Homemade Basil Pasta

For Christmas this past year I got a wonderful pasta roller and cutter attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I have made fresh pasta a handful of times and I find it a really fun process. I will often make a double or triple batch and then freeze it in individual serving size "nests" so I can just grab it out of the freezer, toss in some boiling water and have fresh pasta yet again. I have also used the sheets of pasta to make homemade ravioli and pierogies which is a long process but super rewarding as the possibilities for fillings are endless.

As it is a long weekend and I had no set plans for today I decided that it would be a pasta making day! The first pasta I made was a Basil Pasta with Fresh Basil from my balcony, which I plan on using with my Chicken Parmesan Recipe. This pasta is wonderfully fresh, and infused with the basil will go beautifully with any tomato sauce, white sauce or something as simple as olive oil with sauteed garlic. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, for the original recipe click here.

Homemade Basil Pasta: Serves 4

3/4C Fresh Basil - Chopped
1.5C Flour (I am using a bread Flour, I also recommend using Semolina, though regular white flour will work)
1 Egg
1tsp Olive Oil
3TB Water
1/4tsp Salt
Additional Flour for rolling/storing.

Rinse and dry the basil, then place in a food processor and mix until very finely chopped. If you do not have a food processor you can use a blender or cut by hand. Either in the food processor or in a mixer mix the basil with the flour until evenly mixed, add the egg, olive oil, salt and water and mix until evenly incorporated. Gently form the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap that you have rubbed a little bit of oil on. Put in the refrigerator and let it sit for 2 hours

Now that the dough has had a chance to rest, remove it from the refrigerator and cut it into 4 equal sections. Make each section into its own flat disc and run it through your pasta roller on the thickest setting, fold the dough in half and run it through again, keep doing this until the pasta has stretched to the width of the pasta roller. Now move the rollers so it is on the next setting and run the pasta through once or twice. Continue this process of stretching the dough and thinning it out moving the rollers closer together one step at a time. You do not want to go to the thinnest setting right away, you need to slowly work down to it, the process of stretching the dough also kneads it and adds to the quality of the pasta.



Once you have the dough to your desired thickness add the cutter attachment to your pasta machine and lightly flour the pasta sheet. Cut the dough in half so you will have approximately (8) 12"-16" long sheets then run the pasta through the cutter, cutting into either spaghetti or fettuccine noodles. I personally like to wrap the strands around my hand to create a nest, then I let them dry on a cookie rack for 1-2 hours, then freeze if I am not going to use right away. This will make 8 nests, with 2 nests being 1 serving.



When you are ready to cook it, place in a boiling pot of salted water and shake the nest loose and let it cook for 3-5 minutes. As the pasta is fresh and not factory made it will cook much quicker than pasta you get at the store.
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WW: 5 Points Plus / serving @ 4 servings
10 Points Plus / serving @ 2 servings