Artichoke Mezzelunes with Spinach Alfredo

I admit, I'm using up Spinach-Artichoke dip ingredients.  I almost did a pizza, but I've been wanting to make pasta for a while.  The shape kept changing from simple tagliatelle, to ravioli, to tortellini.  The latter two felt like too much work, but mezzelune is just like a tortellini before you fold it.

The "sauce" is pretty much thinned out dip.  So, here's another way to use any leftover spinach-artichoke dip!  Most dips can be thinned out into sauces, or further into soups.  It's a culinary not-so-secret.

And yes, I'm doing this metric by weight for the flour.  Forgot to measure the result by volume.

Pasta
100 g a.p. flour
100 g buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
1 tsp olive oil + more later

Filling
*1 C frozen artichokes, partly defrosted
*2 Tb plain Greek yogurt

Sauce
1 Tb olive oil
*1/2 C diced onion
*1 C frozen spinach, thawed
1 Tb flour
*1+ C milk
*1/2 C grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1.  To make the pasta, stir together both flours and salt in a medium bowl.  Crack eggs into it and drizzle in olive oil.  Gradually beat together with a fork into a crumbly dough.

2.  Turn out dough onto a work surface and knead into a smooth and elastic ball, about 5 minutes.  If too dry, wet hands and go back to kneading.  I ended up doing that twice to get the consistency I wanted.  Do not add the water to the dough directly.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1/2 hour.

3.  While the dough is resting, make the filling.  Finely chop artichokes.  I found this easier to do with the pieces that were still partly frozen.  The defrosted ones were too mushy.  Mix together in a small bowl with the yogurt.  (You could use mascarpone or cream cheese if you have it.)

4.  Start boiling a large pot of lightly salted water.  Roll out dough thinly, either by hand or in a pasta roller to #4 thickness.  Cut with a round 2-1/2" cutter.  Reroll scraps as necessary, adding as little a.p. flour as possible.  Fill each circle with 1 tsp of artichoke, fold over, and pinch into a half-moon shape.  The finished pieces can be done ahead and refrigerated for later in the day.

5.  While the pasta is lightly boiling for 6-8 minutes, make the sauce.  Heat the oil in a medium skillet.  Add onion and sauté until tender.  Stir in flour to make a paste.  Gradually add in 1 C milk, letting it thicken between additions.  Add spinach and cook.  (You'll probably need to drain the pasta around this time.)  Stir in grated cheese, then judge thickness and add more milk as necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.

6.  Toss drained pasta lightly in olive oil to keep the pieces from sticking together.  Either toss in sauce or plate pasta first and spoon sauce on top.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  :-0