tomatobasilpasta

Tomato Basil Pasta

A beautiful dish of Prima Festa Home made fresh Tomato Basil Pasta topped with Chunky Tomato and Italian Sausage Sauce and Parmigiano Reggiano grated cheese.

There are some types of fresh pastas that usually cannot be ordered at a restaurant. Fresh Tomato Basil Pasta is one of them.This elusive Old World pasta delicacy, when made the authentic way, will knock the Italian socks off of all of your dinner guests. The great news is that this gourmet pasta dish is cheap and easy to make.

Home made fresh pasta is typically made by the Well Method. When I make flavored pastas, I use my electric mixer because flavored pasta is wet, sticky, and sometimes a little bit more challenging to make. The entire process of rolling and cutting requires the use of a little more bench flour so that the pasta will not stick to the roller and cutter. This also goes for using a rolling pin and cutting the pasta by hand.

Recipe and directions for making Home Made Pasta Dough

Ingredients

1 cup Unbleached flour

1 cup Semolina flour

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

4 Tbs Tomato Paste

2 Tbs dried Sweet Basil

Heavy pinch of sea salt

I prefer to mix the harder Semolina flour with the softer unbleached flour to give some extra body, gluten, and flavor to the pasta. However, at times I use all Semolina flour. Extra virgin olive oil in my mix also adds moisture and flavor. Many recipes only call for sea salt in the boiling water. I use it in the mix and in the boiling water.

Fresh Tomato Basil pasta dough ball ready for rolling and cutting.

I lightly coated the dough ball with olive oil, wrapped it with plastic wrap, and rested it in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes.

Tomato Basil pasta dough being rolled with an electric mixer with a pasta roller attachment. This was rolled to one step away from the thinnest setting. Flavored dough will remain moister than traditional egg pasta, so you will have more time to cut it before it dries out.

Pasta being cut with the Fettucine attachment. Fanning out the individual pieces prevents them from sticking together. Place them on a lightly dusted metal tray as they come off the cutter. From that point, they may be frozen in an air tight container, or cooked immediately.

Cooking Tomato Basil Pasta

Gently stir the fresh pasta into a large pot of salted boiling water and boil until for about three to four minutes. When cooked, flavored pastas are softer than traditional egg pasta, so you be the judge and test the past at one minute increments after three minutes in the boiling water. Do not over-cook the pasta to a mush. Drain well and serve.

A dish of fresh of Tomato Basil pasta ready for boiling or freezing.

I lightly dusted the cut batch to prevent them from clumping during the cooking process.

Follow to my recipe for Chunky Tomato and Italian Sausage Sauce

Follow to my recipe for Home Made Marinara Sauce