Years ago I watched pasta being made in Bologna, Italy when I was a student teaching English to an Italian family during my long summer vacation. The cook where I was staying made pasta by hand, left the dough to rest and rolled it into long sheets using a rolling pin. She then cut the pasta into tagliatelle or made little cap shaped pockets known as tortellini which were stuffed with either meat or cheese fillings and served in a delicious broth.
When I returned to England I began making my own pasta. I had to find short cuts because I was not strong enough, or skilled enough, to make it without the help of modern appliances. I used a food processor to mix the dough and a pasta machine to roll the dough into large sheets before cutting it into the shapes I wanted. The results were always good.
One thing I have never done, in the years since, is make coloured pasta. I always thought adding either cooked beetroot - to colour it red , or spinach - to colour it green, would make the pasta dough wet and unmanageable. But I was wrong. Prompted by a glut of beetroot from Arthur's allotment (photo below) a few hundred metres from my house in Ilkley I decided to try it out. If you like pasta you should too.
Jamie Oliver's original 'Naked Chef' book has the subject covered well apart from the quantities he suggests. I used 250g pasta flour per batch, half the quantity Jamie suggests. Jamie's 500g of flour batch would be too much for most people even if cooking for a crowd. But the recipe is sound and makes fabulous pasta which can be cooked fresh fresh or dried thoroughly and stored for later.
Just a note about portion size: I allow a small 50g per person rather than the usual 75g - 100g per person for regular dried pasta. Pasta made with eggs tends to be richer and therefore I think you need less. But it is up to you. Somewhere between 50g and 75g per person is ample for most appetites.
I buy my pasta flour from Shipton Mill or from Booths supermarket who have the best flour selection of any major supermarket. If you cannot find pasta flour use strong plain flour.
To make beetroot and spinach pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 250g pasta flour (Tipo '00')
- 2 medium eggs, lightly beaten and placed in a small jug
For beetroot pasta:
- 1 small cooked beetroot, puréed
For spinach pasta:
- 150g spinach steamed for 3 minutes, drained and puréed
Method for beetroot pasta
Place 250g pasta flour in the bowl of a food processor. Set the food processor in motion and gradually add half the beaten eggs followed by the puréed beetroot. Mix for about 30 seconds and then stop the motor and scrape around the sides of the food processor bowl to ensure you have incorporated all the flour into the pasta dough. Set the food processor in motion again and gradually add a little more egg until you have made a ball of pasta dough. The ball of pasta dough should be smooth and elastic to touch. Remove the pasta dough from the bowl of the food processor, place it in a plastic bag in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.
For spinach pasta
Repeat as a above but substitute the puréed spinach for the beetroot.
To roll out the pasta dough:
Remove the pasta dough from the fridge and its plastic bag and place on a floured chopping board or work surface. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Take one piece of dough and dust with a little flour ready to roll out with the pasta machine. Return the other 7 pieces of dough to the plastic bag to prevent from drying out.
Fix the pasta machine to a clean work surface or table and dust the rollers with a little flour. Begin rolling the first piece of pasta dough through the rollers set at the widest setting. Reduce the width of the gap between the rollers by one 'notch' and roll the pasta again. Dust the pasta dough with a little flour if you need to avoid it sticking to the the rollers. Continue to roll the pasta until you have reached the penultimate setting on the pasta machine. The length of pasta should be a few millimetres thick.
Dust the length of pasta with some more flour and then fold the length of dough in half and half again. Cut the pasta into lengths 2cm wide and then unravel the strips of tagliatelle to hand over the backs of chairs to dry (see photographs A & B below).
When to eat the pasta?
The pasta can be eaten after partially drying in a warm dry room for 2 hours or when completely dried after at least 8 hours. When the pasta is brittle and snaps easily it is ready to be stored in a sealed container or tall glass jar.
A) Fold the length of dough in half and half again. Cut the pasta into lengths 2cm wide.
B) Unravel the strips of tagliatelle to hang over the back of a chair to dry.
Simple seasonal recipes for fresh pasta meals
At this time of the year meals are often inspired by the young, fresh produce from my small front garden which I have laid out like a French potager. This year I have grown climbing courgettes. The plants are leggy and strong growing with brilliant yellow flowers that gape like the mouths of young blackbirds. The flowers are good to eat sliced up and cooked briefly in a little olive oil and garlic and scattered on pizza or pasta. The thick stigma and style at the centre of the flower tastes particularly good.
There are also broad beans which appeared after the crimson flowers faded. I prefer growing the variety with deep crimson flowers.
Mint is one of my great pleasures as it works so well to flavour both sweet and savoury dishes and is growing abundantly at the moment. Not to forget the latest crop of young garlic which tastes so strong and delicious - I use it sparingly. So there are some great seasonal options for sauces for my spinach and beetroot pasta.
Spinach tagliatelle with young courgettes, lemon and basil
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 long red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped
- 8 - 10 small finger length courgettes and their flowers if you have them
- 1 tbsp pinenuts
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 handful fresh basil
- 200g spinach tagliatelle
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 90g Parmesan cheese, grated
Method
Prepare a large pan of salted boiling hot water for the tagliatelle - but don't cook it yet!
Place the olive oil, garlic and chilli in a hot pan and fry for 30 seconds without colouring. Slice the courgette into quarters, lengthways and toss in the hot, garlicky oil. Add the pine nuts. After 2 minutes add the lemon juice and basil and cook for another minute. Slice 3 of the courgette flowers and throw them in with the courgettes for the last minute of cooking.
Meanwhile cook the tagliatelle in the prepared salted water until al dente - about 4 minutes. Drain the tagliatelle and toss it with the courgettes. Season to taste and add the Parmesan cheese. Dribble with a little more olive oil if you need to loosen the sauce. Serve with some more torn basil and a sprinkling of cheese.
This recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver's recipe. I have added a little chilli and some chopped courgette flowers.
Beetroot pasta with broad beans, mint and goat's cheese
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 pieces of dry cured bacon, chopped (optional)
- 500g young broad beans, shelled
- 200g beetroot tagliatelle
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 100g soft goat's cheese
- 1 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
Method
Prepare a large pan of salted boiling hot water for the tagliatelle and the broad beans - but don't cook it yet!
Place the olive oil, onion and garlic in a hot pan and fry for 30 seconds without colouring. Add the dry cured bacon and continue to cook until the onion and bacon begin to brown.
Meanwhile add the tagliatelle to the prepared salted water. After one minute add the broad beans to the same water. Cook the tagliatelle for about 4 minutes by which time the young broad beans will be cooked too. If the broad beans are quite big you might need to steam them seaprately until cooked and then add them to the onions and garlic.
Drain the tagliatelle and broad beans and toss with the bacon (if using) and onion mixture. Throw in small pieces of soft goats cheese into the pasta and scatter with the chopped mint and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Dribble with a little more olive oil if you need to loosen the sauce.
Arthur Baxter has been growing fruit and vegetables for over 60 years. Courgettes from my garden.