This month’s issue of Saveur features a how-to for making homemade egg noodles, accompanied by a pretty picture of fresh-cut noodles draped over wooden spoons.  It was surprising to see how few steps were involved, and the pic was all the inspiration I needed.

Here’s how you do it:

2 cups flour
1 tsp kosher salt
3 eggs, beaten
extra flour for dusting

Mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl, form a well in the middle and add in the eggs.

Knead the dough until smooth, shape it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes (the dough, not you).

Divide the dough into four pieces; working with one piece at a time, roll it out until it’s 3/16″ thickness.

Starting at one end, fold up the dough bit by bit until it ends up looking like an enchilada.  You want to make sure to sprinkle on flour as you go so the dough doesn’t stick to itself.

Cut the dough into 1/2″-wide noodles.

Repeat with the other three pieces, and you end up with coiled ribbons of noodles.  Really cool.

Then you just cook the noodles in salted boiling water for about 3-4 minutes until al dente.

I used my noodles in this recipe with fava beans, plum tomatoes and chicken sausage.

There’s such a pleasing difference in bite between homemade noodles and store bought.  Made this dinner especially satisfying.

One thing I didn’t take into account was that the noodles would fatten up a bit during boiling. Probably should have rolled the dough even thinner and cut narrower noodles.

Also, if you’re a regular fava bean eater (which clearly I’m not), you’ll notice what I did wrong.  When I bit into the beans I got a mouthful of fibrous, unappetizing outer skin. Didn’t realize that in addition to shelling the beans from the pod, the skin needs to be peeled away (a step that may not be necessary with younger beans). Once you get to the dark green bean inside, the taste improves dramatically. Lesson learned.

Are you a pasta maker?  What’s your favorite kind to do at home?