Pasta Dough
Getty ImagesFood writer Michael Ruhlman's book, Ratio, might just free you from cookbooks forever. Instead of relying on recipes, Ruhlman breaks down cooking into easy-to-understand ratios of ingredients, a method he says allows for more creativity in the kitchen. "When you know a ratio, you don't know a single recipe, you know a thousand," he says. Once you've mastered the basics, you're free to start experimenting by adding or subtracting flavors.

PASTA DOUGH RATIO: 3 parts flour: 2 parts egg

"There's nothing wrong with dried pasta," says Ruhlman. "It's the kind of processed food I have no problem with." But, he says, the fresh version is definitely worth making at home. "Fresh pasta's got a much richer flavor because you use eggs," he says. "They give it a richness and taste that you can't get otherwise. And it's got a great texture, a chewiness to it that's a pleasure in itself."

If you think making fresh pasta is a hassle, think again -- all you need are two ingredients and fifteen minutes. The ratio couldn't be simpler, just three parts flour to two parts egg. It's easy to increase the quantity of dough if you've got a crowd around the table, and the process itself is a snap: Mound up the flour (Ruhlman suggests doing this step in a mixing bowl to minimize mess) then simply work in the eggs with a fork. If you want to add color or flavor, now is the time to do it -- a handful of chopped spinach will create a brilliant green hue in your finished noodles, for example.

Next up? Kneading the dough to relax the gluten in the flour. The dough starts out rough and shaggy, but will become smooth, soft, and supple after about 10 minutes. For large quantities, Ruhlman says a standing mixer with a dough hook will get the job done, but he recommends working it by hand. "People should not think of kneading as work, they should think of it as a pleasure, as meditation, as time for thought," he says.

A pasta machine is your best bet for achieving thin, delicate noodles, but if you don't have one lurking in the back of your cupboard, don't despair. "All you need a rolling pin," he says. Just roll out the kneaded dough on a well-floured board and cut it into noodles with a knife.

And please, he begs, don't top your creation with jarred sauce. "Sauté half an onion, throw a can of crushed or whole plum tomatoes into the same pan, give it a buzz with a hand blender and you've got a fresh, clean delicious tomato sauce which is far and away above anything you can buy," he says.

From RATIO: THE SIMPLE CODES BEHIND THE CRAFT OF EVERYDAY COOKING by Michael Ruhlman. Copyright 2009 by Ruhlman. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.