Masterchef silk handkerchief pasta with pesto alla Genovese

This recipe is simply delicious and quite easy. It was our first experience at making pasta from scratch and we succeeded (much to our amusement). The only thing we changed was the amount of salt we added, I would recommend adding about half the amount. Definitely recommend this recipe.

Ingredients

• 200g”00″ flour, plus extra for dusting
• 2eggs
• 40g coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsolive oil

• 1 large bunch small-leaved basil, leaves picked, plus extra for garnish
• 10g coarse sea salt
• 40g pine nuts
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 80g pecorino or parmesan, finely grated
• 100ml olive oil
• 1 Tbsgreek or natural yoghurt

Method

1. For the pasta, place flour in a bowl or on a work surface, and make a well in the centre. Add eggs and start to combine with a fork to a rough paste. Dusting with flour, knead dough until smooth but not sticky.
2. Divide dough into quarters. Set a pasta machine to the widest setting and lightly dust pasta dough and rollers with flour. Dusting with flour throughout, feed dough through the machine, folding the pasta in half before feeding it through until you have a well-combined and strong sheet. Gradually narrow settings until the dough is about 1mm-thick. Tear sheets of pasta into 15cm pieces, and dust with flour to prevent them from sticking together.
3. For the pesto, pound basil and salt in a mortar and pestle until the leaves have broken down. Add pine nuts and garlic and pound to a fine pulp, then stir in pecorino. Gradually add oil and continue pounding until the mixture is smooth, then add yoghurt and stir to combine.
4. To cook the pasta, bring 4L of water to the boil. Add salt and oil. One by one, add pasta sheets to pan, cook for about 1 minute or until al dente.
5. Gently heat pesto and add 1/3 cup boiling pasta water in a frying pan over low heat. Remove pasta sheets from the water using a slotted spoon and transfer to the pesto sauce, tossing to coat. Divide pasta among bowls and garnish with basil leaves to serve.

Full credit to Antonio Carluccio (Masterchef) for this recipe.