fresh pasta with chiles, peas and almonds pasta fresca con piselli e mandorle

By stancec44

Peas plus a little heat makes a memorable pasta. This recipe calls for making your own fresh pasta--spiked with red pepper flakes--and shaping the dough into fun to eat fortune-cookie like shapes. While making your own pasta is fun and oh so rewarding, you can get similar results by adding a good pinch of red pepper flakes to the sauce and serving it over farfalle.

Ingredients

• PASTA
• 2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Heaping 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes plus more for sauce
• SAUCE
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped chervil, plus
• 2 teaspoons whole chervil leaves
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• Fine sea salt
• 2 1/2 cups frozen peas or shelled fresh peas (about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds in pods)
• 1 1/2 ounces primo sale or other semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

FOR PASTA: In a large bowl, whisk together flour and pinch salt. Mound flour mixture and form a well in the center. Add eggs, oil and pepper flakes to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolks and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well.

Continue until liquid is absorbed, then knead in bowl until dough forms a complete mass. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes more. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.


Divide pasta dough into four pieces. Cover 3 pieces with plastic wrap. Flatten dough so that it will fit through the rollers of a hand-cranked pasta machine. Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine. Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until pasta sheet is about ¹⁄16 inch thick. Repeat with remaining dough. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly dust with flour.

Using a knife or a deckled cutter, cut pasta sheets into 2- to 2½-inch squares. Fold one square over your index finger and form a triangle with the point facing downward. As you’re removing your finger, pinch center of dough crosswise and fold 2 opposing ends together to form a fortune-cookie shape (keep dough, sheets and squares covered with a clean dish towel while rolling, cutting and forming to avoid drying). Transfer formed pasta to prepared baking sheet. Do not cover. Repeat with remaining squares. Let pasta squares dry for at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours.

FOR SAUCE: Heat oven to 350º. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine oil, chopped chervil and generous pinch pepper flakes; bring just to a bare simmer over low heat; remove from heat.

Spread nuts on a baking sheet and bake until lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, then roughly chop.

Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. If using frozen peas, add pasta and peas to the boiling water and cook until pasta and peas are tender, about 3 minutes more (if using fresh peas, add peas to the boiling water 5 minutes before adding pasta, then cook pasta and peas together for 3 minutes before draining). Reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid, drain pasta and peas; immediately transfer back to pot. Add 1/3 cup of the pasta cooking liquid, reserved oil, almonds and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Moisten with more of the pasta cooking liquid, if desired. Over low heat, stir for 30 seconds.

Divide pasta among serving bowls; garnish with whole chervil leaves and cheese. Serve immediately.