Homemade Spinach & Basil Pasta
Comfort food doesn't get much better for me than homemade pasta. This is a super easy spinach & basil Tagliatelle, simply served with a dollop of my favourite basil pesto, pine nuts and a sprinkling of Parmesan.
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Ingredients
- 1 Cup Spinach
- ½ Cup Fresh Basil
- 1 tsp Salt
- ¼ Cup Water
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 Whole Eggs
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 2½ Cups 00 or All-purpose Flour, and more for dusting
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor add the spinach, basil, salt, water and olive oil. Blend until smooth. Set aside
- In a large bowl or on a clean and flat surface of your counter top, pile the flour and create a well in the middle of the flour. Add the egg and egg yolk into the center of the flour. Pour the spinach puree in the middle. Very gently start whisking the eggs and puree into the flour with a fork and bring the edges of the flour over the top of the eggs
- Once the mixture starts to come together start folding the dough over onto itself. If the mixture is too tacky at this point sprinkle additional flour over the top and incorporate. Knead the dough for a few minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and rest for 15 minutes
- Cut your pasta dough into 4 even pieces. Working with one quarter of the dough, wrap the rest with plastic wrap. Sprinkle your pasta machine and pasta dough with a dusting of flour
- Flatten dough with your palm and roll out pasta starting at the widest setting on your pasta machine, mine is 1. Rolling the dough is a process, you need to make several passes, throughout each thickness setting for the best results. I start with the biggest setting, run it through once or twice there, then gradually adjust the settings to be thinner and thinner until I have the perfect sheet. Work your way up on the settings slowly, careful not to tear the dough. Between each pass, I fold the strip into thirds. This helps square up the edges and keeps things even. Work your way up to a thinner setting, I like mine at a 5 or 6 for fettuccine and a 6 or 7 for tagliatelle. It's your preference on how thin or thick you want your dough
- Cut your dough through the fettuccine/tagliatelle setting and place pasta on a floured board. Gently toss the pasta in the flour. Set aside
- Cook pasta in salted boiling water for 2 - 3 minutes. Drain well and drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper (I served mine with a dollop of my favourite basil pesto mixed through and topped with toasted pine nuts and finely grated Parmesan). Prepare to your preference though and enjoy!
Notes
This dough freezes really well. You can make the dough ahead of time and leave it in the fridge (wrapped in plastic wrap) for two to three days or freeze for around a month. You can also refrigerate or freeze the cut pasta. Just make sure you flour it well to prevent sticking, place in an airtight container and refrigerate or freeze. You don't even have to defrost the frozen pasta before use. Just drop into the boiling salted water and cook for an additional minute or two.
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