so as it turns out...

When irish and making pasta, it is easier to just get your english husband to operate the pasta machine..mind you it also helps if you have a pasta drying rack, which we did not, so we improvised while we awaited the boiling water.
Rather than post the recipe for the pasta, I will post the site I used. She has fabulous step by step instructions with pictures. Made the whole experience a breeze and we have decided to stop buying pasta and will only make homemade from now on. I can't wait to experiment with different kinds of flours.
pasta step by step

I used the basil pasta recipe, but I think she must have omitted a few things when explaining how to add the basil as it needed 3 eggs to mix properly and she only has you using 2 and she doesn't mention how much olive oil to use. Easiest solution? use the normal plain pasta recipe and just pulse some fresh basil into a pesto with some olive oil and then add it to the flour/egg mixture. Turned out fantastic!

As for the sauce, I chopped another bunch of basil, half an onion, 5 cloves of garlic and a handful of white mushrooms and sauteed them until browning and delicious (with olive oil of course) then I threw in 5 chopped organic plum tomatoes, a splash of balsamic vinegar and a glub of organic Italian salad dressing (yes! adds great flavour!) tossed it around until the sauce started thickening, removed from heat and added chopped feta to the mix. As soon as the noodles were cooked (about 3 mins in boiling water) we tossed the whole mixture together, dished it out, sprinkled some fresh parm on top and VOILA...delicious pasta dinner.

The best part is...it made a lot of pasta...so guess what I'm having for lunch today!


On a side note, while driving to grocery store number 2 trying to find fresh basil (I need to just get a plant and put it out back) I saw a teenager driving a mini van behind me who looked EXACTLY like Edward from the Twilight movies...only he was smoking like a chimney...some one ought to tell him, vampires are too classy for cigarettes.