In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing in the culinary world like fresh pasta! If I see that a restaurant makes their own pasta, I absolutely order it, 100% of the time. But in reality, fresh pasta isn’t really that difficult to make. I find it really therapeutic to knead the dough and roll out each sheet by hand. You don’t need any special equipment either. I do own a pasta machine, but most of the time I end up rolling out the pasta with my daughter’s Play-doh rolling pin and cutting the strips with a pizza cutter! #momlife

I also really love making flavored pastas. I just found a great company, Glean, that makes whole-food, gluten-free flour. Gleaning is a term that means collecting the leftover crops from fields after they have been harvested. I love Glean, because this is exactly what they do. As we know, food waste is a huge problem in the U.S. and across the world, and they are helping combat that by using produce that is too “ugly” to sell and turning them into delicious flours. I decided to make pasta out of their sweet potato flour, and I loved the outcome! Such a vibrant sweet potato flavor, without the added hassle of steaming and pureeing the vegetable. For more information on Glean and their products, check out www.liveglean.com.

Sweet Potato Pasta Tagliatelle

serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup Glean sweet potato flour

2 cups flour of choice (I use spelt)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg or flax egg

1/2 cup of water

Method:

On a clean countertop, mix together the dry ingredients. Gently make a well in the middle of the mixed flour. In that center indentation, add your egg and water. Using a fork, beat the wet ingredients. Slowly start taking more and more flour into your wet mixture as you go. Knead your mixture until it forms a smooth dough. Let dough rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. Cut your rested dough into 10 sections. Working with one section at a time, roll out each piece as thin as you can make it, adding a sprinkle of flour here or there if it gets sticky. Slice into strips using a pizza cutter. Add the tagliatelle to a pot of salted boiling water for about 4 minutes. Add any sauce you would like and serve immediately. I loved this sweet potato tagliatelle with a dairy-free mushroom alfredo sauce. So earthy and delicious! If you would like a visual on how to make this pasta, please check out my Instagram stories @plantedfamilies. ;)