Tomato Pasta

Making your own pasta dough from scratch is satisfying, and adding tomato paste to the mix gives you noodles with a beautiful sunset-orange color and a subtle tomato flavor baked right into every strand.

The tomato paste does more than add color. It contributes acidity and a concentrated tomato depth that you’ll taste even under a heavy sauce. Just two tablespoons is enough to tint the entire batch without making the dough too wet or altering the texture.

This recipe is designed for a pasta machine with an extruder, which mixes and shapes the dough in one step. The dry ingredients go in first, then the wet ingredients (eggs, tomato paste, olive oil) get added slowly while the machine mixes. The dough should come together into a smooth, pliable ball.

Fresh tomato pasta cooks in about 2 minutes, so watch it closely. Dried, it takes closer to 10 minutes. The recipe suggests serving with a tomato-alfredo sauce, which doubles down on the tomato theme beautifully.

Kitchen Tips

• Add the liquid ingredients slowly. Too fast and the dough turns sticky and unworkable.
• If the dough is too dry, add water a teaspoon at a time. If too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time.
• Fresh pasta should feel smooth and slightly tacky, not sticky or crumbly.
• Dust extruded pasta with flour or semolina to prevent pieces from sticking together.

Variations

• Add a teaspoon of dried basil or oregano to the flour for an herb-infused pasta.
• Use spinach puree instead of tomato paste for green pasta.
• Roll by hand with a rolling pin if you don’t have a pasta machine. Just rest the dough 30 minutes first.