Chocolate Pasta ~ Pasta Di Cacao

Intro: Chocolate Pasta ~ Pasta Di Cacao

When I was in Tuscany this past summer, I saw Pasta di Cacao (Chocolate Pasta) everywhere!  The United States is just catching on to this craze, but it is SO very expensive to buy in the specialty shops. Would you believe an 8 ounce bag of chocolate pasta is almost ten dollars! Yes!  I kid you not!!   But, guess, what?? It is so easy to make, and the best part... it cost just a fraction of that luxury price!  Yes sirrreee!!

This savory chocolate pasta, I was told by a chef in Montalcino, Tuscany, is best served with a cream sauce..preferable an alfredo type sauce with extra Pecorino Romano for topping.

It is off the charts yummy!!!  Hope you make this and impress all your guests!!.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs

   YIELD: 18 ounces of pasta

STEP 1:

On a clean work surface, combine the flour and the cocoa powder, and make a well in the middle for the eggs.

STEP 2:

Crack the eggs into the middle of the flour well and beat with a fork, gradually pulling in some of the flour from the walls of the well to form a sticky dough. Continue in this fashion until all the dough is incorporated. Knead the dough into a ball.  If dough is too dry, add a about a tablespoon of water. If dough is too moist, add a little flour.

STEP 3:

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and allow to sit a room temperature for one hour.

STEP 4:

After one hour, dough will be pliable enough to roll. With a knife, cut off about 1/5 portion of the dough and roll out to about 1/4 in thin with a rolling pin.

STEP 5:

Once the dough is 1/4 inch thin, feed it through a pasta machine using the largest setting. Repeat a couple times on this setting until the dough is smooth and elastic. Repeat this step, but gradually decreasing the size setting, until the dough is desired thinness.

STEP 6:

Once your pasta sheets are rolled out to desired thinness, use your favorite pasta machine attachment to make your favorite pasta size.  I used the fettuccini setting.

STEP 7:

Once all your pasta is rolled and cut to your favorite shapes, or sizes, you may freeze or cook right away. Remember, fresh pasta cooks up very quickly (in a just a couple minutes, so keep an eye on it!)

Remember, this is a savory pasta, not sweet!  Toss the chocolate pasta with a cheesy alfredo sauce. Delizioso!!

STEP 8:

Pasta cooked and tossed with light Alfredo sauce and topped with additional grated Pecorino Romano cheese.

Comments

[lovethebackwoods]

I'm not sure what time frame is included in "Eggs are safe nowadays." I had salmonella from one infected egg in the summer of 1996 and was wretchedly sick for a couple of days. Never again, I hope! The recipe looks great - just not for me.

[tn.]

even back then, the statistical chance of getting salmonella from an egg is 1 in 20,000: http://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-facts/egg-safety/eggs-and-food-safety

fwiw, i'm 45yrs old and betw cookie dough, cake batter, and so on, i eat quite a lot of raw egg. the only time i caught food poisoning was a case of listeriosis from deli meat.

[boring4everanne]

Guess you wouldn't try DIY mayo, its wonderful & yep raw eggs

[TheBrooklynRagazza]

Bev, Thanks for your feedback and checking out my entry. I'm so sorry you had that experience. My pasta is cooked in boiling water, probably longer than most people cooked a fried egg, so the egg in the pasta is cooked. But, if you really want to make a pasta without eggs, you can certainly do that, too. :-)

[tn.]

besides - if you read the instructions, you'll see you're supposed to cook the pasta.

[boring4everanne]

I make fresh ground whole wheat bread & one time I put chocolate in it, not sure if it's a mental thing but it was just weird....I just made spinach noodles with white and kamut wheat, they were excellent! I may try this even though I'm a bit afraid!!

[Metabolic Cooking]

I had chocolate pasta with strawberry sauce once and it was delicious. It's not super sweet like a lot of other desserts. However, I certainly would not serve it over a creme brulee.

[RaphaelK1]

Hi!

I notice you us US volume measurements in this recipe. Would you be so kind as to weigh out your ingredients (particularly the cocoa and flour) so the recipe could be duplicated better?

Also, what percentage cocoa are you using?

I'm really curious about the cocoa to flour weight ratio. Volumetric measurements can really vary a lot due to how hard the four is packed, and how the individual four "grains" line up with each other.

Providing weights (US or metric) would be really beneficial.

Thanks heaps - and this recipe looks great - I'm going to try to guess the ratio and have a crack at it myself!

[SamJ10]

I made this pasta, it smelled great but it tasted a bit bitter... Any ideas on how to fix that?

[RaphaelK1]

Heya SamJ10....

"Chocolate Pasta" is a slight misnomer. "Cocoa Pasta" is a bit better translation IMHO, but us English speakers commonly use "Chocolate" where Europeans would say "Cocoa".

Anyway, my point is that the flavouring ingredient used is cocoa (rather than actual chocolate) and cocoa is naturally bitter, and must be sweetened to get that nice chocolaty taste. Adding a some sweet and possibly some creamy elements will start to balance your dish nicely.

The ratio of sweet to cocoa is a very personal one - and it also depends on the strength of the cocoa you use.

Cocoa comes in various strengths, cocoa is made from the cocoa solids. Chocolates core ingredients are cocoa butter and cocoa solids. A good dark chocolate is about 70% or greater cocoa solids; whilst white chocolate is without cocoa solids.

The other big factor here is personal taste - and we all have a different experience of bitterness. We all have different perception of taste - it's a genetic thing - so your experience of bitterness will vary, and what is just right for you may be too bitter or too sweet for the next person.

Anyway, I digress, and think I've answered way too much.

The short answer is - you need to balance the bitterness of the cocoa with other tastes. Even if you're making a savoury dish with this pasta, a touch of sweetness may help round things out.

[SpaceGirl_DFTBA]

I was thinking of making a lasagna with this, and replace the savoury bechamel/white sauce with one with vanilla, and replace the tomato sauce by a red fruit sauce, if you don't add any extra sugar, you might even serve it as a main dish to get people to think about food by taking it out of traditional settings (it has grains, dairy, egg, fruit and no added sugars, whivh to me sounds like it has all the nutricious aspects of a main course)

[rudmanba]

I am inspired to make a chocolate tortelli with perhaps a hazelnut (nutella) and pistachio filling. Serve this with drizzles of chocolate and white chocolate ganache, and a drizzle or razberry coulis. . .

[pg1315]

That sounds incredible!

[Durdle]

AMazing Pasta!~

[BR AFTERSHOCK]

I think it would be great i might try it i wouldnt think to pare chocolate with alfredo sauce genuise

[MiraKurumi2]

that would b great served with a scope of vanilla bean ice cream, whipped cream and pecans...or with wilted spinach, pine nuts and Alfredo sause....so u can have it either savory or sweet

[mgoodson1]

The Persians make a dish called "Shirin Pollo". It's a chicken dish flavored with an ORANGE relish similar to marmalade, incorporating slivered almonds. I think using their orange marmalade and cooking chicken with it, and serving it over this past could potentially be a major winner. I love chocolate and orange together so much, AND chocolate and almonds. How could it not be delicious????

[Pane-Bistecca]

What a great idea!

[sunshiine]

This looks so good! Thanks for sharing!
Sunshiine

[TheBrooklynRagazza]

you are so welcome!! Thank you!! -Cath