Backyard Blogging.

Enjoy this fresh pasta dish any night this week. We love Smoked Tomato and Basil Sauce with Homemade Pasta when you just a little something special.

Ingredients

• 1lb cooked noodles (homemade or store bought)
• 1 tbsp reserved pasta water
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (for tomato smoking)
• 2 large beefsteak tomatoes, with the core removed; leave the bottom closed
• 1 clove elephant garlic, cut in half (or 3 to 4 cloves regular garlic, whole)
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 12 leaves fresh basil
• Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Instructions

Equipment

• Big Green Egg Cast Iron Dutch oven

Set your Big Green Egg for indirect cooking with a convEGGtor at 300°F/149°C with cherry smoking chips. Add the Dutch oven to the EGG to preheat.

Add 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil to the Dutch oven. Put your halved elephant garlic (or two cloves of garlic) into each beefsteak tomato, and place into the Dutch oven with the opening of the tomato facing upward. Smoke for 45-50 minutes, or until the juices have released and the tomatoes are soft. Remove the tomatoes and set aside to let cool. Once they’ve cooled, rough chop the tomatoes and mince the smoked garlic.

Increase the EGG temperature to 350°F. Add extra virgin olive oil to the Dutch oven, add crushed red pepper flakes, and let cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper to the Dutch oven, cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the Dutch oven from the EGG and add basil.

Add the reserved pasta water and stir to mix. Add the pasta and toss to coat with the sauce.

Plate the pasta using a fork, and spoon some extra sauce with tomatoes over it. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Homemade Pasta Ingredients

4 large eggs (room temperature)
2½ cups flour (“00” flour, semolina flour, all-purpose flour – or a blend)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp fine sea salt

Homemade Pasta Instructions

Courtesy of: Ali at GimmesomeOven.com

Place the flour in a mound on a large cutting board. Use your fingers or a spoon to create a good-sized well in the middle of the flour mound (kind of like a volcano). Add the eggs in the center of the well. Sprinkle the salt and drizzle the olive oil on top of the eggs.

Use a fork to begin whisking the eggs until they are combined.  Then begin to gradually whisk some of the surrounding flour into the egg mixture, adding more and more until the egg mixture is nice and thick. Use your hands to fold in the rest of the dough until it forms a loose ball. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic, sprinkling some extra flour on the cutting board if needed to prevent sticking or if they dough seems too wet or sticky … you want the dough to be pretty dry.

Form the dough into a ball with your hands and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, then use immediately or refrigerate for up to one day.

Roll out the pasta dough into your desired shape, either by hand or using a pasta maker.

How to roll fresh pasta by hand:

To roll out your pasta by hand, shape one wedge into an oval-shaped flat disc. Transfer the disc to a cutting board, and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it reaches your desired level of thickness (generally between 1-2 mm thick), adding extra flour to the cutting board as needed to prevent sticking. In general, a good test for thickness is that you should be able to see your hand through the dough if you carefully lift it up. Using a pizza cutter or a knife, slice the dough into 5-inch sections. Sprinkle each section with a bit of extra flour. Then, starting on the short side of the sections, roll them up into very loose, flat cylinders. Cut the cylinders crosswise to create your desired width of noodles. Transfer the cut pasta to a drying rack, or swirl it into little pasta “nests” and lay them on a floured surface to dry for 30 minutes. Repeat with the remaining pasta dough.

How to store fresh pasta:

Be sure to let the pasta air out on a drying rack or on a baking sheet for at least 30 minutes (or up to two hours). Transfer to an airtight container and either refrigerate for up to two days or freeze for up to two weeks. To use frozen fresh pasta, transfer it to the refrigerator to thaw for at least 4-6 hours, then cook as usual. Cook the pasta in a large pot of generously-salted boiling water until it is al dente, usually between 1-5 minutes depending on the thickness of your pasta. Drain the pasta, reserving ½ cup of the pasta water to use with the sauce. Serve immediately.

Recipe and photo from Big Green Egg.