Two Votes For The Atlas Marcato Pasta Maker For Your Homemade Pasta Dinners
By Gerri Lauder
Well it has finally happened. My Imperia pasta maker machine needs to be replaced. I have used this trusty pasta maker for years with great satisfaction but it just doesn't cut it any more, literally.
Let me explain what happened. I own several pasta machines that I use on different occasions. This particular time I wanted to use my Imperia.
We invited some of our friends over and had a pasta making dinner party. We made a simple Italian carbonara pasta sauce and played around with the different attachments on the pasta machines.
While the big pasta pot was coming to the boil, Karen clamped her Atlas Marcato pasta maker to the table and we rolled out a nice sheet of pasta to a number 6 setting and cut some linguini. The pieces came out of the cutters beautifully and made nice long strands of delicate pasta which we coated with flour and twisted into "bird's nests" and set on a cutting board to dry a bit. Things were going very well.
Jason, who had his Roma pasta machine ready to roll, took the time to get his pasta down to the 7 setting and we cut some angel hair. His machine performed as you would expect it to and we soon had dainty little piles of the softest cappelini you have ever seen. A joy to behold.
Then it was my turn at the crank. I hooked my Imperia to the table and everything looked great. The crank turned freely, there was the smooth flow of the wheels thinning the pasta down through the numbers as more pressure was added at each number 4, 5, 6. Each level tenderly squeezing the pasta dough to the proper thickness. Picture perfect as it should be.
Then it happened. I attached the cutting attachment to the pasta machine and started feeding the pasta sheet through the teeth of the rolls to cut my linguini. There must have been some dulling of the knives over the years or maybe they had gone out of alignment somehow. To my great surprise the cutters were only cutting through the pasta sheet on every other tooth. That resulted in some very wide, partially scored linguini. We ended up having to pull apart every strand of linguini by hand or just invent a new name for the pasta we had just accidentally invented. Maybe we should have called it "Due-linguini". Just a thought.
How fortunate that I was surrounded by friends who could understand and appreciate my frustration at what was happening. We shared lots of laughs and some more wine and had a wonderful dinner with the nicest fresh pasta ever using our Carbonara recipe.
I am glad that I have my old standby, my Atlas pasta maker like the one Karen used. It still works pasta like a charm and undoubtedly will for many more years to come. The only thing bothering me now is, I wonder what machine I will replace my Imperia with?
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