If you are homemade pasta lover just like me, get extra 5 min time and add fresh herbs…laminated into the pasta…ooo boy, what an explosion of fresh taste in your mouth! My balcony is full of fresh herbs, dill, chives, parsley, olive herb, thyme, rosemary, mint, coriander, sage…most of them are part of this magical homemade pasta. And it is really only 5 min extra, the taste is unforgettable ! What would I recommend to serve with? Just aromatic butter (lemon…little bit of fav herb and eventually fried sage or homemade semi dried tomatoes) and some pecorino.

For pasta:

300g flour (I used 150g semola di grana duro superior and 150g AP flour)

3 eggs (M)

1 tsp of olive oil (not necessary)

½ tsp of salt

Flour as needed for working surface or if the dough too sticky is.

Knead a dough from above mentioned ingredients, should be smooth and not sticky. If needed, add some flour. Wrap in cling film and rest at least 1 hour or overnight (in fridge).

Herbs:

All you like, I used:

Olive herb

Rosemary

Lovage (well known as Maggy herb, German Maggykraut ili Liebstöckel)

Dill

Basil

Chives

Thyme

Wash and dry all herbs.

Method:

Cut the dough into 4 pieces. For each piece, flatten with a rolling pin or with your hands to about 5mm thickness. Dust the pasta with flour and pass it through the pasta machine at its widest setting. Pass the dough till 5 or 6 setting of pasta machine (depends of which width is the last one, my is 9). The point is not to use the width for the final pasta dough, the one you use to cut your final pasta. Repeat with the second piece of dough.

Spray one piece of dough, lightly, with water. Place fresh herbs you like and press slightly.

Cover with second dough, press and pass it through the pasta machine at 6 and finally at width 7 (or the one you prefer for your tagliatelle, pappardelle, etc. (see video).

Prepare the rest 2 pieces of dough the same.

You can cut the pasta with your pasta machine on desired width (just like my tagliatelle), but I would recommend using a knife, because machine is not sharp enough to cut all fresh herbs nicely.

Few tips for perfect homemade pasta with fresh herbs

* If you want nice a la dente pasta after cooking it, use some semolina flour. This time I had some semolina superior which is little bit coarser as Semolina Rimacinata, so I mixed it with some AP flour to knead dough easier.

* Use any fresh herbs you like, but dill, basil and lovage give an extra nice taste after cooking. Be generous by using fresh herbs, only this way you can bring the taste of it in your homemade pasta after cooking it. If you want to bring the taste of fresh herbs to the maximum, serve pasta only with some aromatic butter (thyme, sage, lemon) and pecorino cheese.

* You can make this pasta without eggs too, just use flour, water, salt and if you like little bit of olive oil.

-Croatian version-

Ako ste obožavatelj domaće tjestenine kao ja, slijedeći puta planirajte 5 minuta više i izradite je sa svježim začinima…okus je neprocjenjiv! Prava eksplozija okusa u ustima! Moj balkon pun je različitih svježih začina, a koristila sam maslinovu travu, kopar, vlasac, ljupčac, timijan okusa limuna, bosiljak i ružmarin. A kod serviranja, dovoljno je malo aromatiziranog maslaca (s limunom i možda 1 vrsta svježeg začina) eventualno polusušene rajčice, malo pecorino sira.

Za tjesteninu:

300g brašna (koristila sam 150g semola di grana duro superior i 150g glatkog brašna)

3 jaja (M)

1 mala žlica maslinovog ulja (nije obavezno)

½ male žlice soli

Po potrebi brašno ako je tijesto malo ljepljivo kao i za obradu tijesta na mašini.

Od navedenih sastojaka umijesiti glatko i neljepljivo tijesto. Po potrebi dodati malo brašna. Zamotati tijesto u prozirnu foliju i ostaviti najmanje sat vremena da miruje (ili tijekom noći u hladnjaku).

Ostalo:

Svježi začini po želji. Ja sam koristila:

Maslinova trava

Vlasac

Ružmarin

Ljupčac (tzv. biljka vegeta ili maggy, njemački Maggykraut ili Liebstöckel)

Kopar

Bosiljak

Timijan

Svježe začine oprati i posušiti.

Tijesto razvaljati na mašini do debljine 5 ili 6 ( tj. ne na debljinu koju koristite kao zadnju kod izrade razne vrste tjestenina). Na jedan komad tjestenine, prethodno malo navlažene s vodom, položite svježe začine po želji. Lagano utisnite u tijesto. Prekrijte drugim komadom tijesta, lagano pritisnite. Ponovo prođite kroz mašinu, koristeći zadnju debljinu mašine (5 ili 6), a nakon toga prođite kroz željenu debljinu na mašini (pogledati video).

Tjesteninu možete putem mašine i narezati na željenu širinu (kao moje tagliatelle), ali neko začinsko bilje se teže reže s mašinom te bih savjetovala da se ipak reže nožem (Tagliatelle, Pappardelle, šira ili uža tjestenina).

Par savjete za savršenu tjesteninu sa svježim začinima:

* Da bi tjestenina zadržala čvrstoću nakon kuhanja, koristila sam semolina brašno, ovaj puta superior koje je nešto malo krupnije od Semolina Rimacinata, te sam je miješala u jednakom omjeru s glatkim brašnom radi lakše izrade.

* Koristite svježe začine po želji, ali kopar se lijepo osjeti i nakon kuhanja, ljupčac i bosiljak također.Nemojte štediti na količini začina, stavite iz na tjesteninu što više kako bi se i nakon kuhanja osjetili. A kako bi uživali u okusima začina, predlažem da tjesteninu poslužite uz malo aromatiziranog maslaca (timijan, kadulja, malo limuna) i pecorino sira.

* Tjesteninu možete napraviti i bez jaja, jednostavno umijesite s vodom. Ulje nije obavezno.