How to make black ink pasta

When life gives you cuttlefish ink ... Or squid ink, for that matter ...

Fresh eggs make the best pasta, and so these came from a farm just down the road from where I live.

The cuttlefish ink had to travel a little farther. It's from Spain. Squid ink works just as well, and is probably more readily available, so use that instead if you like.

This is 3 1/4 cups of flour. I use a mixture of "OO" and super fine semolina to make my pasta, but all-purpose flour works great as well. After creating a well in the center, add 3 eggs, 3 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and 2 or 3 tablespoons of the ink.

Mix thoroughly.

And then, with either a fork or your fingers, slowly start to incorporate the flour into the egg mix.

After the dough is formed, begin to knead. Pasta dough can't be overworked, so don't worry about kneading too much.

Just get it to a point where the dough looks and feels good (it should neither be very moist nor dry). Wrap in plastic and allow the dough to rest for at least a couple of hours before rolling it out for your pasta. I usually make pasta dough a day in advance, leave it in the fridge overnight, then bring it to room temperature before rolling it out. I find that this makes for a smoother, silkier dough.

Oh, and this is a lobster lasagne that I made with some of the pasta dough. I'm surveying the dinner guests who I served it to the other night to determine whether to include its recipe here on a later post.

After all, we are a democracy, yes?