Black Squid Ink Fettuccini

We make fresh pasta, probably a couple times a month. Irene makes the dough, it rests to hydrate in the fridge, then I roll it out into sheets, angel hair, or fettuccini. I find the rolling and cutting to be almost therapeutic, relaxing. It's not hard, something I'll do on a weeknight after a stressful day at work.

Squid ink pasta with highly-reduced fish/cream sauce

This time, Irene mixed black squid ink into the dough and it makes for a stunning -- and a little bit creepy -- presentation. I'll write another post showing how I roll and cut the pasta. This one's just about the dramatic look of the dish. 

For two people, my usual pasta is 100 g AP flour, 100 g coarse semolina, 2 eggs; for this, I add 20 g Squid Ink which is like a thick gel. Whiz in food processor until it comes together in a ball, wrap in cling film to hydrate, then roll and cut. 

Below, there's an unrolled lump and next to rolled and cut strands. The lump looks almost like coal.

Strands next to a sheet of rolled but uncut dough. It looks nothing like food -- more like black died leather, or a fruit roll-up made out of tar.  The noodles are white with flour because I have to dust the sheet before putting it through the cutter to prevent sticking.

Look at the texture of those noodles after cooking, you can see a roughness, almost like sand paper or a cat's tongue; this helps the sauce adhere. After cooking the noodles, we sauced this one with a contrasting cream sauce made from heavily reduced cream and fish stock -- it's intense, and complements the slight fishiness of the squid ink.

In the top photo, we garnish with parsley and a gratuitous zucchini blossom from the garden.