Every time I test this pasta, I go to take a taste, and end up eating the entire bowl right there over the counter. It is shockingly good. There is something about super fresh, hand made pasta dough covered in incredibly rich cream sauce that is irresistible to me.

If you have a pasta attachment for your stand mixer sitting around gathering dust because you are intimidated by it, be not afraid! Making hand made pasta is much easier than it seems. Once you’ve done it once, I promise you will be shocked at how easy it is. It gets easier with every iteration. Once you master a basic dough, you can conquer anything from fettuccine to ravioli. For my classic pasta dough, simply leave out the butterfly blue pea flower powder.

Brilliant Blue Pasta with Cream Sauce

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (227g)

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon Blue Butterfly Pea Flower powder

3 large eggs 

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper (or black pepper)

Instructions 

1. Start a large pot of water to boil.  
2. Mix salt and blue butterfly pea flower powder into flour. Pour flour+salt mixture onto a clean counter or large cutting board. 
3. Shape your mound of flour and salt into a volcano to make a well in the center of your flour.  
4. Crack eggs into a small bowl. Pour them into the center of your well. Add olive oil to the center of the well.  
5. Using a large fork, stir the eggs and oil until they slowly begin to combine with the surrounding flour.  
6. Don’t worry too much if your eggs leak out, but try your best to reshape the mound to contain them until your dough forms.  If you have a bench scraper to scoop and cut the flour into your dough. 
7. Knead your dough for 5-10 minutes until smooth. Cut in half and wrap one portion in plastic wrap while you roll out the other half.  
8. Using a rolling pin or pasta machine, roll out your dough thin. With regular pasta dough, you want to be able to see your hand through the sheet of pasta, but with the blue coloring, this is impossible to do. 
9. Cut out your pasta shapes and twirl into nests (if long noodles). Dust with flour to prevent sticking. 

11. Heavy salt your pot of water once it begins boiling.  
12. Carefully add pasta nests while separating slightly before you gently lower them into the boiling water. 

12. Boil pasta in batches for 5 minutes (longer if you rolled with a rolling pin).
13. While your pasta is boiling, start your cream sauce. 
14. In a large, heavy bottomed pot like a Dutch oven, melt your 2 Tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add your 2 Tablespoons of flour and whisk constantly for 2 minutes or until flour smells it has been toasted. 
15. Add your 1 cup of whole milk and your 1 cup of heavy cream to your butter-flour mixture and whisk constantly until your sauce starts to thicken. 
16. Slowly sprinkle your Parmesan cheese into your sauce. If you add too much at once it will clump up. 
17. Add your ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon white pepper. Stir to combine. Remove from heat. 
18. Remove pasta from water with tongs and add to cream sauce. Toss with tongs and serve warm.

Notes:

• White pepper is used in this recipe purely for aesthetics. While I love the floral taste of white pepper and use it often in my cooking, I like adding it to white sauces so that the sauce is uninterrupted by black flecks. 
• This sauce is a hybrid of a classic French béchamel and an Alfredo sauce. Starting with a roux of butter and flour is reminiscent of a béchamel, but when we add heavy cream and Parmesan, it becomes something else. 
• Try the cream sauce with any pasta you like! It is a quick, Alfredo-esque sauce. 
• Top with any fresh herbs you have lying around. 
• If you don’t have a pasta attachment for a stand mixer (they don’t make them for my brand of stand mixer any more), hand crank pasta rollers are a less expensive option and are a fun activity for kids! Making anything more hands on is always a hit in the kitchen.