Chocolate pasta, yep. Pasta with chocolate in it. I’ve seen it in some posh chocolate shops to buy someone as a quirky gift, but oh no, we are doing this properly, from scratch, with pasta flour, pasta machine (you could use a rolling pin) and well, an open mind! Serve it on it’s own or with the peanut butter cream sauce we made and a variety of toppings. Lets go!
First up sieve the icing sugar, 00 flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl, form a little gap with your fingers and add in the salt, vanilla extract, a squeeze of chocolate sauce and the 3 beaten eggs. You’ll want to work this through with a fork, it will likely go very dry and clumpy, give it your best shot to get it to bond as much as possible, but you may need (like me in the video) to add a couple of tablespoons of water, do not add too much water though. Keep working it with the fork or a spatula towards the end helped a lot, until you have a big chocolate ball. It will be pretty rough in texture.
Plonk it down onto a floured chopping board and knead away for a good ten minutes, if it becomes sticky add more flour, it will get nice and smooth. Wrap the ball in cling film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes, wipe down and wonder what the heck you just did!
Once done remove from the fridge and take a quarter of the mixture, put the rest back in the fridge. With that quarter piece dust well with flour and roll out with a rolling pin as thin as you can and cut into even size long strips about an inch wide. If you have a pasta machine like I do, start on the widest setting and work down to about half way in thickness. This will create a far more compact sheet of pasta than the rolling pin visually so you may want to halve it. Place on a dusted board until ready to cook the pasta.
Bring a pan of water to a simmer and cook the pasta strips for 4-5 mins, take one out and test it’s done then drain off. Meanwhile (probably whilst the water is boiling in the pan for the pasta) warm the cream in a small saucepan and push in the peanut butter. Stir it and as it warms it will break down and go smooth, do not boil it, just get it warm and lump free. Leave in the pan.
Transfer the cooked pasta into the sauce delicately and lift the sauce on top of it to coat it. Serve on a plate with a dollop of creme fraiche, grated white and milk chocolate, pistachios and raspberries! This was strangely delicious! If you have a nut allergy mix up the toppings and change the peanut butter for your favourite spread. Good luck!
Oh & you’ll have plenty of dough to make at least 6 portions!