Herb Laminated Pasta Sheets

Cathrin Simon
3 days ago
2 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

Laminating herbs into pasta dough is one of my favorite ways to add a decorative accent — visually it's stunning, and it adds a very subtle herby flavor too. The technique is simple, but a little precision goes a long way toward a clean result.

Ingredients

2 sheets plain egg pasta dough
A generous handful of soft herb leaves (basil, chervil, sage, or oregano — avoid harder herbs like rosemary or thyme, which can tear through the dough)

Tools

Pasta machine
Large wooden working board

Layer the herbs

Spread your herb leaves evenly across one sheet of dough. You can simply sprinkle them on, but placing them fairly close together works best — they'll stretch out naturally as the dough goes through the machine, so leaves that look crowded at this stage usually end up perfectly spaced by the end.

Sandwich the layers

Place your second sheet of dough on top of the herbs, and gently press down with your palms to remove any air between the layers and create some initial hold.

Sheet it through

Carefully pick up your double-layered sheet and feed it through the pasta machine. Since it's now two layers thick, start at a wider setting than you'd normally use — if your usual finished thickness is setting 5, start at setting 2, and work your way back up to 5, running it through twice at each setting. You'll see the herbs slowly stretch into place as you go.

What to make with it

This dough is lovely left as long strands like pappardelle, letting the herb pattern take center stage. It's also a beautiful base for filled pasta — try it with ravioli all'uovo for a dish that looks as good as it tastes.