On Sunday morning, a pasta-making goddess, Elisa, came to Monestevole to teach us her ways.

We started out by measuring the ingredients under her watchful eye: 2 kgs of strong flour, 21 eggs from the chickens on the farm, and a whole lot of love to make up for our lack of skill.

We created a bowl of flour on the wooden table with a hole big enough to fit 21 eggs. By hand, we pinched the eggs until they were beaten, then kneaded in the flour.

Once that was all mixed in, we split the huge ball of dough into two parts. Taking one of the smaller pieces of dough, we cut it into inch-wide oval shapes.

From there, we put it through the pasta making machine, making it steadily thinner until it was the perfect width for our fettuccine – the end result being a little thicker than a piece of paper. If you have one of these machines, start out on the ’10’ setting and slowly make your way down to the ‘3’ setting.

Next, with your strips of pasta, fold the two ends over until they meet in the middle, making the wrap-type shape around an inch and a half. Remember to cover the dough with a light layer of flour so it doesn’t stick together.

Afterward, cut the pasta into thin strips, approximately a quarter of an inch. Roll them out, like Elisa does so skilfully in the video below (it’s a lot harder than she makes it look).

Once this is finished, coat the strips with a little bit of flour, before putting them in a pot of boiling water. This won’t take too long, as the pasta is fresh.

For the final product, you can add any sauce you like. For lunch we had a beautifully made tomato sauce, with a large helping of delicious cheese.

Keep in mind, this batch is made for around 30 people, so you might want to scale the recipe down. If not, you can just wrap the excess dough in plastic wrap a put it in the fridge for later. Buon appetito!

Written by Sofi Le Berre and Kayla Fennell