Spinach Fettuccine

Green Spinach Fettuccine from Le Marche

Spinach Fettuccine from La Campofilone are green egg pasta made from durum wheat semolina, eggs, and fresh spinach, cut into four-millimeter wide ribbons. No artificial coloring, just real spinach in the dough – the same artisanal tradition as the classic fettuccine, just green.

Spinach Fettuccine, or Fettuccine agli Spinaci in Italian, are green ribbon pasta that derive their color and a subtle, earthy flavor solely from the spinach folded into the dough. At La Campofilone, they are created using the same base recipe as all the pasta manufacturer’s egg noodles, with the addition of green spinach to the dough made from durum wheat semolina and egg.

Paglia e Fieno, straw and hay on one plate

In Italy, a mixture of green and classic light ribbon pasta is called Paglia e Fieno, or "straw and hay" – a charming image for two colors on a single plate, which has been a staple in Northern Italian kitchens for generations.

If you would like to recreate this, simply combine the spinach fettuccine with the classic fettuccine from La Campofilone. Both require the same cooking time of 1 to 2 minutes and taste wonderful together in a cream sauce: savory, creamy, and earthy, with the delicate egg flavor that ties both varieties together.

Salmon, mushrooms, or a simple tomato sugo

Spinach fettuccine pair well with bold accompaniments: mushrooms and bacon tossed in cream, a savory tomato sugo, or strips of grilled salmon from the Faroe Islands, briefly folded through the hot sauce.

The cream sauce should be only lightly thickened and seasoned with plenty of black pepper and a touch of lemon zest, which highlights the earthy spinach flavor rather than masking it. That is all a green plate of pasta needs on a weekday, and if you like, a pinch of grated nutmeg rounds the whole thing off, just like in any good spinach béchamel.

Enzo Rossi and the color from his own garden

La Campofilone bears the name of the small village on the Adriatic coast where egg pasta has been made since 1912. Since 1998, it has been managed by Enzo Rossi, who runs the business as a family operation with his wife and daughters, Maria Vittoria and Federica.

For all varieties, the same rule applies, as Enzo Rossi himself says: only what grows on their own farm goes into the dough. The durum wheat comes from their own fields in the provinces of Ascoli Piceno and Macerata—GMO-free and locally milled—and the eggs come from free-range hens with plenty of space and few birds per square meter.

In 2009, La Campofilone was recognized for this with the Good Egg Award from Compassion in World Farming, the most important international organization for animal welfare in agriculture. Hats off to that. The spinach also comes from the region; it is blanched briefly and mixed in, not used as a powder or concentrate.

This requires skilled hands: the freshly cut pasta is placed on folded paper sheets with edges turned up—a task traditionally reserved for the most experienced employees at La Campofilone. The actual drying process begins on these sheets, taking 20 to 48 hours at temperatures below 36 degrees Celsius. It is slow enough to ensure the green color does not fade and the aroma is preserved. In the entire La Campofilone range, you will find even more egg pasta from the same workshop, both colored and classic.

Mushrooms, butter, and freshly ground pepper

Boil the spinach fettuccine in plenty of salted water for 1 to 2 minutes, drain, and reserve a splash of the cooking water. Melt butter with a little garlic, sauté the mushrooms briefly, fold in the pasta, and sprinkle with Parmesan and freshly ground pepper. You are done with a dish that looks much more effort-intensive than it actually is, and that holds its own even on a Sunday table.