Sunday, January 11, 2009

Lemon Pepper Pasta

This is an easy recipe that can be adapted to any flavor.

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cup of flour (I like to use bread flour)
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 lemons
2 tbsp ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Put the flour and salt in a food processor. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice to the eggs.
2. Add the eggs to the flour and salt and mix until blended. Mix until it becomes a dough ball.

3. Knead for 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let the pasta dough rest for about 20 minutes.
4. I used a pasta roller for this next step. You can roll it out by hand with the help of a rolling pin too. (I found that using regular flour does not roll out easily if you are rolling it our by hand look for Farina flour) Roll the pasta through the thickest setting first gradually getting thinner and thinner. Cut into the desired shape of noodles.


5. To cook bring a pot of water to a boil. Place the pasta in the pot and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Fresh pasta cooks really fast so keep an eye on it. Salt the pasta while it is cooking.

6. Drain and serve with your choice of sauce. I have tried this flavor with tomato sauces and Alfredo and both are great. I served it with butter and cheese.


Variations:
Chile noodles-add 1-2 teaspoons of crushed red chiles to the eggs, before you mix the flour in.
Tomato noodles- add 2 tbsp tomato paste to the eggs, before you mix the flour in.
Spinach noodles- add 5 ounces of cooked drained spinach to the eggs before adding the flour. The dough may be sticky if it is add a little more flour.
Herb noodles- Finely chop the herbs (basil, parsley, sage and thyme are good ones) add to the eggs before you add the flour.

1 comment:

Margene said...

looks good Is this the recipe that Melissa makes. She has a good lemon sauce for pasta.