One of the best meals I’ve ever eaten was in a miniscule Roman kitchen. Smaller even than the one in our 550 square foot Vancouver apartment, the tiny room was a wonder of organization and minimalism. Our hosts didn’t have a stand mixer or a microwave, a food processor or a toaster-oven—it seemed as though everything inessential had been stripped out—but they had made space for a Manual Pasta machine—the Regina Pasta Extruder.
Simple and straightforward, it’s a minimalist work of art in and of itself. You put dough in one end, crank the handle, and macaroni come out the other.
It’s almost funny that it’s hard to find a machine that does the job well. I tried an attachment for my Cuisinart stand mixer, but it runs too fast, fills the kitchen with a furious noise that makes dogs cower in fear, and is horrible to clean. I had an all metal one I picked up from a sweet old lady, but the dough stuck to every little nook and cranny on the machine—stuck, it would stall, then lurch forward—and eventually, it broke with a sheared axel. I’m sure there are other good machines out there, but I’m glad this one has found a home in my pantry.
What I love about the Atlas Manual Pasta Extruder
It’s just a pasta extruder—there are attachments that can turn it into a grinder or mixer—but I doubt very much it’s the best machine for those jobs. It doesn’t make sheet pasta or spaghetti, but delivers all the classic tubular pasta. Slender delicate penne, sauce sucking rotini, smooth ropy bucatini, and fantastic rigatoni. We made a batch of almond ricotta stuffed rigatoni last night, and let me tell you, this machine is golden.
To operate the machine, you start out by clamping it to a table—the clamp is sturdy metal, and slides into a grommet in the side of the unit—it’s idiot proof. But you do need a table, or a counter that you can clamp onto, because otherwise the machine will fly all over the place when you try and turn its crank.
Next, you select your die from the integrated tray, and stick it to the front. The front of the unit has a screw lock. Its cleverly divited so you can get a grip, or use the included wrench to loosen and tighten it if you need to.
Finally, you stick the crank into the back, there are two holes, fast, and slow. Like the gears on a bicycle, the fast gear is harder going. It’s designed for the larger pastas—because of the larger holes at the front, they don’t put up much of a fight, and the fast gear lets you roar through squeezing them out. There’s also a slow gear, perfect for forcing out the smaller pastas. Honestly, I don’t notice the resistance when I’m rolling through the dough, but for older folks, or those who haven’t been eating their spinach, turning that handle can be a bit of a workout.
What turning the handle does is rotate a worm valve, a corkscrew like spiral that pushes the dough from the hopper and out the front of the unit. These valves are always the weak points of pasta extruders, but this one seems to be sturdy. I was skeptical at first, but I think that the plastic actually gives this machine an edge here—the metal units have weld points and fused materials, wheras the valve in this is all one solid material. Marcato actually makes a big deal of the plastic construction on the side of the box, touting the fact that this means the machine is free of heavy metals—like lead. And they’re probably right to do so, because there’s been more than one lead ridden machine found on the market.
The dies this unit comes with are three part affairs, a metal front plate to protect the plastic when you cut your pasta, and two plastic discs that form the pasta. Three parts sounds like a lot of bits and pieces to fiddle with—but it’s actually great because it means that you can clean them without pulling your hair out!
Made by Marcato, an Italian manufactuer that specializes in pasta machines, the unit does come with a five year warranty—but as always with buying European things, the benifit of expert manufacture comes with difficulty in getting the product serviced should it ever go awry. If I have one complaint it’s the recipe the unit comes with, which leaves out a vitaly important step: when making fresh pasta, it’s very important to let your dough rest after kneeding it—at least 30 minutes.
Do you make fresh pasta at home? What’s your favourite kind?
@DebbieMartinIIS says
Love your review of the Regina! Did you use the recipe that came with the machine, or do you have another that you'd be willing to share? Also, did you use ALL semolina flour, or did you mix it with all-purpose or some other type of flour?
gregwest says
Hi Debbie,
Thanks for your comment!
We use all semolina flour—while it's true that recipes with lower gluten all-purpose flour are easier to extrude, we find that the flavour and texture really suffer. Durum semolina is high in fibre and protein, so there's not a tonne of benefit to mixing things up.
We don't use the recipe that came with the machine, if I recall, it left out the single-most important step. Which is actually something you have to NOT do when you make pasta, which is use the dough you've prepared right away.
Instead, after you make you dough, seal it in an airtight container, cover it with a damp towel, or wrap it in saran-wrap, for at least one half hour to allow the gluten in the dough to relax, and for the flavour of the flour to develop.
Our pasta recipe is simplicity itself:
2 eggs per 2 persons, plus approximately
220 g or 1/2 pound of the freshest durum semolina we can find. (~1.25 cups)
Turn the flour out onto a pastry board, or into a large mixing bowl. Toss in the egg and knead until it comes together.
The mixture ought to be quite dry, so you need to knead for a while for it to come together. What you're looking for is a fairly stiff dough. It won't stick to your hands. And it won't be as hard as set cement. But, when you take a piece and squish it between your fingers, it ought to split or crumble a little. If your dough is too wet, round pastas will collapse during the cooking process.
The ratio above should produce something close to perfect—depending on your local humidity and the size of your eggs; it's more likely to be too wet than not, so add flour until you get to the right consistency. If it's too dry to work with, don't be bashful about adding a little extra water.
Once it's kneaded, and again, this part is pretty important: let it rest!
At least half an hour. Definitely covered!
After your pasta is extruded, let it dry to leather hardness before boiling it—if you like your pasta quite al dente, then let it get a little extra dry before boiling it. Most fresh pasta cooks between 4-6 minutes. And of course, salt the water—because there is no salt in the dough.
This is obviously a skeleton of a recipe, but it's the basis for all pasta. Here are a few variations and caveats:
If you're going to be cooking the pasta from fresh, rather than drying it for later use, adding a smidgen of olive oil (perhaps a teaspoon for a double portion), will impart a smoothness and some olive flavour to your final product. We love to toss in a little fruttato when the mood strikes.
We're vegan, so when we make "egg" pasta, we use Orgran or Energie egg replacer. We find these prepared products work better than ground flax seed, our usual binding agent, or other home-made alternatives.
To make egg free pasta, we start off with about 120ml of water instead of the egg. All the other steps are the same. Making egg free pasta is where some people pull out the all purpose flour—because of it's finer grind, it helps things stick together. But, you can also just be a little more careful about making sure your dough is properly hydrated—that is, knead until you've got all the flour properly wetted, and then leave it for a while.
I always do this by hand. Making pasta is sort of an automatic pasta after all these years—but it also comes together quickly in a food processor or stand mixer. A piece of advice: if you use a food processor, double your resting time, because of the high speeds involved the dough becomes very stiff.
Now that I think about it, I remember a cool tutorial on FX Cuisine where he used a stand mixer and an automated extruder . . . From the pictures he's using a dryer dough than is necessary . . .
http://fxcuisine.com/default.asp?Display=59
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Leyla says
Oh im so glad this machine has good reviews. I just picked this up at a garage sale for a steal ($5 WOOP) I cant wait to try it out. Your pasta looks delicious btw!
Tony Schalburg says
Hi
nice rewiev of the regina
when i make pasta (almost every day) i experiment a lot…….
i found out that when you add up to 2 spoonfull of extra virgin oil…….. the pasta is buch better
i also use a lot of herbs and spices in the dough……..
try blend plenty garlic and chilli and some oregano and then mix it in to the dough (remember some salt)
let it rest for some hours and then make the best pasta you ever tasted
Tony
from Denmark – europe