Handmade Spinach Pasta

My third attempt at making pasta by hand went very well last night. I cheated a little and used Ecco La Pasta's spinach pasta mix (it saves a few minutes) but I did the rest by hand.

When using a stand mixer you should add 1/2 cup plus 1 T. of water to the entire bag of pasta flour. Mix on medium speed for a few minutes and voila: pasta dough.

You then pat the dough into two balls and cover one with plastic wrap to keep from drying out.

Pass through the widest setting on your pasta machine roller until you have smooth sheets of pasta (about 6 times). Then roll it through #4 to make a thin sheet to use for thick spaghetti or fettuccine.

Then roll it through a small setting (ex: #4) to make a thin pasta sheet for fettuccine or spaghetti.

After your pasta sheet is ready you roll it through the pasta cutter (whichever one you desire). I used the fettuccine cutter. I don't have a picture of this step because you have to move quickly and use one hand to hold the sheet and the other to grab the pasta. Make sure your pasta is dry so that it doesn't stick together. Flour is your friend if your pasta is too sticky.

I let my pasta dry out over a chair until I'm ready to use it. It only takes 3-4 minutes to cook in a boiling pot of salted water with a T. of oil to keep the pasta from sticking. If you're not used to fresh pasta it might seem raw but you'll get used to it quickly and love the taste.

Fresh pasta is so good that you don't want to overwhelm it with too much sauce. My husband and I prefer pesto sauce to marinara so I added a homemade pesto sauce and grated parmesean. (Note: I keep my parmesean and asiago cheese in the freezer. It lasts for months this way).