The KaiKai Book

This recipe shows you how to make green spinach pasta from scratch. Ingredients 8oz - 220g washed spinach leaves 1 tbsp olive oil 3 cups - 400g of double zero "00" soft wheat flour ¼ cup semolina for dusting 4 whole free range eggs (Room temperature) Salt (for water only). Cooking Method Step 1 In a large pot on high heat, add a little olive oil and place the spinach leaves. Cook until wilted then leave to cool. Set aside and leave to cool. Place in a clean kitchen towel or muslin and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Step 2 In a blender, add the eggs and cooked spinach. Blend 10 seconds or so until smooth. Step 3 Add the flour to a large bowl or directly on your workbench. Make a well in the centre and place the spinach and egg mixture. Mix well using a fork and slowly incorporate the flour from the centre out until it’s all mixed or close to it. Step 4 Using your hands, start to knead the dough until completely smooth and slightly elastic. If the dough appears and little too dry, add a teaspoon of water at a time. If it’s too wet, add a little flour. Knead until smooth for 10 -15 minutes. Step 5 Cover with cling film and refrigerate 60 minutes. Overnight is fine too. Step 6 Remove from fridge and cut in three even sizes. Flatten using the palm of your hand until you have three rectangular flat discs. Lightly dust one with flour. Cover the other discs with cling film until ready to use. Step 7 Set the machine thickness dial to 0 or to wide. The two rollers should be fully open. Feed the pasta disk into the rollers as you turn the crank in a clockwise direction. Fold the pasta in half and give it a light dust. Feed it back into the machine several times until the pasta has a long rectangular shape. Step 8 Cut the pasta sheet in two, dust with flour and feed through the rollers one thickness number increment at a time until you reach the desired thickness. For fettuccine, you want a little thicker. On my machine I use number 5 or 6. For tagliolini I use number 7. Chose the thickness that suits you but remember that pasta will close to double in size when cooked. Step 9 For shaping the pasta, cut the sheets into 10 inch (25cm) long pieces and feed through the appropriate cutting roller. Step 10 To cook the pasta, simply bring a large amount of water to the boil, and add sufficient salt. It should taste a little less salty than sea water, so don’t just put a pinch in or it won’t be enough. Drop the pasta into the boiling or simmering water, usually when it floats it’s close to being ready. Approx. 2 minutes depending on thickness. Now see my pasta recipes.See more @ http://www.recipe30.com/fresh-spinach-pasta.html/