St. Patrick’s Day Cheesy Sausage Green Pasta

Preparation

For the pasta dough:
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Put ice in a large bowl, then fill with cold water. Add spinach to boiling water and steep for about half a minute. Transfer the spinach to the ice water. Spread out paper towel, squeeze as much of the liquid as possible over the spinach, then drain on paper towel.

Prepare a food processor with a blade attachment. Add the blanched spinach, then break in the eggs. Blend for 1-2 minutes until well blended.

Put the flour and a pinch of salt in a large bowl, then make a well in the middle with your hands. Add spinach and egg to the well. Slowly incorporate the flour into the green mixture while stirring. Once the mixture begins to come together, pour the rough paste onto a flat surface.

Bring the dough together firmly then knead for 5 to 10 minutes. Whenever the dough starts to get sticky, add a dusting of flour. You want to end up with a smooth, pliable dough. Cut the dough into quarters, then wrap each quarter in cling film. Leave to rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Prepare a pasta maker, with plenty of flour to dust. Take one of the quarters of pasta dough out of the refrigerator. Unwrap the dough, sprinkle with flour, then dust the rolls in the machine. Roll the dough through the thickest setting of the pasta maker several times, then sprinkle the dough and rolls again. Roll the dough through the second thickest setting several times. Repeat this cycle until the dough is thin but not too thin. My pasta roller’s thickest setting is 1 and thinnest is 9. I stopped rolling my dough at around 5-6. Be sure to keep dusting with flour so nothing sticks and when the dough becomes too long to handle, cut it in half.

Once you’ve finished the first quarter of your dough, move on to the next, and keep doing this until all the dough is spread out.

Once all of your dough is rolled out, cut it to be about 12 inches long. You can then either cut the pasta into fettuccine by rolling it through the pasta cutter of the pasta machine, or simply roll the pasta out on a board and then cut the pasta into long strips with your knife.

Sprinkle all fresh fettuccine pasta with plenty of flour so it doesn’t stick.

For the cheese sauce:
Get a large skillet over medium heat, then add the butter. Once the butter has melted, add the flour and stir until you get a paste. Cook the dough for a minute to cook the flour.

From there, lower the heat, then add about 1/2 cup of milk at a time, stirring until it’s nice and smooth on each occasion (if it seems really very lumpy, don’t worry , keep stirring and you’ll be fine).

Once all the milk is incorporated, bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes.

Add cheese and stir until melted. Turn off the heat, then season to taste with salt and pepper. If you ever feel that the sauce is too thick, you can add a little milk.

For the sausages:
Drizzle the sausages with just enough olive oil to coat them. Season with salt and pepper then rub seasoning and oil all over.

Preheat a frying pan over high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the sausages, turning them every two minutes. Cook for about 11 to 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the sausages. Once cooked, turn off the heat, transfer the sausages to a board and cut them into thick slices.

To assemble:
Get 5 liters of water in a saucepan with 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, prepare the pasta and start heating the cheese sauce. Scoop out the pasta, shake off the excess flour a little, then add it to the water. Once all the pasta has been added, cook for about 1 ½ minutes.

Use a pair of tongs to transfer the pasta into the sauce (do not discard the pasta water). Stir the pasta into the sauce, then add the sausages, chopped parsley and chopped basil. If you feel you need to loosen the pasta slightly, pour in some starchy pasta water. Serve immediately.