Coloured Home-made Pasta {Fun for the Kids too!}

I love making my own Pasta! I don’t own a pasta machine at the moment (although that doesn’t stop me from making home-made pasta). If you are lucky enough to have a pasta machine, or you’ve been thinking of getting one… this recipe will be so easy. I prefer naturally colouring my pasta as well which is a lot of fun! This is how I make home-made coloured pasta, naturally coloured and hand-cut.

I like making a simple Chilli, Garlic Pasta with Cheese regularly. I made it often as a student, and when I lived by myself, as it was on the table quickly with minimum effort. However sometimes I like to go that extra mile and make my own pasta… or more specifically I made my own Fettuccine, Regular and Spinach pasta.

I like using a combination of semolina and all purpose flour whenever I can, but honestly if I have run out of semolina I just use all purpose flour and that tastes amazing too. The semolina gives a nutty texture and a nice bite to the pasta that is absent with all flour pasta. To start off with, just make the pasta with all flour until you get a good feel of how the pasta dough should be.

I made two types of Fettuccine – Plain and Spinach. You don’t get too much of the spinach flavour in it, but it gives a beautiful green colour.

It’s important to get the flour to liquid ratio correct, but this dough is so forgiving that you can add a little more liquid if it looks too dry, or a little flour if it looks too wet. So don’t panic! Just remember not to add too much oil (I’ve done that… I kneaded it for so long and was wondering why it wasn’t coming together!)

Once the dough is made – the fun begins! Knead the dough like your life depends on it! Really get your hands in the dough and knead it for about 10-15 minutes, until the dough is nice and smooth. If you have a dough hook and a mixer, just let it knead it in there for a few minutes. Just keep an eye on the dough and stop when it is smooth.

Once you’ve kneaded the dough well, and it’s nice and smooth, it’s time to give yourself and the dough a rest! At least for 1 whole hour… don’t forget to do this because the dough needs to relax. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave it on your work bench if you’re using it right away, or leave it in the fridge if you’re using it later, or even the day after. Just remember to let it return to room temperature before rolling it out.

Once it’s rested, lightly dust your work bench with flour or semolina and start rolling out the dough. I like rolling out one half first, and then the other half. Get into your second workout for the day by rolling out the dough into a thin super-big pasta sheet.

I like to keep it long, rather than squarish or round because it’s easier to cut pasta along the shorter edge. I find that it’s easier for me if I keep moving the pasta dough while rolling it out and always having a thin coating of flour/semolina on and under the piece of dough. I ended up with a very long piece of rolled out dough. I dusted the surface with a good coating of flour, then I cut in the middle and rolled it up along the short edge. Then you just cut the roll into bands that are about half a centimeter, or smaller if you prefer.

This is how the cut up pasta looks like before you unravel it.

Unraveling is easier than you would think, it takes more flour dusted over the cut pasta. Then you gently scoop up the pasta with your fingers, and shake the pasta in your palms with your fingers outstretched. The shaking allows the pasta to loosen up. After doing this a few times, you will find that most of the pasta has unraveled. If there’s some rolled-up pasta left, just unravel them with your hand.

If you have a pasta machine – this will be a lot easier for you (lucky you!). Just roll out the pasta dough according to the instructions of the machine until nice and thin. If you have a cutter in your machine, use this to cut the pasta as well. If not, you can always roll it up and cut it just like I did.

Repeat the same thing with the remaining piece of dough as well.

You can cut strips of the rolled out pasta as well, although it is far more time consuming. I do this if I’m only making pasta for the two of us, and use a pizza cutter to cut the strips. I’m not too bothered about getting straight lines, but I don’t want it to be too thick either.

Remember when you’re cooking the pasta, it will take far less time to reach the perfect “al dente” you desire. Keep a keen eye on the pasta as soon you dunk it in salted boiling water.  Mine took exactly 2 minutes, but this can vary according to the thickness of the pasta, but usually not more than 3-4 minutes for Fettuccine. If you over cook this, I guarantee that it will turn into mush! Not pretty… My advice? Try cooking a little pasta first to find out how much time it takes for it to cook.

Mr K loves home made pasta, infact he would prefer to only have homemade pasta. Once you’ve tried it, you just wouldn’t want to go back to store bought! However, I know that having some dry pasta at home is always handy, and I will not completely give up on store bought either. I kept cooked pasta for about 3 days in the fridge. You could keep the pasta dough (wrapped in plastic) in the fridge for a couple of days too. Keep in mind that there’s raw eggs in the dough, so you don’t want to keep it for too long.

You can keep the cut pasta in the fridge as well. Once you have cut the pasta, lay it out on a baking sheet to dry with a generous coating of flour to prevent them sticking to each other. This should take about 3 minutes. Then take a little of the pasta at a time and from little “loose” nests. Wrap these up and store in an air tight container and store in the fridge for about 2 days (just like the un-rolled dough) or longer in the freezer.

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Pasta - Regular & Spinach

Author: Dini K.

