Homemade Colored Patterned Pasta

I love to make my own pasta. This time I wanted to take on the challenge to make colored and patterned pasta. It is creative at the same time I get great food.

Ingredients:

300 g) all-purpose flour + more for dusting and rolling
3 large eggs
3 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Coloring the Pasta

Since I wanted to make three colores for my Pasta I divided the ingredients in three parts and made one by one part. So 100 g flour, 1 egg, 1 tsp salt and a pinch of salt for each part.

For the coloring I used:
To make red: boiled beetroot
To make green: spinach
To make yellow: boiled carrots

To make the colors I put the vegetables one color at the time in my blender, added 1 egg, a pinch of salt and 1 tsp olive oil for each part and blended. Then I added the mix in the middle of the “well” I created with my 100 g flour for each color.

Instructions:

Mix the pasta dough:

Heap the flour into a pile on the table. Create a large well in the center, crack the eggs and olive oil in the center. Use a fork to whisk together the eggs and oil. Since I colored remember I divided in three parts and the egg, olive oil and salt was blended smoothly with the vegetable I used for each color.

Continue whisking the eggs, but begin pulling in bits of flour from inside the well. Use a stirring motion and go slowly to avoid any eggs breaking through the flour.

Continue until the dough starts to come together and the eggs have been incorporated. Now use your hands to continue bringing the dough together.

Knead the dough:

When the dough looks relatively cohesive, form it into a ball, and knead for 10 minutes against the counter. When needing think PUSH and PULL. You push with the palm of your hand and pull with your fingers. The dough will be rough at first, but it should begin to tighten up and smooth out as you continue kneading. If the dough sticks to your hands, dust the countertop with a little more flour. In the end you should have a soft, elastic dough that feels smooth.

Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for an hour. You can let it rest in your refrigerator.

Roll out the pasta:

When the dough has finished resting, shape it into smaller equal sections. Leave one section out and rewrap the others. It is important to wrap the pasta you are not working with so it doesn’t dry out.

Flour your table well, and use your rolling pin to roll out the dough. With each pass as you roll, lift the dough up, re-dust the counter beneath, and flip it over. When you’re finished, you should have a thin piece of dough. It should be just about paper thin, but strong enough to be lifted off of the table. If you want to mix colores you have to place them in the pattern you like on top of another and roll them to integrate in each other. This is a little hard and easier with a machine. However I used my rolling pin since I don´t have a machine.

Shape your Pasta:

Here you can have fun and make all kinds of shapes you like. It is just to experiment like you see I have done.

To make the ravioli you make a filling according to your liking and place it in the middle of one part of the ravioli. With your finger and a little water brush around the edge and press the top on. Make sure it is tight so the filling does not come out when cooking later. I made my own Ricotta Cheese for my filling. See link at the end of my recipe. You add the spices you like for your ravioli to your cheese.

Dry the Pasta:

Lay them across your table. Let them dry for about 15 minutes.

Use or freeze:

At this point, the pasta will still be pliable, but dry. It can be used immediately or frozen for later.

If freezing, gather the pasta on a well-floured baking sheet, then freeze. Once frozen, transfer the pasta to a large Ziploc bag, and use as needed. Frozen pasta will keep for 9 months.

Cook the Pasta:

Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the fresh or frozen pasta and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until chewy and al dente (taste one of the noodles to check). Serve with your favorite sauce or drizzle olive oil and shredded Parmigiano Cheese on top.

Filling for my Ravioli

I made my own Ricotta Cheese. On the link here you find my recipe how to make the cheese. When the cheese was done I mixed in chopped red onion, chopped spring onions and some other greens I had, 1 egg, salt, pepper and shredded parmigiano cheese. Then mixed with a fork.

How to make your own Ricotta Cheese or Cream Cheese