Spinach Pasta Dough
Adding puréed spinach to pasta dough transforms it into a brilliant green color. Use the Spinach Dough to make any shape of pasta from Fettuccine and Pappardelle to Tortellini and Ravioli. When you use a colored (beet or spinach) dough for a stuffed pasta like ravioli, use a contrasting colored filling (like goat cheese) for a dramatic effect.
For further explanation on rolling and shaping pasta and filling ravioli, see my post: Pasta 101 and watch my video on making plain egg pasta dough. The Pasta 101 post also includes the recipe for plain Egg Pasta Dough.
I filled the above spinach ravioli with a green pea filing and served it with a light and refreshing Lemon and Olive Oil Sauce. For a contrasting color filling, use a three-cheese filling of Ricotta, Parmesan and Asiago. Both recipes are in my first cookbook on page 218 and 219.
This green fettuccine is served with a Puttanesca sauce with Tiger Shrimp. Puttanesca sauce is a tomato-based sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and mixed olives. The recipe is in my first cookbook on page 211.
Spinach Pasta Dough
Course: PastaCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium20
minutes1 1/2
Ingredients
5 ounces fresh spinach
2 Tablespoons plus warm water
1 large egg, slightly beaten
3 1/2 cups pasta flour (semolina)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Directions
- In a blender, puree the spinach, water and egg until smooth.
- Place the flour on a clean working counter and make a well in the center. Add the spinach liquid, salt and olive oil to the center of the well and gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet, forming a smooth-soft dough (adding additional water if necessary to make the dough soft).
- Knead the dough 10 minutes, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
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