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You can make pasta by hand or in a machine, with eggs or without, with wheat flour or non-wheat flour, in long ribbons or in cute shapes. The point is that variations on basic pasta are endless, which is one of the reasons we love pasta so much!

If all goes well this weekend, we hope to have plenty of tutorials, ideas, and tips for pasta-making in the upcoming weeks. But for now, let's start with the basics:

Fresh Egg Pasta
Serves 4 - 6

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs

• The Dough:

Pile the flour on a clean work surface. Sprinkle the salt on top and mix it with your fingers to combine. Make a well in the middle of the flour - you're going to be cracking the eggs into this well, so make sure the sides are high enough that the egg won't break out and run all over your counter. That gets messy real quick.

Crack the eggs into the well. Use a fork to whisk together the eggs as if you were about to make scrambled eggs. Gradually start incorporating the flour from the sides of well. There's no rush on this and you'll get faster with practice, so just take your time to begin with. At first it will look like raw eggs, then a slurry, then eventually a dough will start to form.

Once the dough becomes too stiff to stir with the fork, begin kneading it just as you would bread dough. You won't have used all the original flour, so you can push the extra off to the sides of your workspace. If the dough gets sticky, add a little more flour. Unlike bread dough, you don't need to worry quite so much about adding too much flour when making pasta.

Keep kneading the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic. If you slice into it with a paring knife, it should be perfectly smooth inside with no air bubbles (ok, a few air bubbles aren't going to hurt anything!) At this point, set the dough aside, cover it with plastic, and let it rest for 30 minute or so. During this time, you can pour yourself a glass of wine and work on the sauce or the filling. You can also store the dough in the fridge for up to 24 hours, but let it come back to room temperature before rolling it out.

• Rolling the Pasta:

You don't have to use a pasta machine to make pasta, but it sure does make things easier. Whether you're using one or not, divide your pasta dough into three or four pieces. Keep these pieces covered with plastic wrap or a clean towel while you work with each one at a time.

The name of the game here is keep everything well floured. Flour the dough, the rollers (or your rolling pin), your hands, the work surface, everything. Once you've rolled out the dough to the thickness you like, sprinkle it with flour before you cut it. After you've cut it, sprinkle it with more flour to keep the pasta from sticking to itself. Get the picture?! Don't worry - any excess flour on the outside of the pasta will dissipate into the cooking water.

With a pasta roller, flatten one of the pieces of dough between your hands until it forms a thick oval disk. Dust the disk, the roller, and your hands with flour. Have a floured baking sheet ready to hold the finished pasta.

With the roller on the largest setting, pass the pasta through a few times until it is smooth. Fold the dough into thirds (like folding a letter), and then pass it through the opposite direction you've been going. Pass it a few times until it's smooth again.

Now you can start thinning it out. Just keep changing your machine's settings to thinner and thinner, passing the dough a few times at each setting. If at any point the dough starts to feel sticky, sprinkle everything with flour again.

To roll by hand, take a piece of the dough and flatten it into a thick oval disk with your hands. Have a floured baking sheet ready to hold the finished pasta. Set the disk of dough on a floured work surface. Sprinkle the top with flour and use a floured rolling pin to roll it out. Work from the center of the dough outwards, constantly moving the dough and lifting it to make sure it's not sticking.

• Cutting the Pasta:

Once it's as thin as you want it, cut the long rectangle of dough into the length of the pasta you want - 10-12 inches is good. If your rolling machine cuts pasta, you can run it through there. To cut the pasta by hand, dust the pasta well and then roll it up loosely. Cut the roll across into your desired width. You can also certainly make shapes and stuffed pasta, but we'll get more into that in future posts!

Shake out the rolls and separate any noodles that are sticking. Pile the noodles on the floured baking sheet and sprinkle a little more flour on top. Cover loosely with a towel or plastic wrap while you repeat the rolling and cutting on the other pieces of dough.

• Cooking the Pasta:

Cook pasta in plenty of salted, boiling water. Fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta, usually in less than five minutes. Small shapes will float to the top when they're done. For long noodles, the best method is to do a taste-test and take the pasta out when it's al dente.

Feeling good? Any questions? Excited to make some pasta this weekend?! We certainly are!

Related: Italian Template Recipe: Pasta, Meat, Greens, and Cheese

(Images: Flickr members cafemama, pallotron, and kiloindiatango licensed under Creative Commons, and Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)