Beet Pasta with Pistachios

1. Puree the cooked cubed beets in a food processor until smooth. Set the puree and the matchsticks aside. You can cook your own red beets in advance using the instructions on the related blog link, or you can find them precooked in the refrigerator section of most grocery stores.

2. Make a mound of your whole wheat and regular flour on a table or counter, dig a well into the center of it and add your eggs and beet puree to the middle. Learn from my mistake below, and make your well plenty big to hold everything!

3. Beat your eggs and beet puree together with a fork and then begin working the flour into the center of your well until the beet and egg mixture is combined with the flour.

4. Knead your pasta dough together for 5 minutes.

5. After kneading, wrap your pasta up with plastic wrap and allow it to sit for 30 minutes. Rushing this will result result in a dense pasta (yuck)!

6.Once 30 minutes have elapsed, knead your dough for another 3 minutes (you’ll notice that the texture of your dough is much smoother now), and then divide it into four pieces. Dust a large work surface, such as kitchen table or counter, with flour and then rub your rolling pin and dough balls with flour. This will prevent sticking to your rolling pin and the table.

7. Roll your dough ball out in an rectangular/oval type shape until it’s about 1 mm thick (see related link for photos of the process). You will need to flip the dough a couple of times while rolling it out to dust it and the rolling pin with more flour so that it doesn’t begin to stick to everything.

8. Cut your noodles to your desired thickness using a sharp knife. Remember that once cooked, the noodles will get bigger.

9. Hang your noodles to dry for 30 minutes. If you’re like me and have a relatively low-tech kitchen, you can always make your own pasta rack. I lightly sprayed a cookie rack with olive oil and then hung the pasta over it.

10. While your pasta is drying, bring the water, olive oil and salt to a boil in a large pot. You’ll use this to cook the pasta in.

11. Before adding the pasta to the water, saute your shallots in butter over medium heat until they become soft (about 5 minutes). Add your garlic, salt, and pepper to the pan and saute an additional minute. Finally, add the juice of the lemon and then remove from heat.

12. Next add your pasta to the pot of boiling water. Depending on the thickness of your pasta, boil for 1-3 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when it begins to float towards the top.

13. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it (reserve a cup of pasta water first). Then add pasta into the pan of sautéed shallots. Place the pan on medium-low heat, toss to coat the pasta in the shallot butter, and cook with ¼ cup of reserved pasta water until heated through. If the pasta seems dry, just add additional pasta water. Take note: reserving your pasta water and adding it to your pasta dishes is one of the secrets to amazing pasta.

14. Once your dish is heated through, sprinkle it with chopped pistachios, julienne cooked beets, fresh lemon zest, and creamy goat cheese. Bon appétit!