Boxed whole-wheat pasta and jarred spaghetti sauce with a little sprinkling of parmesan is actually one of my favorite meals. Pretty boring and totally uncreative, right? I know, total fail.
This recipe is actually from one of Des and Aubrey's friends from several years ago way back when this little 'ol blog here was just a place for them to swap recipes. I remade it to take some pictures a couple years ago when I was pregnant, and naturally haven't been able to make it since as a wave of nausea and regret begins to wash over me whenever I think of it or see those old pictures. Fast forward almost two years later, and I am in the clear. Phew! I made slight adjustments to the pasta sauce and threw in some homemade noodles. I'm overjoyed and annoyed at the same time. Overjoyed because this is simply a wonderful meal. Tasty, hearty, healthy, comforting, and just plain delicious. Annoyed because I'm not sure I can go back to my boxed and jarred dinner-on-the-table-in-twenty-minutes routine. Bleh.
Des actually already has a great egg noodle recipe here that is perfect for soups, or any other time you want that easy, delicious egg noodle taste we all love. I wanted a bit more of an Italian-style, rich pasta for this recipe. After about 6 batches of pasta, I settled on Chef Thomas Keller's 7-yolk pasta recipe. It gives the pasta a little more richness and tenderness. Yes, it uses 7 egg yolks, and requires a bit more kneading, but really, if you're making pasta, what's an extra 10 minutes? Badda bing badda boom.
You can totally do this by hand, and from what I've heard, hand-rolling/cutting produces superior results, but I love my pasta roller and it makes the job pretty dang easy. I also didn't use the traditional egg-nest-on-the-counter-method. I whisked all the wet ingredients in a bowl, then slowly added the flour a bit at a time, incorporating completely after each addition. The exact same concept as the countertop method with way less mess. Let the dough REST. Same concept as when I make my favorite bread, King Arthur's 100% Whole Wheat Bread. Letting it rest lets the gluten in the flour relax and absorb the liquids in the dough, resulting in a really silky-smooth dough. Like a baby's bottom.
I found it worked best to roll out the dough thin, then let it dry a little before sending it through the cutter. It wasn't as sticky and basically eliminated any chance of it sticking to the machine. Also don't be afraid to flour your strips of thin dough or the cut pasta.
What I love about this sauce recipe is that it has tons of veggies in it. Shredded carrots, celery, zucchini, garlic, and of course, tomatoes. The flavor also comes from Italian sausage. Only a tiny bit of salt is all it needs, and the sauce is zesty, hearty, full of flavor. It's lovely.
I used my new Zwilling JA Henckels pot and frying pan. I'm obsessed with them. They are so beautiful, so sturdy, they cook everything like a dream, I loooooove them. One of you will win a whole set, and I am extremely jealous. There, I said it. Jealous.
Cook your ground turkey and Italian sausage, then add in your grated veggies until softened. 
Add in diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, simmer while your noodles finish. Have I mentioned how much I love this Zwilling Motion Cookware?!
The pasta, oh the pasta. It's just dreamy.
The lids are one of the best part. So sturdy. No rattling when your food is simmering, I love it.
Top with a little parm. Parm makes everything better.
Twisting oodles of noodles around the fork is my favorite. Gimme all the pasta.
{go back here to enter to win an entire set of Zwilling JA Henckels cookware valued at $400!}
Hearty Pasta Sauce with Homemade Noodles
Ingredients
Homemade Noodles
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon milk
- 1 ½ Tablespoon olive oil
- 8 oz. all-purpose flour 1 ¾ c
Hearty Pasta Sauce
- ½ pound ground turkey
- ½ pound Italian sausage
- 4 garlic cloves
- ½ onion
- 1 zucchini
- ½ pound carrots
- 3 stalks celery
- 30 oz. diced tomatoes
- 15 oz. tomato sauce
- ⅓ Tablespoon baking soda
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Homemade Noodles
- Whisk egg yolks, egg, milk, and olive oil in bowl. Slowly add flour a little at a time until it is all incorporated. Use a fork until the ball of dough gets more solid, then use your hands.
- Knead on countertop about 10 minutes. Wrap with plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Unwrap dough and knead another 10 minutes.
- Divide into 6 pieces and run each piece through pasta machine starting at the widest setting and going down by one number each time. My machine's widest is a 7, so I do 7, then 6, then 5, etc until I reach the second to smallest, which is a 2. Let the thin sheet dry a little on the counter as you work with the remaining pieces. You should have 6 thin sheets of dough.
- Begin to boil a large pot of heavily salted water.
- Run each sheet through the cutter, or cut by hand. Boil in water about 6-7 minutes.
Hearty Pasta Sauce
- Begin to cook turkey and sausage in large frying pan on medium heat.
- Grate garlic, onion, zucchini, carrots, and celery in a food processor or with a hand grater.
- Add grated veggies to cooked meat, cook until veggies have started to soften.
- Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and baking soda. Simmer at least 10 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper, serve hot over hot pasta. Garnish with parmesan.
Notes
*Pasta recipe adapted from Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook
Erin V says
I've got to say- this is one of my favorite meals to eat as well! but now i'll seem like a pro chef whippin up my own noodles haha
Jen and Emily @ Layers of Happiness says
Oh my goodness... you are making my mouth water! :) I have never made my own noodles before but oh my gosh these look so yummy!
Stephanie says
haha thanks! You really can't go wrong with pasta. Let me know how you like it!