Fresh pasta is practically idiot proof. You literally just mix flour and liquid—Struggle Bus, in this case, but you can add some water or an egg or an egg yolk if you wanna—then you mush it over and over and over until it transforms, like magic, into a smooth dough ball. Ok, so it takes some effort, but just know that there are 90 year old Italian grandmothers making this stuff three times a week, so it's well within the realm of possibility. And the end result is FREAK YOU OUT delicious.

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The biggest cheat code in the history of date night dinners.

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Ingredients —

Pasta:

• 2 cups semolina flour + more for dusting
• 1/2 cup Struggle Bus Mix in your favorite flavor
• pinch of sea salt 
• splash of oil 

Burst Tomato Sauce:

• 2 cups of cherry tomatoes
• at least 4 cloves of garlic, smashed or sliced or minced
• several glugs of olive oil
• a handful of fresh basil

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Directions —‍

Sauce:

Heat a heavy pan (Dutch ovens are nice here) to LOW HEAT. Add several glugs of olive oil and your garlic.

After the garlic is fragrant, add the tomatoes and most of the basil (save the rest for garnish).

Leave this alone until the tomatoes start to burst. If a few of them refuse to burst, kill them with a fork.

Keep warm until it's time to serve the pasta.

Pasta:

1. Add flour, salt, and oil to a large bowl and play with it. Add the Struggle Bus mix a little at a time, working it into the flour thoroughly. When the mixture is barely wet enough to stick together, mash it into a ball and squeeze it literally thousands of different ways in your fists. 

2. When you have a nice play-dough-like ball, dust your countertop with extra flour (not too much) and start stretching the dough by pushing it roughly across the counter until it tears. Bring it back together, give it a quarter turn, and repeat. Work it until your arms and hands give out, then let it rest several minutes in the bowl with a damp cloth over the top. 

3. When your strength returns, work it more. Repeat until the dough is mostly smooth and stretchy, and springs back gently when you push your thumb into it. Let it rest again (in the bowl covered with cloth or wrapped tightly in plastic) for half an hour.

4. Dust your counter again. Divide the dough into portions (racquetball-size is good), then, using a rolling pin (or a pasta machine!) roll the first piece a little flat, then flatter, then as flat as you want your noodles, dusting gingerly and sexily along the way.

5. Give your pasta a generous final dusting, then gently roll the pasta into a tube. Using a sharp-as-hell knife, cut the noodles to the width you prefer. Toss the cut noodles with more flour, then gather them into portion-sized nests and cover with a dry cloth.

6. Boil water, add the noodles and let them bathe for a minute or two. Using a spider strainer or one of those noodle grabbing spoons, transfer the noodles from the boiling water directly into your waiting sauce (link to Struggle sauce), add another splash of the pasta water, then toss to combine.

7. Plate it up, garnish it, and enjoy the Struggle.

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