Description
This colorful dish screams early summer in New York. The beet fettuccine is immersed in simple, but flavorful sauce, fueled by the garlicky goodness of garlic scapes.
Ingredients
Scale
Beet Pasta Dough
- 2 large red beets
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- A drizzle of olive oil
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup semolina flour
- Eggs, 3 large
Garlic Scape sauce
- 1/3 cup (3 oz) extra virgin olive oil
- 12 garlic scapes, trimmed and cut into 2 inch lengths
- 1–2 teaspoon(s) red chili flakes
- 1 Tablespoon (.5 oz) salted butter
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC)
- Coat the beets in a drizzle of olive oil, and a generous pinch of both salt and pepper.
- Tightly wrap the beets in aluminum foil, so no steam escapes while cooking. Place in the middle of the oven. Roast for roughly 45 minutes, or until they are fork tender.
- Allow the beets to cool before peeling them.
- Dice the peeled beets and place in the bowl of a food processor. Puree until smooth.
- Combine the beet puree, 3 eggs and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a stand-mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat until combined and smooth.
- Switch to the dough hook attachment and add the flour.
- Turn on low speed, and allow the dough to just combine.
- Once it has come away from the sides of the bowl, turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 5-6 minutes.
- Once the dough is smooth, pat into a round disc and cover with plastic wrap. Set to the side to rest for at least 30 minutes.
- Once the dough has rested, cut it into 6 equal pieces.
- Using your hands, shape one piece into a rectangle and roll it through the widest setting on your pasta machine. Fold it in half and pass it through the widest setting again.
- Gradually, you will make the sheet of dough thinner by making the pasta roller more narrow- working your way through the settings, one notch at a time. At each setting, pass the dough through twice.
- Dust the sheet of pasta with semolina or flour as you go, to ensure it does not stick to the machine.
- Once you have achieved the thin dough you’d like, switch to the pasta cutter attachment. I used fettuccine, but you can feel free to use whichever shape you would like.
- Dust the cut pasta with flour or semolina and hang it over a pasta drying rack, or, like me, you can create a pasta drying rack by using a round knife steel or rolling pin. Alternatively, if you have the counter space, you can lay the pasta out flat on well floured sheet pans.
- Go through the same process with each of the 6 portions of dough.
- To cook the pasta – bring a large pot of well salted water to the boil. Drop the pasta in. Remember, fresh pasta cooks far more quickly than dried pasta – so it should only need 3 or 4 minutes at most.
- In a pan wide enough to hold the pasta, start your sauce by combining the olive oil, chili flakes, scapes, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Let the sauce cook over low heat for at least 10-12 minutes. The low heat is important, so you don’t burn the sauce. Gently heating give the chili and scapes time to infuse the oil with their flavors.
- Using tongs, grab the cooked pasta from the water and drop it into the warm oil. Tongs are preferred as opposed to draining through a colander because the action allows you to bring along just enough of the starchy pasta water to add body and flavor to the sauce.
- Once all of the pasta is in the oil, add the tablespoon of butter and allow it to melt.
- Gently stir to combine all of the flavors and coat the pasta with the sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Notes
The prep time includes the time it takes to rest the dough, which is at least 30 minutes. It’s very important to let the dough rest, so that the glutens you’ve worked hard to develop by kneading it have to time relax a little.
You can easily up the heat factor by adding more chili flakes to the sauce.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins