How to make beetroot pasta
Pasta with a color
How good does this look? The cooked beetroot was on sale so I had a bit of an overdose to handle. My friend Esmee suggested we create a red beet root pasta while we were cooking and voila, here it is. It’s not too difficult to give pasta all sorts of pretty colours or add some herbs in. It’s not necessarily the best way to increase your veggie intake but it does add a bit to your daily amount… 🙂 Flavour wise it is not really tasting like beetroot so that was somewhat disappointing but I love the result anyway.
It looks pretty and is totally natural too. Win-win if you ask me. It does make it slightly healthier although I actually prefer making vegetable noodles instead with zucchini or spaghetti squash.
I am just realizing I’ve never attempted to make a proper pasta in a gluten free version. Will definitely be trying that soon. No idea how but will be investigating! The base would be very different but it should be doable to make at home. To be continued.
- 200 gr cooked beetroot pureed
- 200 gr semolina
- 50 gr flour
- 1 small egg
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
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Mix all ingredients together and knead well. You can do this with the machine or by hand. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for half an hour.
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Remove from the fridge and break into pieces. Knead again to soften a bit. Press them with your hand until flat enough to put through the machine. Continue until it is thin enough. Place on a flour covered surface.
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Once you've done all pieces replace for the spaghetti attachment and turn into spaghetti. You can dry them on a rack or twist into knots. Be sure to cover liberally with flour to prevent sticking.
Cook for about three minbutes or until al dente
This is gorgeous! Love the idea of it — gotta try it. Terrific idea — thanks.
I used a jar of beetroot as it’s all I had but I had a lot of problems…although I drained it well and dried on paper towels it made the dough very sticky so I needed to add a lot more flour than stated in the recipe.
Eventually I did get a workable dough. I only pressed 6/9 with my pasta machine beyond that it just tore. It took a long time to dry out becoming quite brittle afterwards. I found 3 mins cooking was too long and it turned gulpy and lost all its colour, just over one minute was okay. I used most in lasagne but again found the colour bled out during cooking. Colour of pre-cooked pasta is beautiful and I couldn’t taste the beetroot. Strongly recommend against using a jar of pickled beetroot for this unless it’s just for precooked show.
Thanks for letting me know Sally. I have to say I have never used beet in a jar as that’s not readily available here, but good to know that it is not a good idea to use for the dough!