My thirteen-year-old neighbor Sara Sowins, above, moved to the neighborhood from Los Angeles with her parents toward the end of last summer. Her father James is the Creative Director of the Dr. Scholl's brand, a division of Brown Shoe in Clayton. Though their real estate agent tried to steer them toward the county, apparently believing a young person would have a tough time in the city, James and his wife Rita thought that living in the CWE was a no-brainer. We quickly became good friends as the young family asked for advice about where things are around town, and Sara settled into her new school, Villa Duchesne.
When we were invited to join them for dinner, it was apparent that both Sara and Rita not only enjoyed cooking together but that Sara had learned a lot from her mother, who is a fabulous cook. She had also taken classes at The Cooking Camp in Pasadena. She remembered a particular class when she was 8 years old where the children made chocolate egg shells that were filled with pastry cream. I was pretty impressed.
Rita Sowins is a well-respected book designer who works from home. When deadlines loom, it's Sara who starts the family dinner after school on those days when she's not headed off for horseback riding lessons. Homemade pasta happens to be one of her specialties. Though I have made pasta many times, I thought this might be an opportunity to learn something new, and besides, who wouldn't want to have fun with such a charming young instructor? And so, we met in our kitchen one late afternoon last fall for what I dubbed "Pasta Making 101." 
Sara, who was 12 at the time, arrived with a hand-written recipe and a pasta-making attachment for an electric mixer, which didn't fit my brand. I have an Atlas, a traditional pasta-making machine which Sara had never used before, so as it turned out, we each had something to learn.
Here then is Sara's Pasta:
Ingredients for 2 people, can be doubled or tripled:
1 cup flour (1/2 cup per person)
1 egg per cup of flour
Water
Flavoring if desired (basil, sundried tomato, spinach, mushroom)
Extra flour
1. Beat egg with a whisk in a bowl until foamy.
2. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle place flour, optional flavoring, and beaten egg. Mix at medium speed for 7-10 minutes, or until mixture clumps together and you can form it into a ball with your hands. You may need to add an additional tablespoon or two of water to the bowl. Don't add additional egg unless you want egg noodles.
We added thin shreds of fresh basil to the flour in Step 2.
3. Turn dough out and knead for a minute or so (it will be quite firm as you can see in the photo above). Cover dough with a towel and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Depending on how much dough you made, cut it into pieces (at least two), and stretch them out into narrow rectangles that will fit the width of your pasta machine. Roll each sheet of dough through the machine, changing the setting each time until you get to #5 or 6. (If the dough seems dry while you do this, cover with a slightly damp paper towel between settings). If it is too sticky, dust the sheets with a little flour. 
5. When the pasta sheets have passed through the #5 or #6 setting, cut the sheets in half, or you'll have mile-long pasta. Pass the sheets through the machine until the #7 setting. This is where we stopped, though if you want thinner pasta, keep going.
6. Switch to the spaghetti or fettuccine side of the machine and cut the sheets into the desired shape, again dusting them with a little flour if the sheets are sticky.
7. Place the cut pasta on floured sheet pans and toss with more flour to keep the pasta from sticking together, see below. The flour will fall off when it is cooked. Let the pasta rest on the floured pans while you make the sauce (see Rita Sowins recipe below).
7. Whatever you don't cook can be frozen when it is completely dry (let it sit out overnight) in freezer bags. Fresh pasta takes only a few minutes to cook in boiling salted water.
Sara took half the pasta home for her family dinner, and Rita brought us half of her fabulous spicy tomato sauce to enjoy with our spaghetti, see below. When Sara left, there was flour everywhere--I mean everywhere. She told her mother that I didn't make her help clean up, which never would have happened in her own house. Sara thought was the best thing ever. It was worth the mess. I have made the pasta since and am really surprised at how delicate it is. I hope you have the same experience if you decide to give this recipe a try.
Rita Sowins' Spicy Tomato Sauce
Makes enough for at least 4-6, so plan to freeze any extra
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
Olive oil
3/4 to 1 pounds hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 teaspoon dried oregano, or 1 tablespoon fresh herbs (basil, oregano, parsley)
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
Salt & pepper to taste
Creme fraiche or plain yogurt (optional)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Cook chopped onion, garlic, and celery together in olive oil until the vegetables soften. Add sausage, breaking it apart as it cooks and saute until browned. Add herbs and tomatoes with their juices. Simmer for about 1/2 hour. Season to taste. Rita adds a little creme fraiche to smooth out the flavor, I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons plain yogurt. This is definitely optional.
For a smooth sauce, place sauce in food processor fitted with steel blade and process until smooth. Return to pan, add drained pasta, two tablespoons butter and heat on stove top over very low heat until butter melts and flavors saturate the pasta. Serve.
Thank you Sara for letting me share our cooking class with readers of this blog. Maybe someday we should try making that chocolate egg!
