Description
This 3-ingredient Spinach Pasta is incredibly easy to make! Use this spinach pasta dough to make delicious sheets of homemade ‘lasagna verde’ for Bolognese, silky ribbons of green pappardelle pasta, spinach spaghetti, tagliatelle, fettuccine, ravioli, farfalle, mezzaluna, tortellini, or any favorite pasta shape!
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 ounces frozen or fresh spinach (115g)
- 14 ounces 00 flour (about 3 1/4 cups) (400g)
- 2 large eggs, slightly beaten (50g)
Instructions
- Blanch the spinach. Add the spinach (frozen or fresh) to a pot of boiling water and cook it (blanch it) for about 3 minutes. Strain it reserving the liquid being sure to squeeze out all of the excess liquid. Use a blender, immersion blender, or food processor to purée the spinach to a fine paste and set aside. *Alternatively, finely mince the spinach.
- Make the dough. Add the flour to a countertop or large bread bowl and make a “well” in the middle. Add the eggs, and spinach to the center and begin agitating the mixture to combine it with the flour being sure to keep everything in the center of the “well”. Work in a circular motion incorporating more flour into the center until the mixture is combined and forms a shaggy dough.
- Knead the dough. Remove the dough to a work surface and knead it by turning it clockwise a quarter turn and repeating until the dough becomes softer and more pliable, or about 10 to 12 minutes. It should be much smoother and more elastic at this point. *Alternatively, you may knead the dough using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment on medium-low speed (speed #2 on a KitchenAid).
- Rest the dough. Cover and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and work with one piece at a time covering the other pieces so they don’t dry out. Press down to form a disc just thin enough to be fed through the pasta machine’s widest setting (0 or 1 depending on your pasta machine). Feed the dough through the rollers while turning the crank. If needed, lightly dust both sides of the pasta sheet with flour and fold it like a letter (bringing in the two ends to the middle) to form a more even rectangle. Feed the pasta sheet back through the rollers on (0 or 1) until it is long and rectangular in shape. Set the adjustment knob to 1 and pass the pasta sheet through one time. Set the adjustment knob to 2 and pass the pasta sheet through one time. Set the adjustment knob to 3, pass the pasta sheet through one time, and continue adjusting the knob setting and passing the dough through until you’ve reached the desired thickness (the recommended thickness setting is typically number 6 for fettuccine, tagliatelle, ravioli, lasagna, etc.
- Cut the desired pasta shapes. Attach the pasta shape cutter attachment and run the sheets of pasta through them, sprinkle them with semolina (or other flour) and shape them into a bird’s nest, or hang them on a pasta drying rack. *Alternatively, you may roll up the rectangular sheets of pasta and cut them into the desired thickness for fettuccine or pappardelle, etc. If making lasagna, leave the sheets just as they are or trim them to the desired length. If using immediately, allow the noodles to dry for 10-20 minutes before boiling, and Enjoy!
Notes
- I recommend measuring everything in grams as it is the most precise way to get consisten results. If you don’t have a scale, I’ve given the approximate cups of flour you’ll need.
- I’ve used frozen spinach for this recipe but you can use sautéed or blanched fresh spinach.
- Do not use cold eggs straight out of the refrigerator. Let them warm up to room temperature first. You can speed up this process by covering cold eggs in hot tap water until warmed to the proper temperature.
- If the pasta dough seems too dry, add 1 to 2 teaspoons or more of the reserved spinach water as needed and if it seems too wet, add a little more flour until it no longer sticks to your hands.
- Do not add salt to the dough.
- You can store fully dried homemade dried pasta for up to 1 month in an airtight sealed container. You may also freeze fresh pasta (my preferred method as taught to me by my family here in Italy. Try to use it within 1 month.
- Cook homemade fresh pasta in a good amount of water. I typically cook store-bought pasta in small amounts of water because it really doesn’t need that much water to cook properly. But when I cook pasta fresca or freshly made pasta, I use more water so the fresh noodles have room to cook without sticking together. If you have thoroughly dried homemade pasta first before cooking, you can use less water.
- Never wash your pasta machine with water because the water and flour will act like glue and can clog up the rollers.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Rest Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Mix & Knead
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 ounce serving
