How to make the spinach:

Spinach pasta needs an extra special ingredient – baby spinach! Place the leaves into a pan and put on the stove top at a medium heat.

Sprinkle a pinch of salt into the pan and leave to cook, with the lid on, mixing it every so often with a wooden spoon.

Switch off the stove and add the hot spinach to a food processor, blending it until it becomes a cream.

How to make the spinach pasta dough

Pour 250g/8.8oz flour on a wooden bench, create a well, and add 2 eggs and one heaped tablespoon of your spinach cream.

Whisk the eggs with the spinach (using a fork) and slowly mix the flour by pinching the sides in, then combine the rest.

Once the spinach and egg have disappeared into the flour, use your hands to combine the rest of the flour and repeat the same motion to bring it all together, then knead the spinach pasta dough.

If you are happy with the consistency (making sure it’s not sticky), and there is a lot of flour on the bench, just scrape it to the side, and keep kneading.

When it is smooth and soft, create a ball of green pasta dough and wrap it tightly using a plastic wrap then leave to the side for 30 minutes.

Once the time is up, sprinkle flour over your bench, unwrap the dough and dust some extra flour on top.

How to roll out the green pasta with a rolling pin (or a bottle of wine!):

Cut the spinach pasta dough ball in half (covering the other half so it doesn’t dry out) and use your rolling pin to stretch it out by rolling it forward and back, then turning it over and repeating until you have an even, thin pasta sheet.

Try to create a large oval or square shape before folding it in half 4 times, sprinkling flour on top each time you fold it.

Use your knife and cut your desired shapes, the best types to make this way are: green spaghetti, fettucine, tagliatelle or pappardelle - just adjust the thickness.

Unravel and add extra flour so the strands don’t stick together.

How to roll out the spinach pasta with a pasta machine:

Cut the rest of the dough in half (using a quarter of the total) with a sharp knife.

Sprinkle flour on top of the pasta machine and also on top of the piece of dough.

Flatten this piece slightly with your hands, before putting it through the pasta machine, on the widest setting.

Roll the dough through the machine, then fold it in half and repeat.

Then change the setting to the next one up, feeding the spinach pasta sheet through every time, up to (and including) the seventh setting.

Once you have a beautiful, smooth sheet of pasta, select your pasta shape, sprinkle flour on the machine (and the dough) and feed it through.

In both cases, once you have created the pasta sheets, you can also use them for lasagna or ravioli.

E ora si mangia, Vincenzo’s Plate….Enjoy!