Bon Appetit Fresh Pasta Dough Food

FRESH PASTA DOUGH

Steps:

• Mound the flour on a clean work surface. Hollow out the center making a well in the middle of the flour with steep sides.
• Break the eggs into the well. Add the salt, and olive oil to the hollow center and gently mix together with a fork. Gradually start incorporating the flour by pulling in the flour from the sides of the well. As you incorporate more of the flour, the dough will start to take shape.
• With your hands or a bench scraper continue working the dough until it comes together. If the dough is too dry, add a little water; if too wet or sticky, add a little flour.
• Begin kneading the dough and keep kneading until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. At this point, set the dough aside, cover it with plastic, and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. You can store the dough in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, but allow it to return to room temperature before rolling it out.
• Divide the pasta dough into 4 even sections. Keep each section covered with plastic wrap or a clean towel while you work with each one. Flour the dough, the rollers of a pasta roller (or your rolling pin), your hands, and the work surface.
• If using a pasta machine: Flatten 1 of the of the dough pieces between your hands or with a floured rolling pin until it forms a thick oval disk. Dust the disk, the roller, and your hands with additional flour. Flour a baking sheet to hold the rolled out finished pasta.
• With the roller on the widest setting, pass the pasta through the machine's rollers a few times until it is smooth. Fold the dough over into 1/3, and continue to pass through a few more times until the pasta is smooth again. Begin adjusting the pasta machine settings to become thinner, passing the dough through a few times at each setting.
• If rolling the pasta by hand: Flatten a dough piece into a thick oval disk with your hands. Flour a baking sheet for the rolled out finished pasta. Place the oval dough disk on a floured work surface, and sprinkle with additional flour. Begin rolling out the dough with a floured rolling pin working from the center of the dough outwards, constantly moving the dough and lifting it to make sure it's not sticking.
• Flavor and color variations:
• Cook's Note: All color additions should be added to eggs before incorporating into the flour. Keep in mind that you will need to add a little bit of flour to your basic pasta recipe to compensate for the additional liquid added
• Spinach Pasta Dough (green hue): Blanch 8 ounces (about 3 cups) spinach leaves. Puree in a food processor or blender until smooth. Press the spinach puree through a small strainer or chinois, removing the liquid before mixing with the eggs. Add 3 tablespoons spinach puree to the eggs before mixing. If the dough feels too sticky, add additional flour until a soft, silky dough is achieved.
• Tomato Pasta Dough (orange hue): Add 2 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste to the eggs before incorporating into the flour.
• Beet Pasta Dough (pinkish-red hue): Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roast 1 large beet in aluminum foil, about 45 minutes, or until tender. Peel the beet and puree in a food processor. Add the beet puree (about 4 tablespoons) to eggs before incorporating into the flour.
• Herb Pasta Dough (speckled): Mince 1/2 cup fresh herbs and add to eggs before incorporating into the flour.
• Squid Ink Pasta Dough (black hue): Add 1 tablespoon squid ink to the eggs before incorporating into the flour.

FRESH EGG PASTA

Steps:

• Making dough:
• Place flour in processor. Add eggs. Using on/off turns, blend until clumps of moist dough form (do not process into ball). Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface; shape into ball. Knead until smooth, sprinkling lightly with flour if sticking, about 3 minutes. Wrap in plastic. Let rest at room temperature at least 20 minutes and up to 2 hours.
• Rolling dough into sheets:
• Cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Cover with plastic wrap. Set pasta machine to widest setting. Flatten 1 dough piece into rectangle; run through machine. Fold in half crosswise (end to end) and run through again. Continue, adjusting machine to narrower settings after every 2 passes and dusting with flour as needed to keep from sticking, until pasta sheet is 22 inches long (scant 1/16 inch thick). Place sheet on lightly floured work surface; cover with plastic. Repeat with remaining pasta pieces.
• Cutting dough into strands:
• Uncover sheets and let stand until slightly dry but still pliable, about 20 minutes. Fit machine with appropriate cutter and run sheets through, cutting into tagliolini (1/8 inch wide), tagliatelle (1/4 inch wide), fettuccine (1/2 inch wide), or pappardelle (3/4 inch wide) and dusting with flour to keep from sticking. Cut strands crosswise into desired lengths. Using floured hands, toss strands to separate; spread out on towels. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover with towel and let stand at room temperature.)
• Cook pasta in pot of boiling salted water until just tender, stirring occasionally, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain.

POTATO-AND-SAUSAGE TORRELLI WITH RAGù

Steps:

• Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes and sausage; boil until sausage is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer sausage to plate. Continue to cook potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain well. Peel warm potatoes; place in large bowl. Using hand masher, mash potatoes to smooth paste. Mix in cheese, then next 6 ingredients. Finely chop sausage; mix in. Cover; set filling aside at room temperature up to 1 hour.
• Mound flour on work surface. Make large shallow well (about 5 inches in diameter) in center. Add eggs, oil and salt to well. Using fork, whisk eggs, oil and salt to blend. Gradually work in enough flour from around egg mixture to form soft dough in center of flour ring (there will be flour left over). Gather dough into ball. Knead dough on work surface until smooth and elastic, working in more flour if sticky, about 10 minutes. Cover dough with plastic; let rest 45 minutes (dough will become soft and malleable).
• Rolling and filling pasta
• Line 2 large baking sheets with smooth kitchen towels or parchment paper (use parchment if planning to freeze tortelli). Cut dough into 4 pieces.
• Turn pasta machine to widest setting. Flatten 1 dough piece into rectangle. Cover remaining pieces with plastic wrap. Run dough through machine 3 times. Fold uneven ends over to make straight edge. Run dough through machine 2 more times, dusting lightly with flour if sticky. Adjust machine to next narrower setting. Run dough through machine 3 times. Cut dough strip in half crosswise for easier handling (strip becomes very long as it gets thinner). Working with half of dough strip and keeping other half covered with plastic to prevent drying, repeat running dough through machine 3 times on each narrower setting until pasta is 1/16 inch thick, dusting with flour very lightly if sticky (each dough strip will be about 20 inches long and 4 inches wide). Place 1 dough strip on work surface. Starting 3/4 inch in from 1 short side, drop filling by heaping teaspoonfuls along 1 long side of strip, spacing 1 inch apart and about 1/2 inch in from edge. Fold opposite long side of dough over mounds of filling. Press around mounds of filling to release any air, then press dough between mounds to seal. Press edges together to seal. Cut dough between mounds of filling into individual tortelli. Transfer to prepared sheets. Make more tortelli with second dough strip.
• Repeat rolling out reserved pasta dough pieces into 2 strips, then filling and shaping into tortelli until all filling is used. Reserve remaining dough for another use. (Tortelli can be made ahead. Dust lightly with flour, cover sheets with foil and refrigerate up to 4 hours or freeze up to 2 weeks. Cook without defrosting.)
• Ragù
• Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage and sauté until no longer pink, breaking into small pieces with back of fork, about 2 minutes. Add chopped celery, carrot, onion, parsley, garlic and dried crushed red pepper. sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock and tomato paste. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until ragù thickens slightly and is reduced to 3 cups, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Season ragù to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover and keep refrigerated.)
• Serving
• Cook tortelli in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 5 minutes (or 6 minutes if frozen). Using large sieve or strainer, transfer tortelli to colander set in bowl. Empty water from pot. Add butter to same pot; melt over medium-high heat. Add tortelli; toss gently until warm and coated with butter. Meanwhile, bring ragù to simmer. Divide tortelli among plates. Drizzle with butter from pot. Top with ragù; sprinkle with cheese. Garnish with parsley. Serve with more cheese and any remaining ragù.