Learning to make fresh pasta and delicious fillings is a great skill to have. I love to make pasta on a rainy afternoon when I find myself with a little time.
Once you have tried fresh pasta you will love it and want to make it again and again. A rich buttery sauce with fresh herbs, garlic and crunchy walnuts makes for a great dish.
Ingredients
Serves 4
375g OO Pasta flour
3 Eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 Butternut squash
2 tbsp Olive oil
Salt and pepper
200g Ricotta cheese
30g Grated parmesan cheese
3 Garlic cloves, crushed
80g Butter
1 tbsp Thyme, fresh and chopped 100g Walnuts
Black pepper
Here’s how:
Place the flour, eggs and extra yolk into a food processor and blend together until it forms a dough.
Roll the dough into a ball, cover and place in the fridge to rest for 1 hour. Meanwhile, to make the filling for the pasta, cut the butternut squash in half longways and place on a baking tray.
Cut a criss cross pattern into the cut side of the squash and drizzle with a little olive oil.
Season with salt and pepper as this will help bring out the flavour of the squash. Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until soft.
When cooked remove from the oven and using a spoon carefully scrape out the inside of the squash and transfer into a mixing bowl to cool down.
Once cooled, add the ricotta cheese and grated parmesan cheese.
Stir together and place in a piping bag in the fridge until your pasta dough is ready.
Remove the dough from the fridge and cut into 4 equal portion.
Take 1 portion and press it down flat before you run through the pasta machine on its widest setting.
Once rolled, fold in half and repeat the process 10 times.
Then adjust the pasta machine to the next setting down to make the rollers smaller.
This time, don’t fold the pasta, just run it through the rollers.
Adjust the rollers again and run the pasta through without folding, continue this until you reach number 6 of the pasta rollers.
You should now have a nice long even sheet of pasta.
Pipe approximately a teaspoon full of the filling from the piping bag in the centre of the sheet of pasta.
Repeat the piping leaving a 3cm gap between each portion of pasta filling.
Brush the pasta with a wet pastry brush all the way round each portion of pasta filling.
Fold the pasta over to seal the pasta filling up.
Run your fingers around the filling to push out any air pockets.
Use a pasta wheel to cut into parcels.
When you have finished store them on a flat plate or tray dusted with ground polenta.
To make the sauce before you cook your pasta, place the butter into a large shallow pan with the crushed garlic.
Add the chopped fresh thyme and walnuts and cook gently for 3-4 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the filled pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water for 2 minutes.
While the pasta is cooking lift out a ladle full of the cooking water and add to the butter, garlic and nut to help form a sauce.
When the pasta is cooked lift out with a slotted spoon and transfer into the butter sauce.
Toss the pan if you can rather than stirring together, that way you won’t break up the pasta.
Serve the pasta up with a little fresh black pepper and some freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Try serving with a nice chilled Pinot Grigio
 
Recipe by Peter Sidwell