There is this moment, when working dough through a pasta machine, that it ceases to be dough and suddenly becomes pasta. It’s not when you’re done with it, it’s some time before that, because it still needs a few more passes before it’s really ready, but you just look at it and know. And it’s sort of like magic. I feel like Ian’s gift has given me the ability to make magic in my own kitchen.

For my second attempt at homemade pasta, I decided to stick to something easy like fettuccine, but with a twist: I added spinach. The result was a vibrant green noodle that puts to shame any spinach pasta I’ve bought before. I think sometime I’d like to dehydrate and powder some spinach for this purpose, but this time around, frozen was fine.

Spinach Pasta

4 c unbleached flour, plus more to work

4 eggs

water (to moisten)

10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained

I tried to puree the spinach like the recipes I saw said, but it didn’t want to cooperate with my food processor, so I just whizzed it a few times. In a large bowl, or on your work surface, mix together the flour, egg and spinach, adding water as needed until it becomes a consistent dough. Run through a pasta maker, flouring as necessary, until very thin. Then, cut into desired pasta (I used my fettucine cutter) and cook in boiling, salted water.