Fresh spinach pasta
User Reviews
5
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Prep Time
45 mins
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Cook Time
10 mins
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Total Time
55 mins
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Servings
3 (or
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Calories
422 kcal
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Course
Main Course
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Cuisine
Italian
Fresh spinach pasta
Description
This recipe starts by blanching baby spinach or larger leaves in boiling water until wilted, then draining and squeezing out excess moisture. The cooled spinach is pulsed in a food processor with eggs, egg yolk, and salt until finely chopped and mixed. Flour (and optionally semolina) is gradually incorporated while pulsing until the dough forms a ball. Olive oil is added part way to enrich the dough. After transferring to a floured surface, the dough is kneaded by hand for about five minutes until smooth and pliable.
The dough should be soft but not sticky; more flour can be added if needed. The resulting spinach pasta dough can be rolled thin and cut into noodles or used for other fresh pasta shapes, cooking quickly when boiled. The fresh spinach gives the pasta a slight vegetal taste and a green hue.
Blending or pulsing the spinach finely produces a smoother texture and more even color in the pasta. This recipe supports preparing fresh spinach pasta for an herbaceous addition to your pasta repertoire.
Ingredients
- 8 oz baby spinach weight without any stems (you can also use larger-leaf spinach, see below)
- 2 egg large
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour plain flour, or use roughly ⅓ semolina flour
Instructions
- If using baby spinach, place spinach in a large bowl and pour over boiling water until all is submerged, pushing leaves down as needed. Leave for a minute then drain and allow to drain as it cools. If using larger leaf spinach, put the spinach in a pan of boiling water and boil for about 2-4 minutes, until wilted and soft then drain.
- Once the spinach is cool, squeeze well, roughly chop, then squeeze again to get as much moisture out as possible. Put the spinach in a food processor with the eggs, egg yolk and salt and pulse until well chopped and mixed, scraping down as needed. (see notes below)
- Add the flour about ½ cup at a time and pulse three or four times after each addition. Add the olive oil part way through. Once all added, pulse until the dough comes together, away from the sides into a ball.
- Remove the dough to a floured surface and knead with floured hands for about 5 minutes. It should be soft but not sticky - if it is, add a little more all-purpose/plain flour as you knead.
- Wrap in plastic/cling film and allow to rest at room temperature for around 30min. At this stage, you can keep the dough in the fridge for a day or two until ready to use. Then, let it rest at room temperature around 30 minutes before rolling.
- When ready, divide the dough into 4-6 sections and cover the pieces you aren't working with with a damp cloth to save them drying out. Prepare some trays by dusting them with flour or semolina flour.
- As you work with each piece, flatten it out slightly, dust with flour then put it through your pasta roller on the widest settings a few times (3-5 about right) until smooth, dusting with flour in between if at all sticky. Then move up the settings rolling ideally twice at each setting (once from either end) until you get to the thickness you would like. On my machine, I typically roll to about '4' or maybe '5'.
- Then, either use the cutter attachment or hand cut if you want to make into linguine/fettuccine and place the ribbons onto the prepared trays in little stacks or laid flat. Cover with a cloth if not using soon.
- Once all is done and ready to cook, place handfuls at a time in boiling water, helping the pieces to separate as you add them, for around 2-3 minutes until they come to the surface and are cooked.
- Serve with your preferred sauce.
Notes
- If your food processor is not powerful enough to finely chop the spinach, consider using a blender initially to break it down more.
- It is acceptable to have small spinach chunks in your dough, but the pasta will have a smoother texture and more uniform color if the spinach is chopped very finely.
- If using a blender first, you can then transfer the spinach mixture back to the food processor or mix by hand with flour on the work surface.
Nutrition Information
Show DetailsNutrition Facts
Serving: 3(or
Amount Per Serving
Calories 422 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 422kcal | 21% |
| Carbohydrates | 65g | 22% |
| Protein | 16g | 32% |
| Fat | 10g | 15% |
| Saturated Fat | 2g | 10% |
| Cholesterol | 174mg | 58% |
| Sodium | 880mg | 37% |
| Potassium | 585mg | 12% |
| Fiber | 4g | 16% |
| Vitamin A | 7335IU | 147% |
| Vitamin C | 21.3mg | 24% |
| Calcium | 112mg | 11% |
| Iron | 6.5mg | 36% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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