Rye Pasta

My little Marcato Atlas pasta machine has been out on the counter for the past couple of weeks. It is compact, stout, heavy for its size, and manual. I've had it for more than ten years, but perhaps less than fifteen. And it teaches me lessons about making pasta that I forget and have to relearn each time there is an extended gap in our time together (of which there are many). I like to use the Atlas to make egg pasta - "00" flour enriched with an impossible number of electric yellow egg yolks, good for fettuccine and tagliatelle. But I've switched things up the past few days and have been rolling thin rye pasta. It's a nice option for the winter months, it freezes well (so I can make a lot in one go), and you can drop tangles of the noodles into a range of restorative winter broths.

These rye noodles boiled, then tossed with a big spoonful of salsa verde, splash of cream, and toasted almonds made a respectable ten-minute lunch topped with a poached egg. They were also good with lemon verbena infused olive oil, roasted crescents of delicata squash, and toasted hazelnuts (left over from this).

And while a pasta machine makes easy work of a task like noodle making, there's no reason you can't roll this dough out by hand. Be sure to allow the dough to rest, then roll it thin on a surfaced floured as lightly as you can get away with. If your dough is at all sticky, dust it with semolina flour to prevent sticking, but avoid over flouring. Fold it over on itself a few times, and slice with a sharp knife. Perhaps aspire for a noodle wider than the ones you see pictured here. They'll be a but more rustic, but certainly tasty.

Thanks to each of you who left comments last week. You're a big part of why I enjoy sharing and exploring ideas and recipes here. I am so very appreciative of each of you. -h