Lindas Spinach Pasta Fresca Recipes

NOODLES & CO. PASTA FRESCA

Steps:

• Sauté Instructions:
• In a very hot sauté pan, add: extra virgin olive oil, pre-cooked farfalle (bow-tie pasta), roma tomatoes, diced red onions, kosher salt & cracked pepper.
• Sear noodles, stirring occasionally until steaming hot.
• Add: baby fresh spinach, 1 oz. fresca sauce.
• Toss to combine, serve with freshly shaved parmesan cheese.
• FRESCA SAUCE: (for 15 servings) 1/4 cup fresh garlic, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup sweet white wine, 1 cup extra virgin olive oil.

CHERYL'S SPINACH CHEESY PASTA CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain. Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a saucepan, and cook the spinach 4 to 6 minutes, until tender.
• Place the cooked pasta in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil. Toss the pasta with the cooked spinach, egg mixture, and bread crumbs.
• Cover the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish with 1/3 of the pasta sauce. Pour half of the pasta mixture into the baking dish, and cover with another 1/3 of the pasta sauce. Sprinkle with half of the Cheddar cheese and half of the mozzarella. Layer with remaining pasta mixture, and top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the rest of the Cheddar and mozzarella cheeses.
• Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

LINDA'S SPINACH PASTA FRESCA

Steps:

• Whiz the spinach and flour together in the food processor.
• Add the eggs and pulse a few times, scrape the bowl and process until the dough comes together. It should be dry but hold together when you squeeze some in your hand.
• Dump into a large zip lock baggie and press the dough together to form into a log.
• Refrigerate for 30 minutes to relax the gluten.
• Cut the log into eight slices and working with one piece at a time run each through your pasta kneader (setting #1) four or five times, folding over the ends each time to try to keep it somewhat square and uniform. The kneaded dough should be very smooth and luxurious feeling with no graininess or roughness. I will post pictures in a few days.
• Keep everything heavily floured.
• After you have all of your dough rolled on setting #1 proceed to roll the pieces to your desired thickness, starting on setting #2 and going up one or two settings at a time. I like them rolled to number 6 on my Kitchenaid Pasta attachement and number 7 on my Atlas Pasta maker. Keep the pasta floured to avoid sticking.
• Choose the fettucine cutter for this recipe and run the strips through the cutter making sure to keep them well floured and keep your work surface floured very well. Make sure the strands are all separated. In this case there is no such thing as too much flour.
• Let the pasta dry for a few minutes and separate into four servings.
• To eat right away, boil a large pot of water with a tablespoon of olive oil and two or three tablespoons of kosher salt. Check the pasta after one minute and continue checking until it is done to your liking. Most pastas are al dente in under three minutes. Drain, sauce and serve.
• TO STORE: Curl the pasta into little nests and freeze in small containers to avoid crushing and sticking together. Remember, you can't use too much flour.

FILOMENA'S PASTA FRESCA

Steps:

• Put the flour into the food processor and pulse five or six times.
• Add the eggs and pulse five or six times.
• Scrape the processor bowl and whiz the dough until it comes together. The dough should look crumbly and a little dry. Dry dough will work up faster and taste better with a wonderful texture. If dough won't hold it's shape after you squeeze it in your hand you can add a few drops of water until the consistency is good. On the other hand, you can add a few teaspoons of flour if the dough is too wet.
• Dump into a large zip lock baggie and press the dough together to form into a log.
• Refrigerate for 30 minutes to relax the gluten.
• Cut the log into eight slices and working with one piece at a time run each through your pasta kneader (setting #1) four or five times, folding over the ends each time to try to keep it somewhat square and uniform. The kneaded dough should be very smooth and luxurious feeling with no graininess or roughness. I will post pictures in a few days. Keep everything heavily floured.
• After you have all of your dough rolled on setting #1 proceed to roll the pieces to your desired thickness, starting on setting #2 and going up one or two settings at a time. I like them rolled to number 6 on my Kitchenaid Pasta attachement and number 7 on my Atlas Pasta maker. Keep the pasta floured to avoid sticking.
• Choose either fettucine (my fave) or spaghetti cutters and run the strips through the cutter making sure to keep them well floured and keep your work surface floured very well. Make sure the strands are all separated. In this case there is no such thing as too much flour.
• Let the pasta dry for a few minutes and separate into four servings.
• To eat right away, boil a large pot of water with a tablespoon of olive oil and two or three tablespoons of kosher salt. Check the pasta after one minute and continue checking until it is done to your liking. Most pastas are al dente in under three minutes. Drain, sauce and serve.
• TO STORE: Curl the pasta into little nests and freeze in small containers to avoid crushing and sticking together. Remember, you can't use too much flour.
• HINTS: 3/4 cups of flour and one large egg would equal one portion. Don't add salt to your dough to keep it very tender. Don't add oil to your dough or it will be more difficult to roll. Adding salt to the boiling water is important. To avoid boil-overs add the oil and salt to the water before you put the pot on the stove. Simple sauces are best with fresh pasta. I will post variations soon.

LINDA'S SUN-DRIED TOMATO PASTA FRESCA

Steps:

• Put flour and sun dried tomatoes into your food processor and whiz for about 30 seconds. Check the size of the tomatoes since they should be pulverized. Whiz another 30 seconds if you need to.
• Add the eggs and pulse a few times, scrape down the bowl, and whiz until the pasta starts coming together.
• If the pasta dough is too crumbly to hold together when you squeeze it in your hand you should add another egg yolk and whiz some more.
• Just as in the pasta fresca recipe you should dump everything into a zip lock bag and press together to form a log.
• Store in the fridge for 30 minutes to relax the gluten.
• Cut the log into 8 discs.
• With your pasta machine or mixer attachment knead the discs 4 or 5 times until they are smooth and satiny. Flour is your friend so make sure you use lots of it when rolling and cutting pasta!
• When all are kneaded, roll them to the desired thickness one setting at a time. On my Kitchen Aid I roll to #6 and on my Atlas I roll to #7.
• Attach your fettuccine cutter and cut strips flouring like mad so they don't stick. Spaghetti and other cuts do not work as well as fettuccine cutters.
• Let dry while you boil a large pot of salted water with a tablespoon of olive oil in it and make the simple sauce described above.
• Remember, fresh pasta cooks lots faster than dried pasta from a box. Check fettuccine after 2 minutes and keep checking until the desired tenderness is reached.
• To freeze pasta fresca, separate into four portions and loop them into little nests. Freeze in small containers so they are not crushed and don't stick together.
• In my pasta fresca recipe I neglected to say that I stir my frozen pasta with either a chopstick or the handle of a wooden spoon. This works better than spoons and the many pasta ladles on the market.
• I hope you enjoy this recipe.

CAJUN PASTA FRESCA

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
• While the pasta water is boiling, in a large skillet over medium heat, briefly saute garlic in oil. Stir in tomatoes and their juice and sprinkle with salt. When tomatoes are bubbly, mash slightly with a fork. Stir in parsley, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes more.
• Toss hot pasta with tomato sauce, Cajun seasoning, mozzarella and Parmesan.