"Emerald-green spinach noodles add luxury to homemade pasta. Sauce them traditionally, with Bolognese ragù, or simply with butter, Parmigiano Reggiano, and wilted spinach leaves."
Fresh Spinach Fettuccine
4
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Fresh Spinach Fettuccine
(Recipe from The Glorious Pasta of Italy, by Domenica Marchetti aka @domenicacooks)
Makes about 1 pound, enough for to serve 4
Ingredients:
8 ounces fresh spinach leaves
2 large eggs
2 to 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon fine salt
Semolina flour for dusting
Directions:
Put the spinach and 1/2 cup water into a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, cover and cook for about 5 minutes (stir once or twice during this time) until the spinach is wilted and tender. Drain the spinach in a colander in the sink. When cool enough to handle, use your hands to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Really squeeze. Transfer the spinach to a blender, add the eggs, and puree until smooth. Scrape the mixture into a bowl.
Put 2 cups flour and the salt into the work bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the pureed spinach-egg mixture and pulse until the mixture forms crumbs that look like small curds. Pinch together a bit of the mixture; it should form a soft ball. If it seems dry, add a few droplets of water and pulse briefly. If it seems sticky, add a flour, one tablespoon at a time, and pulse to incorporate. Pulse until the dough comes together.
Sprinkle a little of the remaining all-purpose flour on a clean work surface and knead the dough for several minutes, incorporating as much flour as necessary to form a firm smooth ball. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and stretch each piece through a pasta rolling machine to form 4 long, thin sheets, about 1/16 (2 mm) inch thick. Let them rest for a few minutes. Sprinkle a generous quantity of semolina on the sheets. Loosely roll up one sheet, jelly roll style, starting from the short end, and cut it crosswise into ribbons about 3/8 inches (1 cm) wide. Unravel the noodles and arrane in bundles or nests on a semolina-dusted cloth or baking sheet.
Cook the fettucine a in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender (take care not to overcook; fresh pasta cooks quickly). Dress with Bolognese sauce or your favorite pasta sauce.