As you already know I absolutely adore seasonal food, but the season in Estonia is extremely short. Luckily we still have super nice autumn and I can even still pick fresh tomatoes from my balcony garden, but I know that the niceness is going to be over soon. The recipe I share with you today utilizes the best Estonian beetroots, but the even better news is that you can make the pasta with the same beetroot powder that I used as it is available on Amazon. I rarely advertise anything even in Estonia, but this beetroot flour is the next level, so if you get a chance – check it out. Enough with the promo and back to the recipe.
Homemade pasta. Sounds like something super complicated, but it really is not. Especially in case, you happen to own a pasta machine. But even if you don’t it is not a deal breaker as you can use a rolling pin to work the dough. It might not be as smooth and thin as with the pasta machine but who cares – you just made pasta from scratch so it will taste amazing either way! And look at this nice deep purple color! I always find that with fresh pasta it is best to keep things simple, so I just served it with beetroot cubes (I used the leftover roasted beetroot) lightly fried in butter, crispy sage, and toasted sunflower seeds, and didn’t feel it would need anything extra.
Pro tip – if you can get your hands on other powdered vegetables – carrots or spinach, for example, you can also create pasta in other colors using the same base recipe.
Beetroot Pasta
Cooking time: 1 hour, most of this is waiting time
Serves: amounts are given for 1 person, but super easy to double or triple the recipe
Pasta:
½ cup durum flour + more for rolling
1 tbsp beetroot powder
1 medium egg (always free range, please!)
½ tsp extra virgin olive oil
A dash of salt
To serve:
1 tbsp of butter (or substitute with olive oil)
10 fresh sage leaves
½ cup boiled or roasted beetroot
½ tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp toasted sunflower seeds
Instructions:
Mix the durum flour, beetroot powder, and salt in a food processor. Add in lightly beaten egg + olive oil, and pulse until a ball of dough starts to form. If the dough feels super dry you might need to add up to 1 tsp of water.
Once the dough starts to come together transfer it to the work surface and knead until you have a strong but smooth ball of dough. Wrap it in cling film and leave it to rest for at least 30 minutes.
In the meantime, toast the sunflower seeds on a dry pan and cut the beetroot into small cubes.
If you have the pasta machine, start rolling the dough through the widest level 3-4 times to make it smooth. Then decrease the width and put the dough through the machine 2 times with each thickness. Go as thin as you wish (my machine has 6 levels and I stop at 2).
If you don’t have a pasta machine, just do your best with the rolling pin (or wine bottle) and go as thin as you can.
Cut the pasta into strips. You can also do this with the pasta machine or just hand-cut the ribbons.
Once you are about 10 minutes away from serving, heat the pan with butter or oil and fry the sage leaves until they are nice and crispy. Remove the leaves from the pan and add the beetroot cubes and lemon juice.
Bring a pot of water to boil and salt it heavily. Cook the pasta for 2-3 minutes until al dente.
Transfer the freshly cooked pasta to the pan with the beetroot and mix gently.
Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle the seeds and fried sage on top.
By Kadri Raig
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She loves to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!" Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: www.kahvliga.ee.