Home-made Pasta Laminated With Edible Flowers and Herbs

Hello everyone,

Today I’d like to show you a very easy method to make home made pasta festive.

First things first, home-made pasta is just fabulous, especially when fresh. It is so much better than store-bought, that for anyone who has a pasta lover to care for, it is well worth to buy a pasta machine. The recipe is simple, only 3 ingredients (flour, eggs and salt) needed for a basic pasta, it can be served in so many forms and ways!

Making laminated pasta is just a little more time consuming than making regular pasta, all there is to do is to remove herb leaves and flower petals from stems, place them on a rolled pasta sheet and cover with another, then roll again.

This is my go-to recipe with a twist on the classic whenever I’d like to make some special pasta dish. It is still very easy to make, foolproof and no special skills are needed, yet it looks really pretty.

Let’s get started. 

Ingredients:

• 240 g Semolina flour (plus more for dusting as needed)
• 160 g ‘00’ flour (or all-purpose flour) *
• 4 large eggs** 
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
•  edible flowers and herbs***

*Regarding flour: I prefer to use a mixture of semolina and regular flour in 60 % to 40% ratio but that is not set in stone, I've had fantastic pasta made from either type of flour on their own (without mixing them). Semolina adds a rougher texture and the pasta gets covered in the sauce easier.

**As for the ratio of eggs and flour the general rule of thumb is 100 g flour to 1 egg, but since not all flours are created equal and not all eggs are of the same size, feel free to adjust if necessary. If the mixture is too dry, add a little more egg, a spoonful of cold water or olive oil.

***When working with flowers it is of key importance to make 100% sure that the ones you’re using are edible. I picked roses and nasturtiums that were still blooming in our garden in late November, and I also had fresh parsley and nasturtium leaves on hand. 

Tools:

• stand mixer with flat beater, dough hook and pasta attachment
• knife
• salad spinner
• brush
• plastic bag

Dump flour, eggs and salt into the mixing bowl of the stand mixer equipped with flat beater and mix at speed 1 until combined (about 30 seconds) then switch to speed 2 and keep mixing for 1 minute until dough starts to come together (big lumps are formed). 

Swap flat beater for dough hook and knead dough for 3-4 minutes until it is formed into a ball. Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured countertop and knead by hand for a couple of minutes.

The dough should be smooth, silky, elastic and definitely not sticky. It should feel soft but not too soft to the touch (see video), when fingers are pressed into the dough, it should gradually come back to its original form. 

Place it in a Ziploc bag and let it rest in the fridge for about 1 hour. 

Remove petals and leaves from stems. Wash and strain in a salad spinner and let them dry completely on a kitchen towel. 

Take the dough out of the fridge and cut it into 4 parts. Slightly flatten the first piece with your palm and place the remaining three back into the fridge (in the plastic bag).

Equip the stand mixer with the pasta roller attachment, set the roller to 1 (the widest setting) and turn the mixer on (speed 2).

Throughout the rolling phase you need to make sure that the dough you're working on is lightly dusted with flour to avoid it sticking to the roller. Try to use the minimum amount of flour as we do not want to alter the texture of the dough. 

Run the piece of pasta through the roller, fold it in three and feed it again into the roller (same setting) but at a rotated angle. Repeat the process (at setting 1) 3 - 4 times. In the end you’ll notice that dough will have a much more uniform and elastic texture. 

Once the dough has a nice, uniform and elastic structure it is time to start stretching it. First, run it through the roller at the widest setting once more to make sure that it passes without any resistance.

Then turn the dial to the next setting and feed the dough again (remember to dust with flower occasionally!).

By moving the dial to the next position the space between the rollers will be decreased, thereby the pasta will get thinner and eventually longer at each setting. As a matter of fact pasta can get surprisingly long as it gets thinner and thinner, so do not hesitate to cut it in half if it is inconvenient to work with. After all, who needs a meter long strip of pasta?!

Go one by one down to the third-to-last setting (that is 6 on my roller) each time moving the dial one position only and running the pasta through the roller. 

If you haven’t done this while stretching, this is the time to cut the strip in half (across, not lengthwise).

Place strips on the lightly floured counter and brush any excess flour from the top. We are aiming at sticking the two strips together (with the flowers and leaves in between) and flour could keep layers apart.

Place petals and leaves on one of the pasta strips and fold the other over. Press with your hand to secure them in place. 

Set the dial back to 2 and gently feed the laminated pasta into the pasta roller. Run it through, then move the dial to 3 and run the pasta again.

Go down (one at a time) to 6 if you are planning to make sheet pasta (tagliatelle, fettuccine or linguine for example), but if you are going for filled pasta (like ravioli, tortellini) I suggest to go down to 7.

Repeat the whole of the rolling-stretching-laminating-stretching process with the remaining pieces of dough resting in the fridge.

That’s it. Home – made pasta is best served fresh, so prepare your favorite sauce and serve straight away. Remember that it takes only about 2-3 minutes (from the water re-boiling) to cook fresh pasta.