Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Springtime Pasta

Wow, it's been quiet over here!  I guess a couple of presentations in as many weeks can get me behind on posting ;)  The good news?  It finally feels like spring!!  To celebrate I decided that the fate of the two meyer lemons seeking refuge in my fridge were going to become pasta.


The zest of the two lemons made it into the dough and I reserved the juice for a sauce once the pasta was cooked.  The pasta came together in no time, and in under an hour I had my pasta drying so I could use it another night.  (If you want to see the awesome pasta drying rack my dad made for me, scroll to the bottom of this post)

Now, I went and made a pretty good pasta dish.  But....  there's always a 'but', no?   Well, bear with me.  I added shaved asparagus to the pasta in the last minute or so of cooking.  Once drained, this mixture was tossed with goat cheese, the reserved lemon juice, and a bit of the pasta cooking water to make a sauce.  Some sundried tomatoes and smoked salmon, and a tasty dinner was had.  But I couldn't taste the lemon :(


Moral of the story?  Sometimes simple is best, and I should've left well enough alone, dressing the meyer lemon pasta with some good olive oil, meyer lemon juice and perhaps a shaving of parmesan or grana padano.  Next time!!


Meyer Lemon Pasta
Serves 2-3

150g Italian-style 00 flour
50g white whole wheat flour
zest of two meyer lemons
generous pinch of sea salt
2 lg eggs

Mound the flours on your work surface (a granite countertop or a large wooden pastry board work well).  Make a well in the center and crack eggs into the hole.  Add a generous pinch of salt.

Beat the eggs well with a fork, then slowly begin to incorporate flour from the inside perimeter of the well into the eggs.  Once enough flour has been incorporated, knead dough until smooth and elastic.  If the dough is too dry (maybe your eggs are a little small or the mushrooms are absorbing more liquid), add water, a few drops at a time, until it is easier to knead.  If the dough is a little wet (eggs a little large, etc), add a little extra flour until the dough is not sticky.  Wrap the dough ball tightly in plastic wrap and let rest for a few minutes.

Divide the dough in half, and wrap one half back up as you work with the other.  Roll out one part of the dough on a slightly floured surface.  Fold in thirds, roll out with rolling pin.  Repeat two times.  I really wanted to get more pictures while I was doing this, but I needed another pair of hands.  To get the idea, check out this post!

Run dough through the widest setting of your pasta roller (this was a 1 on my machine), fold in thirds, and repeat twice more, almost like you were making puff pastry.  Adjust your pasta roller to the next thinnest setting and run dough through.  Continue this process until your pasta dough is nice and thin (I did this to 7 or 8), the dough will start to ripple a little bit and if it was regular dough would almost be transparent.   To finish the pasta, cut your pasta sheets into desired shapes using appropriate cutter (I chose fettucine).

At this point you can cook right away in boiling, well-salted water for a few minutes.  Or, you can dry overnight and then cook one night when you're more pressed for time!


27 comments:

The Purple Carrot said...

Your springtime pasta looks perfectly delicious!! :)

Joanne said...

I'm sorry the Meyers didn't shine through as much as you'd hoped, but the dish does sound delicious!

vanillasugarblog said...

the meyer lemons i got recently at whole foods were awful. we need to get us a foodie in cali to send us a giant package of meyer lemons.

Lisa (bakebikeblog) said...

Talk about delish in a bowl!!!

Fun and Fearless in Beantown said...

The meyer lemon pasta looks PERFECT for spring!

Anonymous said...

sounds delicious, lemon or not!

Emily @ A Cambridge Story said...

Still sounds delicious, even if the lemon wasn't as strong. Maybe a touch of zest on top right before eating would help bring out the citrus?

brandi said...

it sounds delicious, regardless :)

francesca @ oral hcg said...

Wow, that looks beautiful and delicious, too! Maybe I'll try to make that one on weekend ;)

Cara said...

Nice try anyway - I still have not experimented with adding any flavors to pasta. It was a great idea!

Nutmeg Nanny said...

I love this pasta! The lemon zest is probably my favorite part...yum!

Delicious Dishings said...

It sounds absolutely fabulous even if the lemon flavor didn't shine through!

Jess said...

Oh wow, the actual pasta is made with Meyer lemons? Great idea!

Emily said...

Ah, I see. I bet it still tasted amazing, though! Buy some more meyer lemons and try again! I want to make my own pasta like you...

Reeni said...

Your pasta looks perfect! I love that you infused it with lemon! Delicious!

Anonymous said...

Aww, a meyer lemon pasta sounds like a great idea. And the whole pasta dish sounds really nice but it is too bad that you couldn't taste the lemon flavor :(

momgateway said...

Incorporating Meyers lemon into the pasta sounds so original... and I agree that squeezing more lemon juice might be the key (maybe plus some lime juice to add a lemony-lime accent).....

Kerstin said...

I love your idea to add lemon zest to the pasta! And I'm sure it would be perfect the other way you described. It sounds like something on a restaurant menu :)

Elina (Healthy and Sane) said...

It sounds so delicious. I'm totally going to make it soon and I'll make sure to keep the add-ins simple to let the lemon flavor shine :)

Kristen said...

aww it still looks like a great dish, bummer about the meyer lemon flavors being masked. its always a learning experience!!

megan @ whatmegansmaking said...

I love spring recipes! Everything tastes so fresh. Too bad the lemons weren't the best!

Natalie said...

this reminds me that i STILL need to bust out my pasta maker sometime---i've had it for like a year and never tried! this sounds delightful--perfect for this time of year!

Unknown said...

i miss pasta! I mean real pasta, not GF! But I will drool over this for satisfaction today.

Maris (In Good Taste) said...

This pasta dish looks so good! I think it looks perfect!

Erica said...

Looks just perfect! I love that you added lemon to the dough. Lemon is pasta sauces does scream spring to me. Great dish! Hope you have a nice weekend

We Are Not Martha said...

This looks amazing! It's too bad you couldn't taste the lemon, but it still sounds fabulous :)

Sues

Katie (The Aspiring RD) said...

This looks delish and restaurant worthy!

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