A Sneaky Easy DIY Date Night for Your Military Relationship

The first thing I tell anyone curious about making their own pasta is that it’s easier than they would think! My Dad has always told me that any job can be easy with the right tools, and pasta-making is no exception. With the right roller, the right dough recipe, and the right cheerleader (ME) you can do it! While this date night can be a family affair, it’s a fun one to do after the kids go to bed too, or even as a group date activity with some of your military friends!

No matter who you decide to invite, it’s a lot of fun to learn something new, together! Let’s get your perfect date night started…

What you’ll need

Wine – it’s a sin to make pasta without it!
A good playlist – we love Italian Vintage Summer or Italian Dinner playlists on Spotify
A pasta machine – you don’t need anything fancy, use what you have and if you don’t have anything snag the $30 machine I linked, we’ve used that one for 5+ years with no issues
Stockpot or pasta pot – either of these will do, the pasta pot is nice with the built-in strainer, but we just use the stock pots we have on hand
Flour
Room temperature eggs
Salt
Sauce – you can buy this at the store (I recommend Rao’s brand), or make your own

Making the dough

Clean your countertop surface (be sure that it’s dry after your clean it)
Make a nest with 2 cups of flour (we use one cup semolina and one cup regular)
Add 4 eggs and 2 egg yolks (high quality, room temp eggs are preferred)
Using a fork, gently whisk your eggs and slowly start incorporating the flour with the eggs
Once mostly incorporated, begin using your hands to knead your dough ball, be patient with this part of the process the dough will eventually become more cohesive and smooth with time. If it’s too dry, add a little water. If it’s too wet, add a little flour. No pasta recipe will be exact due to the differences in sizes of eggs!
Once it is smooth, wrap the dough ball tightly in saran wrap and place it in your refrigerator to rest for at least 20 minutes

Rolling the pasta

Cut the dough ball into four pieces
Using a rolling pin (or wine bottle!) flatten one of the pieces so it will run through the widest setting on your pasta roller
Run it through 3 times on this setting and then fold the ends in toward the middle part of the sheet (this will give you more even strands of pasta when you start cutting it)
Run it through your pasta roller on the next setting down 2-3 times, and continue doing this with each setting until your pasta appears sturdy but more translucent from where you started
Lay the finished sheet on a floured surface while you complete these steps with the remaining dough ball pieces

Cutting your pasta

Pick the pasta cutter attachment you prefer and start slowly running each of your sheets through your roller
It’s a good idea to start your boiling pot of salted water now

Cooking the pasta

Once your salted water is at a rapid boil, begin tossing in your freshly cut pasta and cook for approximately 90 seconds (al dente) or to the consistency you prefer
We typically start by throwing a few strands in, cooking those, and making sure our water is salted enough that our pasta picks some of that saltiness up. Cooking a few testers also gives you a better idea of your cook time (which can be impacted by the humidity in your home, the density of your pasta sheets, etc.)

Sauce and serve

You’ve done all the work and now you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor, pour the wine, turn on your favorite dinner music playlist, sauce up your pasta, and enjoy!

For more date night ideas, check out THIS post!