Herbed Fresh Pasta

Fresh herbs are a must in this recipe; they create a pretty, green-tinged pasta that’s full of bright flavor.

1 tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves, 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary or thyme leaves, or 1/4 cup minced fresh basil, chervil, or parsley leaves

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

• With a food processor: Combine the herb with the flour and salt in the container and pulse once or twice. Add the eggs all at once and turn the machine on. Process just until a ball begins to form, about 30 seconds. Add a few drops of water if the dough is dry and grainy; add a tablespoon of flour if dough sticks to the side of the bowl. (The amount of flour you need depends on the amount of herb you use and its moisture content; 1/4 cup of parsley, for example, will take considerably more flour than 1 teaspoon of rosemary.)
• By hand: Combine 11/2 cups of the flour, the herb, and the salt on a counter or large board. Make a well in the middle. Put the eggs into this well. Beat the eggs with a fork, slowly and gradually incorporating a little of the flour at a time. When it becomes too hard to stir with the fork, use your hands. When all the flour on the board has been mixed in, knead the dough, pushing it against the board and folding it repeatedly until it is not at all sticky and is quite stiff. Add only small amounts of flour during kneading if you absolutely need it.
• Sprinkle the dough with a little of the reserved flour and cover with plastic or a cloth; let it rest for about 30 minutes. (At this point, you may refrigerate the dough, wrapped in plastic, until you’re ready to roll it out, for up to 24 hours.)
• Clean your hands and follow Steps 2 through 6 in the Fresh Egg Pasta recipe
  for rolling, cutting, and cooking.

Fresh Spinach Pasta.
• Lots of color in this pasta; the spinach flavor is subtle: Add 8 ounces fresh spinach or 4 ounces frozen spinach and about 1/2 cup flour. Stem and wash the fresh spinach; steam it then drain, squeeze (get as much water out as possible), and chop it very fine. Add the spinach with the eggs, making sure to break up any clumps of spinach.

Fresh Red Pasta.
• Again, the color is more pronounced than the flavor. Use red bell pepper or beets; the beets will color the pasta more vibrantly: Add 1/2 cup welldrained puréed cooked beets or puréed cooked red bell pepper and about another 1/2 cup flour. Add the purée with the eggs. Proceed with the recipe.

Whole-Leaf Herbed Fresh Pasta.

This takes a bit more effort but looks spectacular. Roll out the dough to the thinnest setting, put whole or roughly chopped stemmed herb leaves (parsley, chervil, tarragon, or small basil or sage leaves work best) randomly on one sheet of pasta, sprinkle with a tiny bit of water, and put another sheet of pasta on top; roll the sheets together (essentially pressing the leaves between the layers of dough).

MAKES: 4 servings (about 1 pound)

TIME: At least 1 hour, largely unattended