Laminated pasta with aglio e olio
This might just be the simplest pasta dish you will ever make. I love it with fresh pasta, but you can also used packaged pasta if you prefer.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Fresh pasta
- 2 ½ cups flour I like to use 2 cups of all-purpose flour and ½ cup of semolina
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 eggs
Aglio e olio
- ½ cup olive oil I recommend Moire's Life
- fresh basil for laminating
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1-2 teaspoons crushed red pepper the amount depends on how spicy you like it.
- ¼ cup reserved pasta water
- 2-3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- ¾ cup parmesan
- salt and pepper to taste
- water if needed
Instructions
Pasta How-To
- There are 2 ways to make the pasta, food processor and by hand. I will start with the food processor as it is the easiest.
- Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds- 1 minute to mix it well. Remove and knead the dough for about 1 minute. Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes before rolling.
- For the traditional method- add flour to the countertop with salt. Mix them and form a well in the middle.
- Add eggs and olive oil to the well. Mix the eggs in the middle with a fork, then slowly start mixing in the flour from the sides. Once it is mixed as much as you can with a fork, start kneading.
- Knead for 4-6 minutes until the dough is smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- When the pasta dough is ready to roll, roll 2 sheets pretty thin. Add your basil leaves to one of the sheets.
- Place the other sheet over top and gently roll them together until the basil is laminated in the layers.
- Cut into papperdelle and add to boiling, salted water. It takes 3-4 minutes to cook the pasta. Make sure the sauce is ready before you start cooking your pasta as it cooks really fast!
Aglio e Olio
- Heat olive in a pan over medium heat. Add your minced garlic and crushed red pepper. Stir and cook for about 1 minute, you don't want to burn the garlic. Add in your pasta water. Now, gently mix in the pasta, adding the lemon juice and ⅓ cup parmesan while you are mixing. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper. Top with the remaining parmesan. This pasta is best served immediately. Now, sit back and enjoy. You deserve it!
Notes
- You do not want to use really big pieces of whatever you are laminating with, herbs or flours. Huge pieces of basil, for instance, almost always tear the dough.
- It also is best to use edibles that are fairly flat as they are easier to roll.
- Moisture content in the herbs and flowers makes a difference too. If they have too much water in them, it starts to soak through the dough when you roll the layers together.
- Stiffer herbs are also a little tricky to roll as they can tear the dough, I am thinking about rosemary.
- If your dough is a little on the dry side, I like to spritz it with a touch of water to help the layers stick together for rolling.
- This dough can be made ahead of time, rolled, and cut. Simply hang it to dry. I like to make it in the morning for dinner.