Welcome to the second installment of Girl on the Grill – my attempt at facing my fears of all things grill and proving that girls can grill just as well as guys. This time I will show you a step-by-step guide to making your own homemade basil pasta with grilled spring onions and tomatoes, because yes, making homemade pasta can be easy.
I got my inspiration for this recipe from one of my favorite food magazines, Bon Appetite, but, as always, had to put my own spin on it. The pasta recipe is from here, but I added some crushes basil from my wonderful mother’s garden to really add a taste of summer. Casarecce pasta is a great shape that I love to use with light sauces and vinaigrettes because its U shape captures all of it! The Meyer lemon honey seems like an odd choice, but paired with a heavy helping of olive oil and lemon, it’s subtle sweetness brings out the fresh deliciousness of the vegetables.
Basil Casarecce Pasta
Ingredients
Instructions
Combine all dry ingredients, and make a well in the center for the basil and eggs. Using a fork, whisk the eggs and basil into the flour until it begins to form a dough. Then use your hands.
Knead the dough in the bowl until it begins to form, and then turn it out onto a very lightly floured surface. Continue to knead until the dough is soft and springs back to the touch, about 8 minutes.
Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let sit for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 4 even pieces. Roll out one piece at a time until it is about 1 inch think. Keep the other pieces wrapped in the towel until ready to use. Cut the long piece of dough into little pieces about 1/2 an inch big.
Roll out the 1/2 inch pieces in your palm before placing onto a clean surface. Place a thick skewer or lollipop stick in the center and quickly roll out. Gently pry the dough off the stick and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and heavily dusted with semolina flour.
Repeat this step for all of the dough, and place in a refrigerator until ready to make.
While your homemade pasta is in the refrigerator, start prepping the tomatoes.
Roasted Tomatoes & Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Instructions
Wash the tomatoes and set them aside. Combine all other ingredients in a bowl. Place tomatoes in the bowl and toss to coat. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour to marinate.
Preheat oven to 200º F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. After marinating, scoop out the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and place on parchment. Reserve the vinaigrette in the bowl and set aside.
Place tray in the oven and let bake for 2 hours until the tomatoes begin to shrivel and burst. Remove from the oven and let sit out until room temperature.
Grilled Spring Onions & Sugar Snap Peas
Ingredients
Instructions
Cut the root ends off of the onions and cut the pea pods on a diagonal. Place whole onions and pods into the bowl with the marinade and toss to combine. Refrigerate for one hour.
After your tomatoes are out of the oven, fire up the grill and place a grill pan on it to heat up.
Using a slotted spoon, scoop the pods into the grill pan on the grill, and place the whole onions directly on the grill.
The onions should take only about 2 minutes. Remove from the grill and using a pair of kitchen scissors, roughly cut them into pieces 2 to 3 inches long. Place the cut pieces back into the bowl of marinade.
Flip the pods around in the grill pan until they are all nicely charred, about 15 minutes. Remove from the pan and place back in the marinade bowl. Stir in the roasted tomatoes, and coat with the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and basil. Mix to combine and set aside.
And voilà! All of your individual recipes have been completed, and now it’s time to build the plate. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil, and gently drop in your homemade pasta. Cook for about 7 to 9 minutes, depending on your preferred bite. (I think all pasta should be al dente, so I cooked mine for 7 minutes, but it depends on how thick you rolled out your pasta.) After you drain your pasta, pour into a large bowl and pour the vegetables and marinade on top. Stir gently until evenly coated and distributed, and add a touch of pasta water if desired. Serve cold, at room temperature, or hot!
This dish has a lot of little steps and takes a pretty decent amount of time to accomplish. Luckily, the great gaps of time aren’t completely hands on, but it keeps you in the kitchen for a big part of it! But I can promise it will be worth it. Especially because you can save the leftovers for up to five days, and when you stumble in late one night, you’ll be so thankful you have this leftover in the fridge (I’m telling you from experience.)