How to make your own pasta

Angela Hartnett’s method for the best homemade pasta, plus her recipe for tagliatelle with peas and parma ham

• Make your own takeaway favourites: pizza, kebab, chicken tikka masala
  

I find it very therapeutic to make pasta. I think because, at the end of it, you have delicious food and it’s very satisfying – it’s a bit like bread making. I’ve made pasta since I was eight or nine when I used to make it with my grandmother.

There are two basic ingredients: flour and eggs, or flour and water. You can use plain flour – you don’t need to use fancy 00 flour – and if you haven’t got eggs, you can make it with water. You’re not being controversial, there’s egg pasta and non-egg pasta. There are lots of variations. Some people just use yolks and, in the south of Italy, people only use water. Use what you feel you can achieve in these unusual circumstances and times.

The water must be seasoned well with plenty of salt at the point when it comes to the boil – allow about 1 tablespoon of salt for a large pan of water.

All the pasta must be covered with water.

Stir the pasta when it first goes into the water and then leave alone.

Always cook it to the point where it becomes al dente.

Drain it well.