Spinach Fettuccini

I’ve got some good friends who love to cook as much as I do. Each of us have our “special foods” we like to make. A couple months ago, we started doing our own “lessons” where one of us takes a turn at showing the others how to make a particular food item (two months ago it was chocolate mousse cups at my house, a few weeks ago it was chili rellenos at another friend’s house, next month it’s going to be pierogies and stuffed cabbage at a second friend’s home, etc.). It’s really been a fun way to take a break from the regular daily routines, get in some “gal time,” and learn how to cook something new.

Yesterday, we had another lesson at my house. We made two kinds of pasta—regular white fettuccine and spinach fettuccine—and cannoli. As we were in the kitchen placing the spinach pasta on the drying racks yesterday, I thought to myself, “I should post this recipe on my blog!” So here it is:

Spinach Fettuccini

5 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and chopped finely
3 jumbo eggs, beaten
¼ tsp. salt
2 ½ cups unbleached white flour
3-5 T. lukewarm water

Cook the spinach for 2-3 minutes in the microwave or in boiling water in a saucepan. Drain in a colander, pressing with a wooden spoon to remove as much water as possible. (Once it cools a bit, you can take spoonfuls of it and wring out the extra water with your hands.) Put the spinach on a cutting board and mince it with a large knife until there’s just tiny bits of spinach. Put the spinach in a small bowl with the eggs and beat together.

Put the flour and salt together in the work bowl of a food processor and pulse several times. Slowly add the spinach-egg mixture and pulse for about 20 seconds. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture holds together in a ball. Take out the dough, shape it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours to let the dough relax.

Roll out and cut the dough, using the same method I wrote about in my Feb. 9 post.

I hope you like this recipe. As one of my friends pointed out yesterday, “Hey, this is a great way to get your kids to eat vegetables!” That’s definitely true. There’s a young man in my household….who shall remain nameless…who wouldn’t dream of eating spinach (or any green vegetable!). But somehow green spinach fettuccini is scrumptious to him!