Jen makes noodles!

Cost: About $2.50 for 3 large servings
Success: 4/5 with the potential to be better with practice

I’ve wanted to make egg noodles for a while, and it seems especially appropriate that I made them yesterday, on what would have been my Oma’s 97th birthday. Both my Grandma in Saskatchewan and my Oma in Germany used to make their own noodles. (Not to take away from the sentimentality, but the 12 eggs sitting in my fridge with a February 24 expiry date also pushed me into action.)

Making my own noodles was not cheaper than buying them, but we’re not exactly comparing two equal things here. Fresh noodles have a quality that transcends anything from the store. They’re so tasty and so hearty that they’re a meal on their own when fried with a little bit of butter.

A German-Canadian friend gave me her recipe, which is ridiculously simple. First I put 6 eggs into a bowl and mixed them up. I added some salt, and gradually added flour and mixed the dough until it was no longer sticky.

At first I used dough hooks, which I found were a total pain in the ass. The dough got sucked upwards and into the mixer. I gave up and kneaded the dough by hand, which was not bad at all.

I rolled out the dough. I had to flip it quite often, and add more flour to the counter. Once it was about as thin as I could make it, I used a pizza cutter to cut the noodles.

I jury-rigged a drying rack with an oven rack suspended on two boxes of spaghetti. Next time I do this, I’m going to follow my friend’s advice and dry the noodles flat on towels.

Mmm!

I was really impatient, so I cooked some right away. I boiled them, then pan-fried them with butter.

They were heavenly!

Next time I make noodles, I’ll dry them flat. I’ll also try to make them a little thinner and more consistent, and do the kneading by hand. I also have exciting plans to use whole wheat flour, and to add some spinach powder and garlic. Mmm.

I should note that this is a really messy and sticky process.