Recipes: Very Merry Pasta

Prep Time 30 min    Cook Time 2 min    Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Red Pasta Noodles
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/8 cup, 25 mL Disaronno (or other amaretto liqueur)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon crystallized ginger, crushed
10 drops red food coloring

Green Pasta Noodles
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/8 cup, 25 mL Disaronno (or other amaretto liqueur)
1/2 tablespoon sage
1 tablespoon thyme leaves (about 8 sprigs)
10 drops green food coloring

Pasta Sauce
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup egg nog

Tools
Roma by Weston Electric Pasta Machine

Techniques
Using a Pasta Machine (see below or follow the link)

Put two separate pots with 3 cups of water each on to boil.

Sift together 2 cups flour and cinnamon in one bowl (this will be your red pasta) and 2 cups flour and sage in another bowl (this will be your green pasta). Mix crushed crystallized ginger into the red bowl and thyme leaves into the green bowl. Mix in eggs and amaretto liqueur. Knead each ball of dough until uniform.

Put each ball into a separate plastic sandwich bag. Add in respective food colorings. Knead dye into each ball of dough for about 5 minutes each. The dough will not be a uniform color after this point, it should just be marbelized most of the way through.

Watch the video below for help with using an electric pasta machine:



Feed a palm-sized chunk of red dough through the pasta machine, folding it over several times. By setting four, the dough should be completely red. If not, fold it over and feed it through in setting seven a few more times, until it is completely red. This pasta recipe can be used for any type of pasta, but for this particular recipe, I use fettuccine and so I only roll the dough out to setting four.

Feed the pasta sheet through the fettuccine cutter, then hang the strands on a Roma by Weston Pasta Drying Rack. Repeat these steps for the remaining red pasta dough.

Inspect the machine for any leftover red dough. If there is any red dough left on the rollers, the green pasta will end up with red spots. Repeat the above steps for the green dough.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg nog and whipping cream over medium heat until sauce is thick.

Drop the red pasta into one pot of boiling water and the green into the other. Boiling them separately ensures that the dyes do not mix - you don't want brown pasta. Cook for two minutes, strain, and then toss with a little olive oil (to keep from sticking together; do not use the old cold water trick, it steals some of your starches from the noodles).

Toss the pasta with the cream sauce and serve.