Beetroot pasta dough

Place the eggs, salt, olive oil and pur­eed beet­root into a food pro­cessor and blend till combined.

Add the flour and blend until the mix comes together form­ing a ball (the bowl of your food pro­cessor should become quite clean as all the ingredi­ents become a ball).

Turn the dough onto a flour sur­face and knead for 10 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and silky.

Altern­at­ively, place the flour onto a work­ing sur­face and make a well in the middle.

Add the eggs, salt, olive oil and beet puree. Using a fork, beat together the eggs to incor­por­ate the flour start­ing with the inner rim of the well. As you expand the well, keep push­ing the flour up to retain the well shape. Do not worry that this ini­tial phase looks messy. The dough will come together when 1/2 of the flour is incorporated.

Once all the ingredi­ents are incor­por­ated and a ball of dough is formed, knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and silky.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to rest for 20 minutes.

Roll the dough into thin sheets, either using a rolling pin or a pasta machine and cut into strips (again using a pasta machine or a knife).

If you cook it imme­di­ately from fresh, it can take less than 2 minutes to cook. For best res­ults, leave it to dry overnight and then it will retain more of its col­our and take about 3–5 minutes to cook.

Serve it with a blue cheese sauce sprinkled with, roas­ted, chopped wal­nuts and crispy bacon or pancetta.

Recipe reprinted with permission of Food Monger. To see more recipes, please click here.