Pasta Frenzy Continues

If you think it's all about the sauce, and pasta is used merely to bulk the dish, you couldn't be more wrong. I've advanced my pasta making to decorative varieties. :-)

First off, the colourful pasta. So far I've mastered the white shade (basic pasta dough), green and red - so a pasta dish in Italian coluors was inevitable. Due to the proportions, we ended up with enough food for 3 meals (ravioli), and at least 5 servings of soup pasta! :-)

Red pasta:

200g of plain flour
1 egg
75 g cooked beetroot
a pinch of salt
extra flour for dusting

Blend the beetroot in a food processor to a smooth paste. Add flour, salt and egg, mix all the ingredients into a dough, adding more flour if too sticky, which often happens with this type of dough as beetroots tend to be really moist. . Knead for a couple of minutes, until it's smooth and flexible. Cover the dough with cling filma and put it into the fridge for about 30 minutes to rest.
Roll and cut into desired shape.

Green pasta:
150g plain flour
1 egg
90 g spinach
a pinch of salt
extra flour for dusting

Rinse spinach and squeeze it well (make sure you squeeze all the liquid, as the dough will be very moist anyway). Finely chop the leaves into a smooth, green paste. In a large bowl mix flour, egg, salt and spinach until you get a dought. Knead for a couple of minutes, you may need to add more flour - this dough is really sticky. Cover with cling film and put to the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
Roll it thin and cut into the shape of your choice.

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