Saffron Pasta Recipes: Paella Pasta and Saffron Fettuccine

I love experimenting with different shapes, sizes and flavors of pasta. The hubby gave me the (affiliate link) pasta press attachment for my KitchenAid for Christmas one year and I’ve had fun experimenting with it.

My explorations in pasta making have also included forays into colored pastas thanks to my discovery of the instagram feed from Salty Seattle. It is really something to see. I will never rise to her level of talent but it is fun to play. (Buy her cookbook)

All of the colors are derived from natural dyes such as beet powder, matcha tea or in the case of my recipe for today – which is also brings flavor to the dish – saffron. The recipe I use for making pasta generally feeds us for two dinners with leftovers.

I made two recipes with this batch of saffron pasta; one complicated, the other rather simple. Both were delicious.

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Saffron Pasta Recipes

For the Saffron Pasta
12 oz 00 Italian Flour or All Purpose Flour plus more as needed
1 tsp salt
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1/4 tsp crushed saffron mixed with 2 TBS warm water

For the Paella Pasta
12 large shrimp
1 6 oz can tomato sauce
8 oz chicken broth
2 tsp olive oil
half of a small onion, diced
1 bay leaf
1 TBS paprika
1 TBS dried basil
I 1/2 cups broccoli florets, roasted
salt to taste

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For the Fettuccine
1 quart tomato soup
1 pint chicken broth
2 TBS grated Parmesan Cheese
2 TBS toasted Pine Nuts

Make the saffron pasta:
Crush the saffron very finely and add to the warm water and let sit.
Whisk the flour and salt together in a bowl and make a well in the center.
Break the eggs into the center, add the egg yolk and stir with a fork until mixed.
Add the saffron water.
Slowly mix in the flour to the liquid in the center until it is all combined and you have a dough ball.
Sprinkle some flour on your counter top and remove the dough ball and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth.
Wrap in plastic and let sit for half an hour to rest.

saffron pasta recipes, paella pasta, saffron fettuccine — Isn’t it a beautiful color?

Cut the dough in half and return half to the plastic wrap and refrigerate for later use.

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Make the Paella Pasta:
Preheat the oven to 400°
Grease a baking pan and add the broccoli. Sprinkle with salt. Let bake for 20 minutes.
I chose fusilli as the shape for my paella pasta but any shape would be good.
To use this dough in the KitchenAid pasta press it needs to be just a little bit stiffer than it is at this point so you need to add about 1/4 cup of flour to the dough by just slowly kneading it in.
Once you have done this make walnut sized balls and set them aside.
Attach the pasta press to your mixer and start it on speed 3
Add a couple of pasta balls to the press and push them down with the provided tool.
I cut the fusilli at about an inch but I will be honest and say that some are bigger and some are smaller.
After you cut them place them on a wire rack to dry as you cut the rest.

Make the Paella Pasta:
Remove the tails from the shrimp – and the other shell if you are lucky enough to have it. Set aside.
Cut the shrimp into bit sized pieces and add to a bowl.

Sprinkle the basil and paprika over the shrimp and mix well. Set aside.
Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat.
Add the olive oil and the onion.
Cook the onion until it starts to brown – be careful to not burn it.
Add the shrimp tails and swirl in the heat. Lower the heat to medium.
Add the tomato sauce and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and add the bay leaf.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
While waiting for the water to boil remove the bay leaf and shrimp tails from the tomato broth and let is simmer gently.
Turn the heat to low and add the shrimp. Stir and let them cook. Add the roasted broccoli.
When the water reaches a boil add the fusilli and cook for about three minutes.
Remove the cooked fusilli to the pan with the tomato broth and shrimp.

Gently stir to mix in the fusilli. Let cook for two minutes.
Remove from the heat, cover and let sit for 8 minutes.

To Make the Fettuccine
Cut the remaining pasta dough in quarters.
Run it through the flat press KitchenAid attachment a few times to knead and then to #4
Use the fettuccine cutter, dusting with flour after the pasta has been cut.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
While waiting for the water mix the tomato soup and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and keep warm.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for three minutes.
Place some of the pasta in a bowl and add the soup.

Top with the cheese and pine nuts.

How Were the Saffron Pasta Recipes?

Saffron is one of those flavors you either love or hate. Obviously we both love it or I wouldn’t have gone and made both of these recipes. It’s an expensive spice so I use it when I really want the flavor to shine. It really came through in both of these saffron pasta recipes. I enjoyed the Paella Pasta more but it was a bolder meal using all of the flavors of that classic rice dish.

We both gobbled it down and I had it the next night as the hubby was at a meeting. It was even better after it rested overnight in the refrigerator. To create this recipe I just looked at a number of paella recipes and improvised. We both agreed that making it again would be a good idea.

The Saffron Fettuccine was very good, just not as flavorful. The pasta carried the saffron taste and it married well with the tomato soup. It came together much more quickly than the paella pasta and we did enjoy it. It just wasn’t as good.