Food is art. Art is food.
Pasta lovers will have a lot to love in the latest installment of La Cucina Italiana’s Instagram Live Sessions. Led by Meryl Feinstein from Pasta Social Club and LCI contributor Paul Feinstein, the two non-related Feinstein’s delve into the world of herb-laminated pasta from scratch.
credit Mackenzie Smith Kelley
Meryl Feinstein is an incredible chef who is known for teaching the world both in-person (pre-covid) and virtually the art of making the perfect sheets of pasta. In this Instagram Live session, Meryl walks Paul through all the ins and outs of laminating herbs into the pasta sheets and creating some of the most beautifully edible art.
The video covers all the basics and lets budding pasta chefs follow along to laminate on their own. Here are some extra tips and tricks to get your dough just right.
credit Paul Feinstein
Kneading is important. You’ll want to knead your dough for a good 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and firm. If it’s too wet, you can add a little flour and if it’s too dry, you can add a little water. But just a little!
Resting is also important. Make sure to give your dough time to settle down. After kneading it, your dough will want to take a break for at least 30 minutes before you can begin to shape it.
You’ll know your dough is in great shape when you cut it in half and see air bubbles inside.
Pick the right herbs. You want super soft herbs like basil or mint and make sure to remove the stems to avoid tearing the pasta when you laminate it. Softer is better.
Use a great pasta machine. Try the Marcato Atlas which allows you to control the speed and thickness of your dough for any kind of pasta.
Your dough should feel leathery before feeding it through the machine. That way you’ll know it’s the right consistency and won’t get stuck with thinner settings.
When feeding your pasta machine with the herbs inside your dough, it can help to cut two diagonal lines at the front of your dough to help ease it into the machine.
You can freeze your pasta! Nest your newly laminated pasta on a baking sheet and place in the freezer for 20 minutes. Then, take the pasta and put it in a sealed freezer bag. You can cook it from frozen too.
If you missed the live session, you can follow along with Meryl and Paul on the LCI USA Instagram page, and find the complete recipe here.