If you haven’t noticed, I have a love affair with homemade pasta. I wish I had discovered this new found affinity earlier in life, so that I was more proficient at the art of pasta making. Better late than never.

Pasta is truly an art. Love the entire process. I day dream when I’m at work about staying home and making pasta all day long. I also day dream about running off to an island in the Mediterranean and living a simple life where I grow and raise my own food. How can I make this happen? Pasta lab on a remote Mediterranean island??

Until my escape comes to fruition, I will continue to hone my pasta making skills here at home. I recently ordered a garganelli board from here. Isn’t it beautiful? I spent a good part of my weekend rolling out these spinach garganelli. Most people would probably think that it’s way too much work, and it is, but I was happy as a clam.

I went pretty simple with the sauce, black garlic compound butter with a pinch of chile flakes and a grinding of Pecorino cheese. Simple, yet delicious!

Roll out the dough thin (setting 5 on my KitchenAid pasta roller attachment).

Cut the sheet into 1 1/2-inch squares. Now you’re ready to form the garganelli.

Place the square in a diamond orientation (point facing up) on the garganelli board. Place the dowel on the bottom third of the diamond.

Place light downward pressure and roll the dowel away from you to form the garganelli.

Slide the garganelli off the dowel. Repeat.

I made a compound butter with black garlic. Have you tried black garlic? its taste is most unusual (in a good way) — sweet, molasses, caramel, umami-goodness.  Black garlic is much mellower than raw garlic, without that sharp garlicky bite. 

Black garlic is garlic that has been aged 4 to 6 weeks under low heat (140°F).  The black color the garlic takes on during this process comes from melanoidins, due to the chemical reaction (known as the Maillard reaction) that occurs between the naturally occurring sugars and amino acids as they break down.

Garganelli with black garlic butter, chile flakes and Pecorino. Yum!

Spinach Garganelli

Serves 6
Sea salt
250 grams fresh spinach
250 grams eggs, beaten
454 grams 00 flour

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season with salt. When the salt dissolves, add the spinach, in batches, until wilted, 30 to 40 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and spread out on a sheet pan to dry. Let cool. When cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much water as possible.

In a bowl of a food processor, combine the spinach and eggs. Process on high speed until smooth and bright, about 2 minutes.

Mound the flour on a clean work surface and make an 8-inch well in the middle. Pour the spinach-egg mixture in the middle. With a fork, slowly begin to incorporate the flour walls into the egg mixture. Continue mixing the flour with the spinach-egg mixture until you have a solid mass.

At this point, using your hands, start folding and forming the dough, incorporating the rest of the flour until you have a stiff, solid mass, removing any dry clumps of flour.

Knead the dough. Drive the heel of your hand into the dough, rotate the dough 45 degrees, and repeat until the dough is firm and bouncy and has a smooth, silken texture, 7 to 10 minutes. Tightly wrap the dough in plastic and let rest 30 minutes.

Forming the Garganelli

Lightly flour your work surface. Cut off a piece of dough, keeping the rest covered in plastic so it doesn’t dry out. Run the dough through your pasta machine starting with the largest setting. Run it two times through each successive pasta roller setting until thin, about 1/16 inch (#5 on my KitchenAid pasta attachment).

Lay the sheet of pasta on a lightly floured work surface to prevent the dough from sticking. Cut the pasta into 1 1/2-inch squares (a pasta accordion cutter works well for this). Place a square of pasta on a garganelli (or gnocchi) board, oriented in a diamond shape, point facing up (as pictured above).

Place the dowel on the bottom third of the diamond. With light downward pressure, roll the pasta, away from you, around the dowel to form the ridges. Continue rolling forward until the edges seal. Remove the garganelli and place on a drying tray, something like this that will allow air flow underneath. Repeat.

Spinach Garganelli with Black Garlic Butter

Spinach garganelli
Black garlic butter (recipe below)
Red pepper flakes
Freshly grated Pecorino

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add salt and bring it back to the boil. Add the garganelli and cook until al dente, about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain, reserving some of the pasta water.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the black garlic butter. When melted add the garganelli. Add a little pasta cooking water and toss to coat the pasta. Cook a minute or two, tossing the pasta in the butter.

Divide amongst bowls and top with freshly grated Pecorino.

Black Garlic Butter

1 stick of butter, room temperature
5 to 6 cloves black garlic
Sea salt, if butter is unsalted

Place all ingredients in a food processor. Process until well combined. Remove butter from bowl and spoon onto parchment paper. Roll into a log. Twist the ends to seal. Chill in the fridge to harden.