Love in the Kitchen - making fast, healthy, homegrown meals you'll enjoy

Friday, March 19, 2010

Lemon Basil Pasta

I love fresh pasta. Must be my Italian heritage. My first pasta-making experience was making ravioli with my grandfather. He used Nana's recipe. Such as it was... I'm thinking that Italian grandmother's recipes were mostly in their heads.


I've made lots of pasta over time. Sometimes I use a pasta machine. Sometimes I roll it out by hand, which is more satisfying somehow.


I was talking to a colleague at work about her lunch in Little Italy (up the street from where I work). She was telling me about this delicious pasta she sampled, flavored with lemon and basil. And, it just so happened that I had lemons, fresh from my tree, in my house. I stopped at the store to pick up some basil (it will be a few more weeks until I can harvest that from my garden) and some "eggs".



I use my Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook attachment to make this dough (see the recipe below for ingredient measurements).


Once mixed, I split the dough into small balls. MUCH easier to roll out a small piece. Especially if you like reasonably thin pasta. Which I do.

Roll it out flat. Roll and roll. Extra flour helps with this.

Flat. And thin.

See? Thin.

Then I (carefully) roll it up and slice it.

After all of the dough is rolled and cut, you'll end up with a pile of noodles that looks something like this.

You'll want to boil in in a LARGE pot. Takes about 6 - 10 minutes. You can tell when it is done as it floats to the top. Drain and rinse.

I used a few tablespoons of lemon juice to toss the noodles. Added just that extra bit of flavor.

Tasty!

Basic Egg Pasta Dough - "Pasta al' Uovo"

To make about 1/2 pound (2 servings):
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 tablespoon lukewarm water

To make about 3/4 pound (3 to 4 servings):
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 tablespoons lukewarm water

To make about 1 pound (5 to 6 servings):
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lukewarm water

  • Place the flour on a large floured surface.
  • Make a well in the center. Break the eggs into the well.
  • Add the salt, oil, and water. Beat the mixture in the well with a fork.
  • Using a fork, gently start to work the flour into the liquid.
  • Continue until the dough becomes sticky and difficult to work with the fork.
  • Use your hands to form the rough dough into a ball.
  • Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface.
  • Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
  • Cover with a bowl or towel and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
  • Proceed with rolling and cutting the pasta according to your recipe.

For Lemon Basil Pasta Dough

Follow the recipe for Basic Egg Pasta Dough for 1 pound.
Instead of 3 eggs, use 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk.
Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest, and 3 tablespoons fresh chopped basil.
Add remaining ingredients and proceed as directed for Egg Pasta Dough.








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5 comments:

  1. You are a gourmet cook! You put my pasta post to shame!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my gosh - this looks so yummy! You've officially made my tummy growl!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Any idea on how to make this a sun-dried tomato and basil pasta?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wish for the great of success in all of our destiny endeavors

    ReplyDelete
  5. They've been very responsivethink about... and they're flexible about getting the work done whenever we need it.

    ReplyDelete