Veggie Lemon Pasta

This fun from scratch gourmet veggie pasta is a fantastic throw together for some fun family time in the kitchen. The pasta includes a nice touch of lemon zest to add some citrusy zing to compliment the sautéed zucchini. We've also dd in some shredded carrots for another little serving of veggies to this dish.

If you want to add some protein this pasta would go perfect with some simple lemon salmon and if you're really looking to indulge enjoy with a nice glass of sauvignon Blanc.

Jump to Recipe

As my husband is away for work for a little bit I like to take the full opportunity to spoil myself and my daughter with homemade meals. I mean it's only fair that if he's getting to do some find dinning with the coworkers in San Diego I can whip up some new pasta recipes.

This time around I decided to use egg noodles for the recipe rather than my standard water, oil, herb infusion. I've also had more than a few people recommend a lemon infusion for fish dishes so I figured I'd give it a go for the two of us tonight. In order to stay in compliance with the fun cottage food stuff I made sure to invest in commercially dried lemon zest from Rosemary's Garden . It's close to my 2x a week day job so it was a fun quick trip for my colleague and I to take a short break and visit the shop.

If you haven't made pasta before, it's actually a really simple process. All you need is an egg, a cup and a half of flour, and then I opt for some oil and water in case I need to adjust the texture of the dough ball. The only time it starts to get rough is if you don't have the materials to roll and cut. You can use a simple rolling pin and knife, you're just going to need to work with the dough a bit to get the dough flat enough and dry enough so that it doesn't adhere to itself (using the one egg is a good way to go about getting that perfect texture).

Since I sell dried pasta through my cottage food operation I do have a couple of kitchen aid attachments to help me through this process. It makes the process much faster than trying to hand roll everything. I can confidently say at this point that egg pasta does get thrown together much faster and with less effort than water based. For the pasta products that I sell at the markets and on my online shop I like to use water to allow the full herb flavor to come through in the nests. However for this particular recipe I opted for egg noodles for a couple reasons. The ease of working with the dough texture and the fact the lemon zest, to me, is a notoriously strong flavor so I wasn't concerned about it getting lost in the egg noodles.

So since I've spent enough time writing all about the pasta process let's talk about the why this pasta. Other than the obvious reason of spoiling myself and my girl while dad was out, I've actually been looking to whip up a wild Alaskan Salmon as a way to up my Vitamin B-12 just a bit to fight off my naturally low levels. Yes, through sweet and starchy treat are the focus for my little business I do try to approach my life and products with some lens of health and quality ingredients... most of the time, I'm a pretty solid 70/30 kind of person. Unfortunately for this particular dinner, the Salmon did not work out for us and so, getting veggies into the pasta was the goal.

Since I knew that I was going to be doing a white wine and lightly creamy pasta sauce I knew zucchini was going to be my best option for veggies. I decided to throw in shredded carrot as well since it's been a while since I've been able to make a vegetable heavy dish for little one, I wanted to make sure to add a little more rather than less. The garlic adds the nice kick of course and a cooking friendly white wine will compliment the acidity of that lemon zest in the pasta.

The Process

Since the pasta dough generally has to sit for a little bit and rest before going through the roller I decided that this was going to be the best place to start. To get the pasta dough together you'll need the following:

• 1.5 cups flour (whatever your preference, all purpose, semolina, 00)

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp lemon zest

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• water - as needed for texture

In a small bowl add the cup and a half of flour, some salt and pepper, and the tsp of lemon zest and mix it all together. pour the flour mixture onto a cutting board or other clean surface. Using a fork make a well in the middle of the flour that is large enough to hold an egg and 2 tbsp of olive oil. Crack your egg into the small well and add in the olive oil. Using a fork gently stir the egg, oil, and the flour together being careful not to break the flour walls, mix from the inside out.

When the dough starts coming together, knead it with your hands working for a few minutes until you have a dough that is dry enough that it's not sticking to you but wet enough to adhere to itself. When you feel confident in the texture roll it into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap to sit while you prep the rest of the dish. This whole process took me about 10 minutes or so.

While your pasta is sitting start prepping the rest of the element, for the veggies you'll need:

• 1 zucchini

• 1 carrot

• juice of 1/4 lemon

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1/4 cup white wine

• 1/4 cup heavy cream

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp capers

Peel and mince your garlic cloves. Using a peeler slice the zucchini into ribbons and peel the carrot. Cut one side of the carrot and using a shredder finely shred it. Cut a lemon into quarters and measure out your white wine, heavy cream, and capers.

in a large pan heat your olive oil and add minced garlic cooking until fragrant. Add your zucchini ribbons and shredded carrots cooking on med-low heat for 3-5 minutes until the veggies are tender. Add in your lemon juice, white wine, and heavy cream, stir it all together, and bring to a simmer. Let it cook down for a few minutes, so the veggies soak up the flavors.

While the veggies are cooking, start getting your pasta together. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add in salt. Attach your roller to your KitchenAid and unwrap your pasta dough ball. Cut the dough ball into quarters and flatten out the four pieces as best you can. Roll all 4 of the pieces through the roller on the 1st setting and then fold it into 3rds (this helps to create an even flat to roll through the final cutter). with each piece of dough roll it through working through settings from 1-7 to get it to the ideal thickness (or thinness). The texture should be dry enough that it's not sticking to each other so you shouldn't have to worry about stacking one flat on top of another.

Finally, take each out the flats and roll them through the spaghetti attachment of the KitchenAid cutter. you can put the cut pasta straight into your pot of boiling water. Once the pasta is rising to the top cook for about 3-4 minutes before straining. Once your pasta is done cooking strain the noodles and add them to your veggies and sauce. Mix it all together and enjoy!

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Recipe

Pasta:

1.5 cups flour

1 egg

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp dried lemon zest

salt

pepper

Veggies & sauce:

1 zucchini (ribboned)

1 carrot (finely shredded)

2 garlic cloves (minced)

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp capers

lemon juice from 1/4 of a lemon

1. prepare the pasta by mixing the pasta ingredients until you have a solid dough ball that sticks together, but not to you. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap while you prep the veggies and sauce.

2. Peel and mince the garlic cloves, peel the zucchini into ribbons, and finely shred the carrot using a grater.

3. In a large pan heat the olive oil and add garlic cooking until fragrant

4. add the zucchini and carrots and cook until tender

5. add the wine, cream, and lemon juice stir and bring to a light simmer. Stir occasionally letting the veggies soak in the flavor.

6. Bring a large pot of water with salt to a boil

7. Cut the dough ball into quarters. Run your pasta dough through the kitchen aid roller attachments through to setting 7, followed by the spaghetti attachment. Once your dough has run through the spaghetti attachment you can add it directly to your boiling water and let it cook for 5-7 minutes total.

8. Strain your pasta noodles, add them to the bowl with the sauce and veggies, and enjoy.

This dish makes about 4 servings of fresh veggie pasta.