Pink Sauce Pasta | Cheesy Pasta Sauce with Beetroot

We will begin by making the pasta, add the flour in a mixing bowl. Make an indent in the centre with your hands and add the water. Begin stirring the water around to mix in the flour and make a slurry. Once the water is mixed begin kneading and make smooth dough.
Allow the dough to rest for at least 30 minutes. Once well rested, dust the working surface and place the dough over it. Press to flatten into a round shape. Then thin it out using a rolling pin. It needs t o be evenly thinned out throughout and not more than 2 mm thick.

• 

Make a half book fold twice as shown and then begin cutting the pasta into 3 mm thick strands. Separate the pasta and the portion into manageable sizes.
Oil tray that you will use to reserve the boiled pasta and boil a pot of water. Make sure you take enough volume of water. Boil the pasta one portion at a time. Once the pasta is cooked it will stop sinking and begin floating on top. As soon as this happens immediately remove, strain and dredge with oil. Allow to cool a little before you collect it back into a portion. Repeat with all of the pasta.

To make the sauce, boil water in a pot. Make sure you take enough water to submerge a beetroot. Add a clean beetroot to it and boil for 15 minutes. Allow to cool enough to handle and then peel off the skin.
Next, cut the boiled beetroot into smaller manageable sizes and blend into a puree. You may use a little bit of water only to make the puree.
In a saucepan, melt butter and add in the chopped onions and garlic. Cook over low to medium heat for about 2 minutes. Do not brown the onion or garlic. Once the raw smell of the garlic is gone add in the maida.

Cook the maida till it clumps up and then softens into a slurry again. Once the raw smell of the maida is gone, add the milk, a little by little while stirring. This will help you to avoid lumps in the sauce. Add the milk in at least 3 - 4 stages.
After the milk is added, put in the cheese and give a nice mix to melt and mix it in the sauce.

• 

Once the cheese is incorporated add in the beetroot puree. Adjust the colour of the sauce by adding more beetroot puree if required.
Now add in the seasonings and mix. Add in the boiled pasta and mix carefully using tongs or turning softly with a spatula.
Once the sauce is mixed, add in some warm pasta boiling water to adjust consistency if required. Now add in the pepper and basil, give a final mix and serve.
Garnish with some extra pepper, basil leaves and herbs.