I actually made pasta.

And I cooked my first Pioneer Woman recipe.  Actually it could count as two recipes.  The pasta and the sauce.  But still - both were a success.  I did learn a few things.  First, I want a pasta roller.  Second, next time I'm going to mix it with the dough hook on my mixer instead of by hand.

Homemade Pasta from The Pioneer Woman

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 4 eggs

According to the recipe, you need 2 eggs to 1 cup of flour.  That will also feed 2 people, so 4 eggs will (in theory) feed 4 people.  Although, that's what we did and we really had about 5 servings.

Either in a bowl or on the counter make a well with the flour.  Crack the eggs into the well and start mixing, gently.

Eventually you'll get dough.  But you have to work at it.  A lot.  Knead, and mix, and roll, and twist again and again until you have a nice ball a dough.  According to PW, it should be smooth and not tacky.  That is kind of hard to describe, but it made sense once we got there.

Break the dough into smaller, more manageable pieces, and roll it out on a lightly floured surface.  I used a pizza cutter and sliced fettuccine sized noodles for dinner.

To cook the pasta, boil in salted water for 2-3 minutes. 

Pasta alla Vodka from The Pioneer Woman

• 2 T olive oil
• 2 T butter
• 1 whole medium onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 3/4 cup vodka
• 1 14oz can tomato puree
• 1 cup heavy cream (I actually used cream, not half & half so I'm not sure if this would still be as good)
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• salt & pepper
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil & butter.  Add the vodka, stir and cook 2-3 minutes.  Pour in the tomato puree and stir.  Reduce the heat to low and add the cream, stir and simmer.  Add the red pepper flakes, salt & pepper.

Drain the pasta, keeping about 1 cup of the water in case you need to thin the sauce out.  Toss the pasta in with the sauce and Parmesan, coating the pasta in sauce.