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Makes 4 servings (about 1 pound) 1x
Time at least 1 hour, somewhat unattended
If you’re using a food processor:
Stem, rinse, and steam 8 ounces fresh spinach, or thaw 4 ounces frozen spinach. Drain, squeeze to get as much water out as possible, and chop (or mince if mixing by hand).
Put the flour and salt in the work bowl and pulse once or twice. Add the spinach and 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 extra flour in small amounts if the dough sticks to the side of the bowl.
If you’re mixing by hand:
Stem, rinse, and steam 8 ounces fresh spinach, or thaw 4 ounces frozen spinach. Drain, squeeze to get as much water out as possible, and chop (or mince if mixing by hand).
Combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt on a counter or large board. Make a well in the middle. Put the eggs and spinach into this well. Beat the eggs with a fork, gradually incorporating the flour, a little at a time and making sure to break up any clumps of spinach while mixing. When it becomes too hard to stir with the fork, use your hands. When all the flour on the surface has been mixed in, knead the dough, pushing it against the counter and folding it repeatedly, until it is not at all sticky and has become quite stiff. Add only small amounts of the remaining flour during kneading, if you absolutely need it.
Rolling the dough:
Sprinkle the dough with a little flour and cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel; let it rest for about 30 minutes. (At this point, you can refrigerate the dough, wrapped in plastic, until you’re ready to roll it out, up to 24 hours.)
Clean your hands and clamp a pasta machine to the counter; sprinkle the work surface lightly with flour. Cut off about one-third of the dough; keep the rest wrapped in plastic or covered with a towel while you work. Roll the dough lightly in flour and use your hands to flatten it into a rectangle about the width of the machine. Set the machine to its thickest setting and crank the dough through. If it sticks, dust it with a little more flour. Repeat. Set the machine to its next- thinnest setting and repeat. Each time, if the pasta sticks, sprinkle it with a little more flour, and each time put the dough through the machine twice.
Continue to work your way down—or up, as the case may be; each machine is numbered differently—through the numbers. If at any point the dough tears badly, bunch it together and start again; you will quickly get the hang of it. Use as much flour as you need to, but in small amounts each time.
Pass the dough through the machine’s thinnest setting; if this fails, pass it through the next- thicker one. Repeat two more times (by this time it will be going quickly), then flour the dough lightly, cover it, and get it out of the way. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
Cut each sheet into rectangles roughly 16 inches long; trim the ends to make it neat. At this point the dough is ready to be used. You can leave it as sheets to make lasagne or stuffed pasta, cut the sheets with a sharp knife to make noodles, or pass the dough through the machine once more, this time using the desired cutting attachment. Cook right away, or hang the strands to dry for up to a couple of hours.
To cook the noodles, drop them into boiling salted water; they’ll be done when tender, in less than 3 minutes, probably less than 2. Sauce them immediately and serve.
— Recipe from How to Cook Everything Completely Revised 20th Anniversary Edition