Well that was messy... why isn't there a button for that? This week I attempted to make my own pasta. I'm kind of torn on if i succeeded or not. I think that it was part success and part WHOAH THE EGGS ARE GETTING ALL OVER THE PLACE!! Either way, I was able to salvage most of the fresh pasta and it didn't kill me to eat it.
This recipe was kind of random, I looked up what things are stuffed in a tortellini and found a recipe that involved chopped spinach and ricotta and Parmesan cheeses. I mixed the cheeses and spinach but felt it needed more flavor. So I added a bit of a garlic/basil pesto sauce to the mix and it tasted much better.
If you attempt to make your own pasta, it's basically a pile of flour with a well dug in the center. What I need to do next time is not make it such a deep pool,,, but rather a wide and shallow pool. So in my first attempt, the egg rolled off the flour mountain like lava and went everywhere. I had to grab handfuls of flour and make barriers to stop the flood. Thus, the lack of pictures....
Final dish with grape tomatoes, black olives, Italian seasonings and olive oil.
Cheese Stuffed Tortellini
-Adapted from Alton Brown's recipe
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 4-8 depending on amount of pasta
Ingredients:
·
¾ cup ricotta cheese
·
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
·
½ cup
fresh chopped spinach
·
1 egg
·
¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
·
1 pinch grated nutmeg
·
1 tsp basil pesto (basil, parsley, garlic, olive
oil)
·
Fresh Pasta (Recipe below)
·
1 egg mixed with ½ teaspoon water
·
1/8 cup fresh chopped parsley
·
¼ cup black olives (halved)
·
½ cup grape/cherry tomatoes
·
olive oil
·
Italian seasoning (dry basil, parsley…)
Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan,
spinach, egg, pepper, nutmeg and pesto.
Using the pasta recipe below, roll out the pasta to be as thin as a
credit card. Cut out 2-3 inch circles using a cookie cutter. Immediately wrap
the ‘scrap’ pasta so it doesn’t dry out. Spoon ¼ - ½ teaspoons of the cheese
and spinach mixture into the center of the pasta circles. Using your ring
finger, brush the egg wash onto one half of the circle. This will act as glue.
Quickly fold the circle in half and crimp the pasta together with your dry
fingers. Using your dry fingers, begin to roll the pasta into itself by lifting
the center of the pasta circle and curling the edges into the center. Using the
same ring finger, brush egg wash onto one edge of the pasta and press the ends
together to seal the tortellini. Place the tortellini into rapidly boiling
salted water and cook 3-5 minutes. At this point the pasta will float to the
surface of the water. Strain all pasta. Toss with olive oil, then parsley and Italian
seasonings, then with tomatoes and olives.
Fresh Pasta
Ingredients
·
3 cups flour
·
2 large eggs
·
3 Tbsp water
·
1 tsp olive oil
·
½ tsp salt
Directions
On a large clean surface, pile the flour. Using
dry hands, make a well in the middle of the pile and begin to spread the flour
out. The well should be wider than it is deep (3-4 inches wide and 1 inch deep).
In a bowl, mix the eggs, water, oil, and salt. Slowly pour the mixture into the
well. As the mixture is pouring, use a spoon to begin mixing with the flour
closest to the well. This will help ensure the egg mixture does not run over
the edges of the well. Continue mixing flour until the dough becomes too stiff
to mix by spoon. At this point add flour by hand and knead until no longer
sticky. If using a pasta roller, follow the machine instructions to roll pasta.