8oz of dry ingredients yields 3-4 servings

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Ingredients:

Regular Pasta

• ▢ 4 oz All purpose flour
• ▢ 4 oz Semolina can be substituted with All purpose Flour
• ▢ 1 Eggs
• ▢ 2 Egg yolks
• ▢ 1/8 cup of Olive oil or Vegetable oil
• ▢ 1 tsp salt
• ▢ a few tbsp of water in case it's needed
• ▢ Excess flour or semolina for rolling out dough

Spinach Pasta

• ▢ 4 oz All purpose flour
• ▢ 4 oz Semolina can be substituted with All purpose Flour
• ▢ 1 Eggs
• ▢ 2 Egg yolks
• ▢ 1/8 cup of Olive oil or Vegetable oil
• ▢ 1 tsp salt
• ▢ A generous handful of baby spinach leaves
• ▢ A few tbsp of water in case it's needed
• ▢ Excess flour or semolina for rolling out dough

Instructions:

For Regular Pasta

• Mix the Flour, Semolina and Salt together on your work bench. Create a nice well in the middle of the flour mix.
• In a separate bowl, mix the egg, yolks and oil. Pour this into the middle of the well and start mixing it in with the flour using a fork or your fingers. Once properly incorporated, add water (a little at a time) if the mix seems too dry.

For Spinach Pasta

• Mix the Flour, Semolina and Salt together on your work bench. Create a nice well in the middle of the flour mix.
• In a blender or food processor, blend the spinach with the oil, and egg yolks until the spinach is well blended. Pour this into the middle of the well along with the whole egg, and start mixing it in with the flout using a fork or your fingers. You may not require to add more water at this point.

For both doughs

• Once the mix comes together to form a cohesive dough, start kneading for about 10-15 minutes until the dough is smooth.
• Wrap it in plastic wrap and leave to rest for at least 1 hour at room temperature. If you're not using it immediately, you can store it in the fridge. Return the dough to room temperature before rolling it out.
• You can roll it out using a pasta machine or a rolling pin. (I rolled out 1 half at a time due to space limitations). Make sure the work bench and the pasta are well floured.
• Roll it out to a sheet that is long, and cut it in half.
• Dust with flour and then roll it along the short edge. Cut into strips about half a centimeter in diameter, or thinner.
• Using your hands, cup the pasta in your hands and shake them gently. Do this a few times to loosen up all the pasta.
• Unravel any left over rolled up pasta with your hands.
• Sprinkle semolina or flour over the fettuccine and lay them out on a baking tray to dry while you get ready to cook the pasta.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
• Add the pasta (in batches if required) into the boiling water and stir it. After about a couple of minutes check on the pasta. If it's cooked through and al dente - remove the pasta immediately.
• Drizzle some olive oil and toss it through the pasta to keep it from sticking together.

“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”

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Garlic & Chilli Pasta

Author: Dini K.

Serves 3

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Ingredients:

• ▢ One portion of cooked pasta recipe above
• ▢ 4 cloves of garlic chopped finely or minced
• ▢ 2 - 3 tbsp of crushed chilli/crushed red pepper you can reduce this to 1 tbsp if you like - I like it extra spicy!
• ▢ 1/4 cup shredded cheese optional - but I used a mix of mozzarella, sharp cheddar and parmesan
• ▢ 3 tbsp of olive oil

Instructions:

• In a pan, add the oil and garlic and heat gently on medium heat.
• When the oil is hot, add the crushed chilli pieces and saute for a few seconds.
• Add the pasta and cheese and toss them with the oil, garlic and crushed chilli until the pasta is well coated and the cheese has melted.
• Serve immediately.

“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”

Did you make this?Tag me on Instagram!I love seeing what you’ve made! Tag me on Instagram at @TheFlavorBender or leave me a comment & rating below.

You can eat this pasta anyway you like. Once you’ve made your favourite bolognese sauce, just serve that on top of the freshly cooked pasta with some cheese grated on top.

The simplest way I like to eat my pasta is just with some sauteed Garlic and Crushed chilli! It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s still my go-to simple pasta meal when I’m too lazy to cook!

It’s so easy and so simple for any quick weeknight meal. You can add herbs like thyme or basil to make it even better!

Another way I love to eat pasta is to simply coat it with brown butter. It’s perfect because it can go with anything. Recently I just made this amazing Eggplant Caponata with Brown Butter Pasta dish that you should definitely check out too.

Just try this recipe once, I guarantee you will love it! Here’s another fantastic pasta dish I made using homemade Pasta – Kale and Cherry Tomato Pasta.

You can use a few tablespoons of carrot juice, or beet juice to make orange and red pasta and make it a rainbow coloured pasta! In fact I want to try that sometime soon. I will let you guys know if I do, and how it turns out.

But only if you promise to let me know how your home-made pasta night goes! Leave a comment below or send me a message to let me know how it goes. Follow me and send me a picture through Facebook, or Twitter or Instagram and I would love to see your pasta creations!

Until next time!