Last evening I had fun making pasta. I love creating homemade pasta because I can control what goes into the pasta. My favorite way of making pasta is the same day that the dough is made, however, I can also dry the handcrafted pasta that I’ve created with amazing results.
Yesterday’s adventure involved dying pasta sheets that I made with natural ingredients. It’s the first time that I’ve used anything besides green to color my pasta and it was so much fun. Since I didn’t have any vivid produce to color my dough. I stuck with what was on hand. It didn’t make sense to me to go to the store just to purchase beets or carrots. Also, with the recent coronavirus concerns, I had no desire to be in grocery stores. I was content to stick with what I had at home. What I have at home is turmeric, spinach, and food-grade activated charcoal. Perfect!
The day before, I created enough pasta dough to create three dough balls.
I created one large dough ball, separated into three equal parts and added the dyes after that time. I know that they all were the same size because I weighed each one with my food scale.
I really loved the marbelized effect of the activated charcoal dough and it gives me an idea for the future if I want to keep that look in the finished product.
I used my rolling pin to flatten the dough enough to pass through my Marcato pasta machine. I ran through the various settings, laminating my pasta dough, and I stopped at setting number 7.
I then took two colors and cut them into fettuccine strips using the remaining dough as the background. I then ran my newly created pasta sheet through the pasta machine again. When I saw the pasta sheet I remembered that I’d sewed a quilt, with the same colors, when I was nine years old. That was an extremely warm quilt. I was thrilled with the results, but perhaps next time, I won’t dust with as much flour or if I feel that it needs a heavy dusting, I’ll lightly sweep off with a pasta brush.
The above fettuccine pasta is actually three different colors, however, it’s not a strong contrast since the green blends in with the mustard. That’s fine, I still like how it looks. However the next pass through my pasta machine, I only used two colors, mustard, and yellow.
The results were a bit more pronounced. However, one of these times, I’ll keep a white dough and add vivid colors.
Currently, all the fettuccine noodles are drying for 48 hours. Once complete I’ll place into jars. Some of the pasta will be sent to a friend. Since they love homemade pasta, I know they’ll appreciate this gift.
I must say that I was pleased with the results and am looking forward to experimenting more but I’ll step it up and use produce that’s a bit more vivid. Coloring items with natural ingredients isn’t new. I’ve used it in food preparations and I’ve also used it in soapmaking.
One of the inspirations for creating decorative pasta is the seeing some of Lisa Miller Nicholson’s pasta art videos on YouTube. Last week, I ordered her book, Pretty Pasta, Please. It should arrive to my home on Sunday. I’m looking forward to receiving the book.