Fazzoletti "Handkerchief" Pasta

Fazzoletti, which in Italian loosely translates to "handkerchief," is a type of super thin pasta rolled with herbs and popular throughout the Mediterranean- each country having their own herbal profile and serving style. This is a beautiful, artistic, and creative type of pasta, which allows for endless combinations of herbs and flavor profiles. The following is my original recipe.

2 cups of King Arthur's Wheat Flour, three Pete and Gerry's Heirloom Eggs, two tables spoons of olive oil and blend by hand until firm dough develops. Add a few drops of water if it is still a bit dry. It should be somewhat stiff dough.

Roll dough into ball and wrap with cling wrap. Refrigerate for a few hours.

Clean & prepare your herbs. This required about 2 cups. I used: parsley, watercress, and dill.You can get as creative as you want with the combination of greens. Don't be afraid to mix in lettuce varieties.

Split the large dough ball into four smaller discs. Using pasta roller, roll until it's very thin. I turned the knob all the way to 6 to allow it to be nearly translucent. Cut the super long sheet in equal halves.

The fun part! Decorate one half of the sheet with herbs. You can add garlic powder , dried herbs, salt & pepper at this point. The skies the limit with creativity.

Lay the other half of the pasta sheet on top, in essence making a giant pasta sandwich . Press them together gently as not to mess up your herb art. Use a rolling pin to get the two sheets to stick together to pass through roller again.

I rolled the sheets through setting 4 and five again. It should stretch and distort the herbs into beautiful patterns, reminiscent of a handkercheif.

I think they look like fern fossils, so I nicknamed it "Fossil pasta." Cut the pasta sheets however you prefer. I sliced them into square-ish bits to keep the integrity of the "image"

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a slow boil and drop in the pasta peice by peice. Let cook 5-6 minutes and fish them out with a pasta fork or slotted spoon. They stayed in tack quite nicely.

They looked almost too pretty to eat... ALMOST! I served them with a simple drizzle of garlic and shallot sautteed in olive oil and white wine; then topped with grated Parmesan. Fazzoletti has a distinctly herbal flavor, but not too overpowering. This pasta is a total 'looker' and makes a beautiful side dish or can stand on its own-- as in this case. Just served with a crunchy side salad and asparagus.