Make It Slow and Easy Or Make It Fast and Easy
Fresh Made Fettuccine With Spinach In a Creamy Ricotta Lemon Sauce. This pasta is so delicious! It’s creamy and satisfying, yet the tart lemon and the baby spinach make it feel light and fresh.
Sunday afternoons are fun for “slow” cooking. I like to take a little more time and make things I don’t have time for or maybe I do have the time, just not the inclination for, during the week. The greatest thing about this recipe is that you can choose how much effort you want to put into it. You can change-up a few items and you’ve got a quick weeknight favorite too. Just replace the homemade pasta with your favorite dried pasta, and this dinner cooks up in no time. If you’ve made the homemade ricotta, (Homemade Ricotta Cheese) you can pull it right out of your freezer to use, or you could buy your favorite store brand.
Make Fettuccini From Scratch
I love to make homemade pasta. It’s super easy and there is absolutely no comparison to dried pasta, whatsoever! Don’t get caught up in all the complicated instructions out there or you’ll never try it. It’s actually very easy. Once you’ve made it a few times, you’ll get the hang of it. It literally takes 10 minutes to prep the dough. It rest’s in the fridge for 30 minutes while you make your sauce, and another 10 minutes to roll it. The effort is well worth it for the final product.
Pasta Prep And Roll
I use a manual pasta roller. They are inexpensive and you can find one at any kitchen store or on Amazon. I can’t believe how long I had mine before I actually used it. We received a few as wedding gifts and I really had no idea what to do with them. The instructions were in Italian (although I usually just rush in, and not bother with instructions, anyway). Anyway, a basic pasta roller comes with the base and roller for flat pasta which can be made into ravioli (that’s another fun subject) or the easiest and most basic pasta, fettuccine noodles or spaghetti noodles. You roll the dough flat, then put it into the cutter immediately and wha-la! Pasta. And, by the way, the instructions are in English too.
Can You Feel It?
Making pasta dough is easy as pie. This is how I do it, it’s not exactly traditional, but it works for me and I find it keeps the flour more contained. Add 2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon salt to a very large bowl. Make a well in the center. Add 2 teaspoons of good olive oil and 3 large eggs to the center well. With a fork, break up the eggs and give them a gently beating with the fork. Once the egg is mixed, start to bring the flour in, slowly. Continue to add the flour until you can see that the dough has pretty much taken on as much flour as needed to form a ball. At this point, I use my hands. If the dough is too sticky, I continue to fold into the flour, until the ball is fairly solid and won’t accept any more of the flour.
Then, I take the ball of dough and set it on a lightly floured board (or right onto your clean countertop).
Knead-y
Knead the dough for about 5to 10 minutes. You want the dough to be flexible and soft, but not too wet or sticky. If the dough is cracking because it’s too dry, add a touch of water and kneed a bit more. It should feel firm and fairly dry. Cover in tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. If it’s been in the fridge for longer, that’s fine, even overnight. Just take it out and allow it to get to room temperature before rolling.
Making this dough in a bowl keeps the mess to a minimum.
Let The Fettuccini Fun Begin
Cut the dough into quarters, take one quarter and cover the remaining 3 with plastic so that they don’t dry out. Shape the quarter of dough into a flattened rectangle. The roller has about 7 to 8 notches. You begin and the widest, which is 1. Crank the handle, rolling the dough through setting one a couple of times. You can’t mess this up, because you can just re-roll it. This also helps if your dough got a little sticky while resting. Just sprinkle a little flour right onto the dough and onto the roller. Then move on to notch 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.
As you are rolling, try to keep the shape as even on the sides as possible. You can do that by folding the pasta each time for an even run through the roller. For Fettuccini, the second to the last notch (6 or 7) is good. I only use the last setting for the most delicate ravioli. Now you have about 15 inches by 4 inches of flat pasta.
The most important tip is to use flour. Anywhere you’re going to set the pasta down, make sure you’ve got a light dusting of flour.
Cutting and Shaping The Fettuccine
Now you’re ready to cut the shape. Directly from the first roller right into the next slot. That’s the fettuccine setting and the next one is the spaghetti setting. When the pasta is falling out of the shaper/cutter, make sure you have a floured surface to set it on. You should also toss with a little more flour as the noodles emerge to keep them from sticking together. I put them in separate little bundles until they are all cut. If they do get stuck together, all you have to do is ball the dough up again and start over by flattening and cutting.
Making The Sauce for the Fettuccine
First, put a large pot of water to boil to cook the pasta, add about one tablespoon of kosher salt.
Finely dice one shallot and two cloves of garlic. Zest one lemon and then juice one half of the lemon, set aside. Wash about 6 ounces of fresh baby spinach and let it drain well. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large flat plan. Saute the garlic and the shallot on medium to low heat until the shallot is translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the spinach and continue to cook another 4-minutes. Add the lemon juice and the zest and stir.
Add the Fettuccine noodles to the boiling water and cook about 3-4 minutes, drain reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water. Let sit.
To the Spinach, add 1 cup ricotta cheese gently stir until it’s creamy and mixed in. add a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper to taste. Then, add about 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the pan to make your sauce creamy and thicken, a little more of the water if needed. Add the cooked pasta to the spinach mixture and toss to coat well. Plate and serve!
Fettuccini, homemade with Spinach in Creamy Ricotta Lemon Sauce
Notes
This is a good amount for 2 and for 4 if as a side dish.
You may substitute dried pasta and store bought ricotta for an easy and fast version.
Ingredients
For the Pasta
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt plus 1 tablespoon for boiling pasta
For the Sauce
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 ounces fresh baby spinach
- 1 1/2 cup fresh or store bought ricotta cheese
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- Salt and ground pepper to taste
Instructions
How to Make the Pasta:
- Add flour and salt to a large bowl and mix. Make a well in the center of the flour. Add two large eggs and 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil to the center of the well. With your fork, slowly add the flour from the sides into the egg, mixing constantly.
- When the flour comes together in a ball, remove from the bowl onto a floured surface. Add more flour and need until the ball is firm and not sticky or wet. If the ball is too dry and is cracking, add a bit of water, 1 tablespoon at a time. This ball should be fairly dry, but not crumbling. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to rest.
- Cut the dough into quarters, take one quarter and cover the remaining 3 with plastic so that they don't dry out. Shape the quarter of dough into a flattened rectangle shape. The roller has about 7 to 8 notches. You begin and the widest, which is 1. Crank the handle, rolling the dough through setting 1 a couple of times. If the dough is sticky, add a light dusting of flour to the dough and the roller. Continue to roll through the levels, 1 or 2 times each level. As you are rolling, try to keep the shape as even on the sides as possible. You can do that by folding the pasta diagonally with each new level as you run it through the roller. For Fettuccini, the second to the last notch (6 or 7) is good. I only use the last setting for the most delicate ravioli. Now you have about 15 inches by 4 inches of flat pasta.
- Set pasta aside on a floured surface and make the sauce.
- Put large pot of water with 1 tablespoon salt on high to boil, in preparation to cook the pasta.
For the Sauce
- In a large wide pan, add olive oil and heat on medium to low. Add minced shallot and garlic. Allow to cook until the shallot is translucent. Add spinach and cook another 5 minutes. Add the lemon zest and the lemon juice, stir.
- Cook the Pasta - add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes, drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water for the sauce.
- Add 1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese to the spinach mixture, and stir until it's well mixed in. Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Then, add about 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pan to make your sauce creamy and thicken, add a little more of the water as needed. Add the cooked pasta to the spinach mixture and toss to coat well. Plate and serve!
