Spinach Pasta

I love making homemade pasta and when we got spinach in our CSA this week I was excited to try out a new recipe for spinach pasta. I have a pasta machine and used the cutter attachment to cut the pasta into tagliatelle, but I think this pasta would also be great for making ravioli (like Spring Pea Ravioli) or tortellini.

Ingredients:

  • 225 grams of unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 115 grams durum flour
  • 115 grams semolina flour
  • 6 ounces spinach leaves
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature

Instructions:

  1. Whisk the three types of flour together in a medium sized bowl. The mixture combined will make approximately 450 grams of pasta flour mix. For this recipe you will only need 350 grams of the pasta flour mix.
  2. Fill a small pot with 1/2 cup cold water and bring to a boil. Add the spinach leaves and cook until wilted. Turn the spinach as it is cooking so that it cooks evenly. Keep cooking the spinach until it is bright green and soft, then drain.
  3. Squeeze most of the water out of the spinach and form into a compact ball. Slice the ball thinly in one direction, turn the ball clockwise, and slice thinly in the other direction. Chop finely.
  4. Place the spinach and eggs in a food processor and process until very fine.
  5. Pour the pasta flour mix (350 grams) into a large bowl or work surface and make a crater in the middle. Place the spinach and egg puree in the middle of the crater.
  6. Using a fork, start in the middle towards the crater and slowly begin incorporating the flour into the spinach and eggs.
  7. When the dough starts to form large clumps, start kneading the dough until all of the loose flour has been incorporated (about 4 minutes). Once the dough has formed one large mass, transfer it to a floured work surface and continue kneading.
  8. Continue kneading the dough until it is cohesive and moderately smooth, about 5 minutes.
  9. Cover the dough with a damp cloth in a bowl or wrap in plastic and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling out to your desired shape.

This recipe is from one of my favorite pasta books, Making Artisan Pasta by Aliza Green.

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