I’ve been making my own dough and pizzas for some time so I’m keen to step it up and make pasta, especially as it seems far easier than growing my own Arborio rice.

After hours spent pouring over piles of information about pasta machines, I settled on the Imperia SP150, which is touted as the ‘sports car’ of pasta makers and, given the choice, I’d pick a Ferrari over a Fiat.

Made of chrome plated steel, it’s hefty and built like a tank. Imperia has been around since 1932 so that builds further confidence in its construction. The machine comes with a double cutter capable of both spaghetti and tagliatelle cuts, which is a great starting point though a major plus is all the additional attachments available to purchase including the ravioli cutters.

The unit itself is self-cleaning and it’s advised not to wash it but rather to wipe it with a damp cloth and sacrifice a tester sheet of pasta to clean out the residue on the rollers and cutters.

Operation is simple: after rolling a sheet of dough and cutting it to the appropriate width of the SP150 you feed the pasta through the rollers by cranking the removable handle. Make sure the rollers are set so that they are far apart.

Keep feeding the pasta through the rollers and, each time you feed it through, notch the rollers one step closer to each other using the provided latch until your desired thickness is reached. You then slide on the Simplex dual cutter and using the removable handle, pass the pasta sheets through. Simplex is an apt name indeed, as it is just that, simple.

After a highly successful first attempt I have found myself making more and more pasta to the point that I’d now find it hard to return to dried pasta. Nothing quite matches up to homemade, in both love and tradition.

Keen to give pasta making a go? Check out this easy, step-by-step homemade pasta recipe.