Homemade Pasta with Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:

As Southerners know, peppercorns and buttermilk get along famously, and this pasta takes advantage of that by incorporating coarsely-ground pepper into the noodles themselves.

3 cups durum semolina
3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk
1-2 teaspoons freshly-ground pepper

Step 1:

Put all of the semolina into a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the buttermilk. Grind pepper over the top until it looks right.

Step 2:

Mix with a fork until the dough starts to clump into similarly-sized pieces.

Step 3:

Get your hands in there and work that dough until it comes together. If you started light on the buttermilk you'll probably need to add a bit more to bring everything together.

Step 4:

Cover and leave at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. When you are ready to worth with the dough again, divide into four pieces. Keep the ones you aren't working covered with plastic wrap or a moist towel.

Step 5:

Work your pasta in whatever your preferred manner is.

Step 6:

Roll out in your pasta machine.

Step 7:

I used my pasta machine and aimed for 1/8 inch square noodles.

Step 8:

Hang the finished pasta to dry. This batch made about 8 big servings.

Step 9:

Buttermilk-Leek Alfredo Sauce

Alfredo sauce is a wonderfully unhealthy treat, thick and creamy. This version is significantly healthier thanks to replacing much of the evil fatty dairy with tangy buttermilk. Butter and buttermilk play very well together here, despite not actually being separated at birth like the originals were; butter adds richness, depth, and fat as a foil to the buttermilk's tartness. The sweet (but not too sweet) leeks and complex parmesan round out this sauce, preventing it from being offensively sour or one-dimensional.

4 cups buttermilk
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup freshly-grated parmesan
6 medium leeks

The red bell pepper and carrots are actually for the my meat course's garnish. I was a bit confused when taking this picture. Still, they're pretty and add some much-needed color to the photo.

Step 10:

Prep the leeks by splitting them lengthwise (leave them connected at the roots for easiest handling) and soaking them for 15-30 minutes. Agitate several times to assist the removal of dirt from between layers.

Step 11:

Slice the leeks into quarter-inch ribbons.

Step 12:

Place in a large saucepan with a tablespoon of high quality olive oil.

Step 13:

Saute until lightly browned, then add the butter.

Step 14:

Once the butter has melted completely, add the flour and whisk, mash, or otherwise incorporate. Cook for several more minutes, stirring frequently.

Step 15:

Once your roux is ready, add the buttermilk and stir to combine.

Step 16:

When all ingredients have come together, briefly hit it with a stick blender. You don't want to make it completely smooth or eliminate any sign of the leeks, but breaking them down a fair bit won't hurt.

Step 17:

A few minutes before serving, stir in the grated parmesan. If you have a pinch or so of nutmeg, it would also make a lovely addition.

Step 18:

Plate your homemade pasta and top with your alfredo sauce. Disregard the red/green peppers.