The Story
Some Sundays I wake up and know exactly what type of pasta I want to make. Other times it takes a strong coffee and a rummage through the fridge. This weekend though my inspiration had run dry. Life’s been busy and days have been long. I’ve just been trying to get up that great big hill of hope for a destination.
It was clear that I needed a brief retreat into my angsty early teens. A few days 20 years back with tazos, morning television, and superstars and cannonballs running through my head. Given, however, the inherent risk of temporal paradox and a tendency to fix things with pasta, this week we’re serving up 90s print triangoli.
This retro pasta gets its colour from turmeric, black cocoa, blue spirulina, and freeze-dried beetroot. We’ve filled them up with ricotta and a hit of dried saltbush, for an Aussie touch, and served them simply tossed in a little brown butter.
The Pasta
Now, first up, you don’t need to do this with four different types of dough. In fact, you could make it without any lamination at all. There’s nothing wrong with sticking to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to. But if you’re up for the challenge, start by mixing the flours together and forming four wells on your benchtop. We used two thirds of the weight for the main turmeric dough, and then split the rest for the remaining three. Gently whisk together the eggs, then pour them into the centres of your wells with the same ratio as the flour (it will be half the weight of the flour in each well). Cocoa and turmeric tend to be a bit ‘thirsty’, so you may need to add a little water as you bring those doughs together. Work each of the wells into shaggy masses and then knead for 7-10 minutes, or until they feel elastic and soft. Rest for 30 minutes, away from heat and direct sunlight. Also rest the dough.
While you wait, mix together all of your filling ingredients with a fork. It should be fairly smooth but still hold together enough for you to break into chunks and pinch together between your fingers.
Next, roll all of those doughs out to a medium-thin thickness. We used a 9-setting pasta machine and stepped them all incrementally through to 6, apart from the cocoa dough that we rolled a little thinner to 7. The cocoa is mostly used underneath other laminated doughs, so this will help to minimise the overall thickness in those areas.
Cut the spirulina and beetroot doughs into triangles, and the cocoa dough half into triangles, half into rectangles. If you have a thin (3-4cm wide) ruler, you can just flip that long edge over long edge, pressing down lightly to mark horizontal and vertical lines. Then use a straight roller cutter to form squares, before cutting across at diagonals to halve them into triangles. For the rectangles, cut fettuccine-width pieces of pasta, and then chop them into short lengths.
Now it’s time to get artistic. We started with the cocoa shapes, before layering slightly offset spirulina and beetroot triangles over the cocoa triangles. With all of these shapes to cut and stick, you’ll need to carefully manage your dough moisture. I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but you never really had a doubt that you’ll need to seal everything that you’re not working on top and bottom with cling wrap, and lightly spritz the air over any exposed dough to keep it soft and tacky enough for lamination. If it gets too sticky or stretchy, just leave it uncovered to dry out for a few minutes before handling further. Just keep feeling your pasta as you work.
Once all of your shapes are arranged, dust both sides with semolina and then either roll it gently with a pin, or pass it back through the pasta machine rollers at a setting just wide enough to provide light compression. For us, this was a machine setting of 3.
Lay the sheets face down and then cut squares of 6cm. Drop a big grape-sized dollop of filling onto each and then fold in half to form triangles. Press gently to seal, and then trim the joined edges using a rolling pasta cutter. If you want a little zigazig ah.
As always, cook in a large pot of lightly salted boiling water until al dente; firm, but with no raw dough showing when it’s cut into. I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, what you did, as long as you don’t overcook your pasta.
To serve, simply melt the butter with the garlic gloves over low-medium heat until the butter begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Skim off the solids or pour it all through a sieve to remove them, and discard (eat) the garlic cloves. For an alternative butter sauce, check out our recipe for brown butter with pink peppercorns and lemon thyme!
Then just toss the drained pasta in the butter, plate on up, and enjoy a carby bowl of fine-patterned 90s nostalgia.
Correctly guess the number of self-indulgent 90s pop references in this post for your chance to win a wooden spoon. Buon appetito, and bye bye bye bye bye.
– Al & Al.
Equipment
- Pasta roller and cutter (if not using a rolling pin and knife)
- Thin ruler (3-4cm wide), or similar
- Pastry/pasta cutting wheel
- Spray bottle, water
Ingredients
Pasta Doughs
- 225 g 00 flour
- 75 g semolina
- 150 g eggs approximately 3 eggs, or 1 for every 100g of 00 flour + semolina
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1.5 tsp blue spirulina
- 1 tsp freeze-dried beetroot powder
- 1 tsp black cocoa
Pasta Filling
- 250 g ricotta
- 2 tsp dried saltbush powder
- 1 egg
- Salt to taste
Brown Butter
- 60 g butter
- 2 garlic cloves
Instructions
- Begin by mixing together the flour and semolina, and then form four wells on your work surface. One 200, two 40g, and one 20g. Add the turmeric into the largest, the blue spirulina and freeze dried beetroot powder into one each of the middle size, and the black cocoa into the smallest.
- Mix together the eggs, and then pour into the centre of each well at the same ratio. This will be half the weight of the flour. 100g into the largest well, 20g into the middle two, and 10g into the smallest.
- Bring each together into a shaggy mass, noting that you may need to add a little water, particularly to the turmeric and cocoa doughs. Knead them vigorously in turn for 7-10 minutes, keeping any dough not being worked on sealed in cling wrap. Rest all kneaded balls of dough for 30 minutes, wrapped in cling wrap, away from heat and direct sunlight.
- While the dough rests, prepare the filling by simply mixing together the ricotta, egg, and saltbush. It should be relatively smooth, but hold together well enough to form chunks between your fingertips.
- Next, roll all doughs to a medium-thin thickness. If you’re using a 9-setting pasta machine, this is a 6 for all doughs apart from the cocoa, which is rolled to a 7 (slightly thinner). Remember to pass the dough through the thickest setting a few times, folding over itself in between passes, before incrementally stepping through to the final thickness. Until the pasta is finished, be sure to keep your pasta sheets sealed in between cling wrap when they’re not being worked on.
- Use a thin (3-4cm thick) ruler to gently mark out squares on the blue spirulina and beetroot doughs, then slice along the lines using a rolling cutter. Cut diagonal lines across these squares to form them into triangles. Do the same for half of the cocoa dough, and then slice the remaining sheet into fettuccine width strips, before cross-cuting them into small rectangles.
- Spritz water lightly in the air above the turmeric sheets, and then lay your shapes out. Get creative! We began with the cocoa triangles, layering either the spirulina or beetroot triangles slightly offset over the top of them. If the turmeric loses its slight tackiness, just give it another very light spray.
- Lightly dust each side of the decorated sheets with semolina and then gently roll them flat. On a machine, this is a setting of three.
- Lay the sheets patterned side down and cut them into 6cm squares. Place a grape size lump of filling on each, spritz lightly with water, and then fold into triangles. Press gently along the open edges to seal, ensuring that no air is trapped inside.
- Use a patterned cutter to trim the sealed edges, and then transfer all pasta to lightly floured baking paper lined oven trays. Refrigerate uncovered for up to one day before cooking. These triangoli can be frozen, but note that it may result in slightly granular ricotta.
- To cook the pasta, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil over high heat, and drop in the triangoli. Cook until they're all floating and no raw dough is visible when the pasta is cut across.
- To serve, melt the butter in a frypan with the smashed garlic cloves, over medium heat. After 4-5 minutes, or when the butter begins to brown, pour it through a fine sieve and discard the milk solids and garlic that are filtered out. Return the butter to the pan and toss through the triangoli. Serve immediately.
