. meanwhile boil some water and cook the pasta for 3 to 5 minutes until al dente.

mix together and serve with some grated parmesan (or turn into a pasta bake and add extra crème fraiche and pour into a oven dish and spread some grated cheese on top and place under the grill until the top is crispy,