Beet Tagliatelle with Gorgonzola Sauce and Pine Nuts

Making pasta at home, although it may seem complicated, is actually very easy. You only need flour and egg, and follow the steps of kneading, rolling and cutting. A few simple steps that give results in texture and flavor radically different from the pasta we usually buy.

Today Virginia, author of Sweet&Sour, presents us with the recipe with a different touch of color and flavor. Irresistible! A temptation you can't miss

Lately I'm in total pasta mode. Trying mixes and pasta types. This recipe I bring you today is delicious, because of the slightly sweet note that the beetroot leaves in the pasta and the contrast with the lively note of the gorgonzola cheese. For me it's a 10.

Also, to reduce the fattiness of the sauce in this recipe, since the cheese already provides it, we didn't want to add cream and replaced it with evaporated milk, which makes the sauce lighter, less caloric and less heavy. We must take care of our health and figure.

Beetroot pasta is simple and as you can see gives a beautiful color to the dish. It is true that some of that intense beetroot color is lost during cooking, but even so it results in a very colorful dish.

You can add the beetroot roasted or boiled, and either the kind you find packaged in supermarkets or homemade.

I won't get tired of saying it, but preparing fresh pasta is so simple that those of you who dare to make it will repeat it and even get hooked, as happens in a way with homemade bread. A machine from a traditional brand like Imperia, is synonymous with success in the result, and at a absolutely reasonable price. Also, the flavor of homemade fresh pasta has nothing to do with store-bought pasta, and it has the advantage that you can make all kinds of pasta to your taste.

The beetroot pasta recipe varies slightly in proportions from the traditional one, mainly because to get an intense color we add a good amount of beetroot purée, and what we do is remove a couple of eggs to compensate and maintain the solids-to-liquids ratio. In any case, the method is the same as the one you can find in the tutorial on "How to make fresh pasta at home". Let's go with the recipe.

INGREDIENTS: (For 4 servings)

For the beetroot pasta:

• 300 g of "00" flour or a mix of 210 g of flour and 70 g of semolina
• 150 gr. of beetroot purée*
• 1 egg "M"
• 1 pinch of salt
• Plenty of water and salt for cooking the pasta

*Not all flours absorb the same amount of water, so start by adding 100 gr. of beetroot purée, until you get the desired texture. Remember that we only incorporate one egg and therefore the pasta should not be too soft, but preferably rather dry.

For the gorgonzola and pine nut sauce:

• 120 g of Gorgonzola cheese
• 200 ml of Evaporated Milk
• 50 g of pine nuts
• Edible pansies for garnish.

PREPARATION

We start by preparing our fresh beetroot pasta: For this we purée the beetroot until it becomes purée. Mix with the egg and set aside.

If we follow the traditional method, we mix and sift the flour and salt (if using), placing it directly on the work surface or in a large bowl.

We make a well in the center and put the mixed egg and beetroot inside. With the help of a fork, gradually incorporate flour from the sides into the center. When a semi-soft dough begins to form, we will start kneading it more vigorously until we obtain an elastic and homogeneous dough. Wrap in cling film, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Keep in mind that the dough should be rather firm, not sticking to the hands, because otherwise if we obtain a dough that is too wet or soft it will be very difficult to roll later. Therefore, if we see that we need more beetroot because it's too firm, or more flour because it's too soft, we will add it while kneading and mixing.

If we use our Kitchen Aid, put all the ingredients in the mixer bowl and mix slowly at speed 1 with the paddle attachment until you get a homogeneous dough.

Switch to the dough hook and continue kneading at speed 2 for about 5-8 minutes, until the dough is elastic and homogeneous. Shape into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour. Now we have our dough ready to roll and cut. Couldn’t be easier.

Now let's move on to rolling and cutting the pasta. Remove from the fridge and divide our ball into 4 parts. Keep three of the parts wrapped in film and back to the fridge so they don't dry out.

To roll with the pasta machine: Flatten the remaining portion with your hands and run it through the roller of the pasta machine", at its widest setting. Fold it to get a rectangular shape and pass it through again at the same setting. Repeat this operation at that same setting 3 or 4 times, until our dough griddle reaches the width of the roller.

Reduce the roller opening by one notch, flour our dough griddle and pass it through the roller. Keep repeating this operation, reducing the roller's thickness with each pass, until finished. We will obtain a very long sheet with a thickness of 1 to 1,5 mm.

During rolling, you may need to lightly flour the pasta sheet so it doesn't stick.

Once the pasta sheet is ready, let it dry hanging on the clean back of a chair, on a hanger or on the utensils that are specifically for that purpose. Continue with the rest of the dough portions.

To roll pasta without a machine, you must use a rolling pin. Preferably a heavy one and leave it at a thickness of about 1 or 2 mm. Take one of the 4 parts we divided the dough ball into and flatten it slightly with your hands. Lightly flour the surface where you will work and start stretching it, turning it 90º, until you obtain sheets of the desired thickness.

Now for the cutting: Pasta machines, in addition to the base with the rolling rollers, come with a pair of cutters with different types of cuts, which attach to the base. In this way, each strip obtained is cut into strips of about 20 cm and passed through the chosen cutting roller. If necessary, lightly flour each pasta sheet so it doesn't stick.

Let the cut pasta dry again hanging as we did with the strips while we proceed to cut the rest.

If cutting manually, cut each strip into strips of about 20 cm and fold them three or four times over themselves, lightly flouring the sheet at each fold so it doesn't stick. With a sharp knife cut 2 cm strips to get our Tagliatelle.

To cut the pasta, you can also use the pasta cutting wheel, which allows you to cut easily and uniformly.

While the pasta dries, we prepare the gorgonzola and pine nut sauce: In a saucepan place the evaporated milk and the cheese in pieces. Put over medium heat and let the cheese melt with the evaporated milk, keeping an eye on the saucepan and stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, crush half of the pine nuts in the mortar. Toast the rest in a pan without oil and set aside.

When the cheese has dissolved, add the pine nuts and let cook a couple of minutes over low-medium heat. Remove and keep warm. Half of this sauce will go into a pan and the rest into a sauceboat.

If the sauce is too thick you can loosen it with a little evaporated milk.

With our pasta and sauce ready, proceed to cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water for a couple of minutes counting from the first boil once the pasta is added. Once ready, remove and drain immediately.

While the pasta cooks, heat a pan and add half of the sauce. When the pasta is cooked and drained, pour it over the sauce and leave for 2 or 3 minutes, tossing so the pasta soaks up the sauce well.

Serve immediately on hot plates, with a spoonful of sauce on top and some pine nuts. Garnish with edible pansies if you want a more chic touch.

A simple and absolutely delicious dish, homemade from start to finish.

Enjoy.

Virginia