Tuesday

HOMEMADE PASTA - Daring Cooks' Challenge - July / 2011

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Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

One more awesome challenge! Just perfect for my brand new KitchenAid pasta roller attachment. Ok, this time I wasn't totally faithful to the guidelines of the challenge. The idea this month was to get our hands dirty, by making a style of pasta or noodle without the use of motorized tools. Despite the fact that I used a motorized pasta roller, I DID get my hands (and kitchen) dirty with flour, but had a blast making my own pasta. To compensate, I tried my hand at vegetable colored pasta. The result was amazing!
Thanks Steph, for the great challenge :o)


I started by preparing the vegetables. I cooked whole beetroots in the pressure cooker, until soft (30 minutes for small beets).
Then, I steamed a bunch of spinach, then drained, and squeezed the excess water.
Finally, I peeled and cut 2 medium carrots into half inch chunks and steamed until soft.
The vegetables yielded about 1 cup each.


To a food processor, I added the carrots, 1 egg, a pinch of salt, 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, and 1/2 cup all purpose flour. I processed until the carrots were totally pureed and well blended with the other ingredients. Then, I added more flour, 1/4 cup at a time, processing for a few seconds after each addition, until It formed a ball of dough which should not be sticky at all. I coated the ball of dough with vegetable oil and let it rest in a plastic bag while I worked on the other vegetables.
I did the same with the spinach, and then with the beets. The amount of flour varied a little from one vegetable to another, so these amounts are not precise. I needed an average of 1 1/2 cups for each batch.


After the three batches were ready and had rested for about 30 minutes, I started rolling and cutting them using a pasta roller. I watched this KitchenAid VIDEO to learn how to use it properly.
You can choose to cook the pasta right away, or hang it to dry, and store for future use. I decided to dry mine. I had to improvise a drying rack with a cardboard box and some bamboo chopsticks which did the job very well (I was very surprised at the price of a plastic pasta drying rack here in Brazil, something around US$100).



Cook the pasta just before serving, for only a couple of minutes. If you decide not to dry it, it will probably need only a minute to cook. I served mine with Aglio & Olio (finely chopped garlic fried in olive oil until lightly golden).


I highly recommend you visit THE DARING KITCHEN to see all the amazing pastas everyone has created, and get inspired!

27 comments:

  1. Absolutely beautiful. This post is a work of art, Renata.

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  2. MMmmmm. I've made lots of pasta, but haven't tried the veggie pastas yet. I think I'm gonna do this! I've been scared to try it, but you make it sound so doable! Thanks!

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  3. Your pasta is absolutely beautiful. I love the improvised drying rack too!

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  4. I think you will be forgiven for the use of the KitchenAid pasta roller... Your colors are fabulous! What a great job you did on this challenge! And I love your drying rack. Creativity is key!!

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  5. I absolutely love this! Gorgeous colours, I wish I could have a taste!

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  6. I am so jealous that your pasta held it's color! It is so beautiful! Great job!

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  7. I love that you made the three colors to contrast so nicely together. Just beautiful. Did any of the veggie flavors come through?

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  8. Wow - those colors are fantastic! Now I totally want to try to make colored vegetable pasta - wonderful work!

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  9. Love love love all the colors you used, the noodles look so beautiful! Oh and what a great idea for drying pasta, I'm going to try that next time I make handmade noodles again. Excellent job on this challenge!

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  10. Love the colors of your pasta! And I still love the improvised drying rack, I will be stealing that idea the next time I make pasta.

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  11. So colourful and fun! I've never been able to get my spinach pasta to turn out quite that green. Great job!

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  12. The colours of your pasta are so vibrant--it's gorgeous! Love the drying rack too. I just used my laundry rack! I've made spinach pasta, but never with beets, so I can't wait to try that.

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  13. your pasta looks amazing! i like your improvised rack for drying the pasta.. you are so creative!:)

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  14. Love the colours of your pasta! How inventive! A true rainbow of colours - love it, love it, love it :D very summery too! That 'drying box' was a great idea!
    Pozdrawiam. Anula

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  15. Your different color/flavor pastas are beautiful, and I love the simple but so delicious serving with olive oil and garlic. Congratulations!

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  16. Renata..you should be making and selling this pasta! I've seen plenty of vegetable colored and flavored pastas before, but your noodles make me really, really want it, more than any other I've ever seen. Please excuse me, I'm in 'WoW' mode.

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  17. Oh wow how gorgeous are the colours of your pasta! Stunning.

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  18. Your pasta looks incredible! And the colours held so well! Congratulations!

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  19. Wonderful pasta! You are back in Brazil! Have you finished your term in Asia or just out for a vacation.

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  20. These home-made pasta come handy for preparing great meals at any time, love your flavor and color selection! Great choice :-)

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  21. Look georgeous and nice!! I admire you!! gloria

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  22. Renata,
    estou realmente impressionada! Que cores! Que fotografias! Fiquei cheia de vontade de experimentar.
    bjs e boa semana

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  23. They are beautiful! Very well done.

    I love your dryer...

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  24. You are queen of pasta I can say, beautiful, sure they taste great too. Love the pasta drying rack. you always amaze me with your dishes.

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