Fresh Spinach Pasta

By garciamoss

Ingredients

• 5 ounces baby spinach leaves
• 2 3/4 to 3 cups all-purpose flour, preferably unbleached
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• Water (only if absolutely needed)
• Additional flour for rolling

Preparation

Step 1

Wash spinach but no need to dry. With water droplets still clinging to the leaves, wilt spinach in a hot skillet until completely soft, about 4 minutes. Let cool and wring all the water — seriously, every drop you can get out — out of the spinach in small fistfuls, and then pressing these little bundles out against a fine-mesh strainer. Rest spinach on paper towels to remove even more water, then mince spinach on a cutting board.

Dump spinach, smaller amount of flour and salt on countertop and mix with your fingers, then form into a pile. Make a deep well in the center and add the whole eggs and yolks to it. Use your fingertips to break up the eggs and begin moving your fingers in a circular motion, keeping the eggs within the well (or you’ll have egg lava running everywhere and be in a very bad mood). Each circular movement pulls in a little bit of flour from the sides. In a few minutes, the mixture will become thicker and thicker, finally becoming too tight to move easily with your fingers. At this point, you can use a bench scraper (a perfect tool here) or spatula to start adding the remaining, a little pile at a time. Once a shaggy dough has formed, begin kneading the mixture, scraping it up when it sticks, until a ball is formed. It will look flaky but will hold together.

Knead the dough, pressing it away with the heels of your hands then forming it back into a blob, for 1 to 2 minutes, until the dough is moist but not sticky. Add remaining flour, a spoonful at a time, only if dough is too sticky. Add a drop or two of water only if it’s cracking when you knead it. In almost all cases, I find that erring on the side of firmer pasta is safer than softer pasta, which doesn’t hold shapes well and will want to stick a pasta roller. Let it rest for 5 minutes, then knead it again for 5 to 8 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic and let rest at room temperature for an hour.

Divide dough into sixths. On a floured surface, roll the pasta as thin as you can; as thin as a credit card and translucent is ideal. Letting rolled-out pasta rest for 10 minutes before cutting it into your desired shape helps yield cleaner, easier cuts.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, well-salted water for anywhere from 2 to 6 minutes (depending on thickness), until al dente. Drain and toss with fixings of your choice — garlic-sizzled olive oil or melted butter, parmesan or pecorino, dollops of ricotta or mascarpone. Eat immediately.