We love whole wheat pasta as a nutritious and easy dinner. We often make this recipe and it turns out quite well, but not quite as good as authentic fresh pasta. For the nights we want to indulge a little or are entertaining we have turned to this recipe.
This pasta is perfectly chewy and rich and rolls out into sheets beautifully. We have made this pasta into ravioli multiple times and stuffed it with cheeses, spinach, or peas. This time we topped it with a fresh basil, dill, and mint pesto from our balcony - all of which just screamed summer.
This is a simple, yet restaurant quality, homemade meal that will be sure to impress friends and family!
Spinach Pasta
From Cooks Illustrated Cookbook
2 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
3 oz frozen spinach, thawed and dried
Water
Pulse flour in a food processor to aerate it. Add eggs and spinach and process until dough forms a rough ball, about 30 seconds. If the dough doesn't come together, add water 1/2 tsp at a time, and if the dough sticks to the side of the bowl add flour 1 tbs at a time (depending on your flour and kitchen you might need quite a bit of water or flour, add as much as needed, just slowly so you don't over compensate).
Knead dough on floured surface for 1 to 2 minutes, until the dough is smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes to 2 hours while dough relaxes.
Cut dough into 5 pieces and, using a pasta machine (or by hand), roll the dough into sheets (we use thickness 5 on our KitchenAid pasta attachment). Cut into desired pasta shape (we did fettucini this time but have also made ravioli).
Cook pasta in boiling water for 2-4 minutes, until al dente. Top with a light sauce (pesto, browned butter, marinara, lemon and oil) to allow the pasta flavor to shine.
Makes 1 pound of pasta.
