Beet Pasta Dough

Beets are a humble vegetable. They grow in the dirt and don’t look that exciting from the outside, but slice one open and you’ll find one of the most magnificent colors that nature has to offer. It’s a bold, beautiful deep reddish-purple color that creates some truly stunning pasta. This recipe calls for fresh beets, but I’ve had success using precooked beets or even canned ones, if you’re looking for a quicker option. The beet taste is subtle, and the colo rmay fade slightly while cooking, but you’ll still have beautiful pasta that ranges from hot pink to magenta, depending on the beets.

Prep Time: 1 hour
Rest Time: 1 hour
Serves: 4 - 6

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium beet, trimmed
• 2 large eggs
• 250 g (1¾ cups) 00 flour
• 150 g (¾ cup) semola flour
  
  

METHOD

Beet steps

1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, then add the beet and cook for about 40 minutes, or until fork-tender.
2. Cool the beet under running water, then peel it.
3. Puree the beet and eggs in a blender until you have a smooth magenta mixture.
4. Combine the flours in a pile on a flat work surface or in a large bowl. Make a deep well in the middle.
5. Pour the beet mixture into the well and use a fork to start incorporating the flour.

Pasta Dough steps

1. Crack the eggs into the well and use a fork to scramble them. Pull in a little bit of flour from the bottom of the well and mix it with the eggs until most of the lumps are gone.
2. Drag in flour from the edges of your well and incorporate with the eggs. Keep incorporating more and more of the flour and eggs until the mixture becomes difficult to stir with a fork.
3. Using a dough scraper, a spatula, or your hands, continue combining the flour with the eggs until no liquid remains. Use your hands to bring the dough together into a loose ball.
4. If the dough is very crumbly and doesn’t come together, add a spoonful of water. If it’s very slimy, incorporate a spoonful of 00 flour. You may need to do this several times to get it right—most of the dough should be coming together into a ball, but it shouldn’t be sticking to your hands at this point.
5. Remove any remaining bits of flour stuck to your work surface or hands and knead the dough for about 5 minutes, until the texture starts to change and becomes smooth.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or cover with an airtight bowl and let rest for 10 minutes. Then knead again for about 3 minutes, until you have a fairly smooth ball.
7. Cover or wrap the dough again and let rest for at least 1 hour.
   
   

Note: Even after kneading your dough, it may not feel smooth and silky, since it’s filled with beet fibers. That’s okay!