Spinach Linguine with Marinara Sauce

We usually see a lot of things on sale in a store or online and then buy them. It turns out later that we had no need for that item at all. One of these items is the pasta making machine. After letting it sit in the pantry for 6 months, one fine day we decided to give it a go and make our own fresh pasta. Now along with pasta come the sauce so here is how we made the linguine and the sauce from scratch. It turned out to be one of the best pasta dishes we ever made and had.

Ingredients:

Linguine:

1 ½ cup plain flour

2 eggs

1 bunch of spinach

2 teaspoon olive oil

salt

Sauce:

1 can of crushed tomato

1 brown onion finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 teaspoon of dried oregano

½ teaspoon of chilli flakes

1 cup of chopped parsley

1 cup of fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

salt to taste

Preparation time: 50 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

Chop and boil the spinach leaves and drain water.

To make linguine first sift the plain flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well and crack the eggs and add the finely chopped boiled and drained spinach. Fold the flour from outside in. Mix the flour with some oil to make consistent dough. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

Roll the dough using a rolling pin and pass through the pasta machine for at least five times. Each time decrease the gap between the machine to a lower setting. Once the dough is mixed thoroughly use the linguine attachment on the machine and pass the rolled sheets through the machine. Dust the linguine with some plain flour and let it dry for at least 30 minutes. If you don't want to go through this laborious process, use store bought pasta.

In a large pot boil water and add some oil. Cook the pasta for not more than 5 minutes. Because it is fresh pasta it does not need more than 5 minutes to be al dente. Drain all the water but don't wash the pasta. Unwashed pasta tastes much better than the washed pasta. Usually cook the pasta just before the sauce is ready so the pasta does not stick to each other.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and saute the garlic and chilli flakes. Add the onion and saute until light brown. Add the oregano and crushed tomatoes to the pan and cook for 5-7 minutes. Add the salt, chopped parsley and basil and cook for 1 minute.

In a plate roll the linguine and serve the sauce over the top of the pasta. Grate some parmesan cheese and grind some fresh black pepper to serve.

Just to be on record the pasta machine has since been sitting in the pantry biting dust.