Rainbow Pasta
Rainbow Pasta
I love the taste of homemade pasta but I don’t make it often enough. I particularly like the colors and tastes of veggie pastas. Some tine back I would make a variety of veggie pastas and then take small bits of each and roll them together with some plain pasta. Veggie pastas are sometimes a little softer than egg pasta and benefit from being mixed together for strength and ease of rolling.
As you roll the dough out the colors blend together and create what I call rainbow pasta. Use sheets of the dough to make rainbow ravioli. The students in last night’s class really made some lovely pasta with the assortment we had. As usual I got so busy I only took a few pictures.
I often use a food processor to make pasta dough, especially the vegetable pastas because I am using vegetables that need to be pureed, pretty much. I have a small one which is perfect for small batches, no more than 1 cup of flour. I often use my stand mixer for larger and for plain dough. Always best to make pasta dough at least 30 minutes ahead and let it rest. even make it the day before and chill until ready to use.
Spinach ravioli
Basic Homemade Pasta
3 c. flour, more if using electric pasta machine. See note.
1 1/2 t. salt
4 eggs
Water, if needed
Mix flour and salt and stir in eggs, kneading until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough will be very stiff. Add a little water if needed to hold dough together. You may wish to mix the dough in a mixer or food processor. Cover dough and let rest 15-20 minutes before rolling. Under kneading your dough will result in coarse, crumbly pasta. This batch makes about 1 pound. Serves 4-6.
Roll dough out on well floured board or in pasta machine (non-electric) until desired thickness in reached. Add flour as needed to prevent sticking. Cut into strips or whatever shapes are desired. You might want to let the noodles dry 1-hour or more before cooking, but this is not necessary. Pasta can be hung to dry or separated and allowed to dry flat on a table. When pasta is not hanging to dry it must be turned occasionally to dry evenly. Although you may hear otherwise, homemade pasta, even when dried, should be frozen for long term storage. Storing at room temperature can lead to spoilage. Fresh pasta can also be stored in the refrigerator for a day or two.
Note: All electric pasta machines vary slightly and you should use their recipes as much as possible. Still, for most models, adding 1/4 c. flour for each cup in a hand rolled recipe works the best. Also recipes that contain seeds and vegetables may clog an electric pasta maker. Follow your manufacturer’s instructions.
These are smaller batches which can be mixed in a processor or by hand. If you want to mix a vegetable based pasta by hand, puree the vegetables first.
Whole Wheat Pasta
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 egg
1 t. oil
1-2 T. water, if needed
Sesame Pasta
These are great in Asian dishes.
1 c. flour
1 T. sesame oil
1/4 – 1/3 c. water, as needed
Curry Pasta
1 c. flour
1 t. curry powder
1 egg
1-2 T. water, if needed
Carrot Pasta
1 c. flour
1/2 t. dried dill
1/3 c. carrot puree
1-2 T. water, if needed
Beet Pasta
1 c. flour
1/2 t. dill
1/3 c. beet puree
1-2 T. water, if needed
Spinach Pasta
2 c. flour
1 10 oz. package frozen spinach, cooked, drained, reserving some of the liquid
Mix this dough as for other pastas, but don’t be too quick to add reserved liquid. While kneading you’ll get water out of the spinach. May require more kneading and rolling than other pasta doughs. Be patient, it’s worth the work.
Broccoli Pasta
1 c. flour
1/2 c. broccoli puree
Ravioli Filling
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2/3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
2/3 c. ricotta or cream cheese
1/3 c. grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
Combine all ingredients well and chill until needed.
Roll a batch of dough into a rectangle, 18×12 inches and 1/16 inch thick. Arrange well rounded teaspoonfuls of the cheese filling two inches apart on the pasta sheet. Roll out additional dough into an 18×12 inch rectangle. With a pastry brush moisten bottom sheet of pasta around edges with water. Place second sheet of pasta on top, using fingers to seal the dough around the edges of the filling. With a pastry wheel or sharp knife, cut between the ravioli to separate them. You should have 24 ravioli.
Beet Pasta Ravioli
Add 1 cup of flour to processor
Add cooked beets
Process until mixture is uniform in appearance
Add a few drops of the cooking liquid if mixture is crumbly. Process until dough forms into a ball.
