Making your own pasta is so rewarding and it is really easy to do. The pasta dough recipe is one that we have used at the Francois Ferreira Academy during class. You don’t need a pasta rolling machine to roll out this dough – all it takes is a rolling pin and a little bit of elbow grease.
Below is 3 photos to help you rolling and filling the pasta dough.
Creamy Spinach Rotolo
Category
Main Meals
Ingredients
Pasta Dough
- 300 g Cake flour (2 cups)
- 2,5 ml Salt
- 2 Eggs, beaten
- 75 to 100 ml Water
Creamy Spinach
- Olive Oil for frying
- 2 Onions, medium of size and finely chopped
- 10 ml Garlic 2 cloves, finely chopped
- 150 g Mushrooms chopped
- 300 g Spinach, chopped chiffonade
- 50 g Feta Cheese, crumbled
- 100 g Mozzarella Cheese, grated
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Cheddar Sauce
- 50 g Butter
- 50 g Cake Flour
- 500 ml Milk heated in the microwave
- 80 g Cheddar, grated
Other Ingredients
- 100 ml Napoletana Sauce
- Parmesan Cheese for serving
Instructions
Pasta Dough
- In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
- In a small mixing bowl combine eggs and half water. Add to the flour mixture and mix well. Add remaining water only if needed.
- Sprinkle the kneading surface with extra flour. Turn dough out onto the floured surface.
- Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (approximately 8 to 10 minutes)
- Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Cut the dough into 3, cover and refrigerate
Creamy Spinach:
- In a large frying pan, fry the onions and garlic in olive oil for about 5 – 8 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms and fry for 2-3 minutes longer.
- Add the spinach leaves and cook until just wilted and turn off the heat.
- Strain the cooked vegetables and immediately return the vegetable to the frying pan. Discard the liquid.
- Add the mozzarella and feta and mix thoroughly until all the ingredients are well combined and the mozzarella is totally melted.
- Season to taste.
- Keep aside until needed.
Cheddar Sauce
- Melt the butter in another saucepan, then add the flour. Stir continuously until a paste form – this is called a roux. Continue cooking and stirring for 2 mins.
- Add the warm milk to the roux gradually, stirring as you go, until you get a smooth sauce. Cook for 5-10 mins, stirring continuously until the sauce has thickened.
- Remove from the heat and mix in the grated cheddar.
- Add more milk if the sauce is too thick.
Assembly
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C and prepare a 2Lt (20 x 20cm) oven dish with butter.
- Only use two parts of the pasta dough that you have made.
- On a floured surface, roll out each of the pieces thinly to about 32 x 20 cm. (You don’t need a pasta rolling machine… just some elbow grease and a rolling pin!) (See Photo 1)
- As per the photo, layout the rolled out pasta sheets lengthwise in front of you.
- Place half of the filling onto the pasta sheet. With a pastry brush, paint a little bit of water on the end furthest away from you, to seal the roll. (See Photo 2)
- Start rolling up the pasta sheet, seal it, and let it rest with the seam-side facing downwards.
- Continue with the remaining pasta sheet.
- Cut each roll into 4 x 8cm equal pieces and then cut each piece diagonally in half. (See Photo 3)
- Pour the cheese sauce into the prepared oven dish.
- Place the rolls into the cheese sauce with the sharp cut-end facing up.
- Drizzle the Napoletana over the Rotolo, then bake for 30 – 35 minutes.
- Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
- Serve with grated parmesan cheese.