Turkish Noodles With Arugula (Rokali Eriste)

From turkishcookbook.com. It is imperative to have the best and freshest ingredients for this dish. The recipe has been prepared twice now: first time with dried egg noodles from the local Mennonite community and second time using the noodle recipe posted below. Also, the noodles were made using a KitchenAid stand up mixer although I had to roll out the dough by hand (don't own a KA pasta attachment-yet). Pine nuts can replace walnuts if you prefer.

• Ready In: 16 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2  cups  wide egg noodles (I used the entire uncooked batch)
• 1  bunch arugula, washed, drained, torn up with your hands (skipped the tearing up part)
• 2  tablespoons butter (I used 1 tablespoon of each) or 2  tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I used 1 tablespoon of each)
•  salt
•  fresh crack black pepper

• Garnish

• 1⁄2 cup  toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped (approximated amount)
•  thick yogurt (whole milk Nancy's yogurt for us!)
•  fresh parsley, minced (my addition-from the garden!)

• Turkish egg noodles (eriste)

• 1 1⁄4 cups flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2  eggs, lightly beaten

Directions

1. When you are ready to prepare your meal: Boil the egg noodles and drain (see Step #11). Melt some butter (and/or olive oil) in a saute pan. Add the noodles, salt and pepper and cook for a 3-4 minutes on medium heat.
2. Add the arugula and stir; cooking just until slightly wilted; about 30-45 seconds. Remember that the arugula will continue to cook off heat.
3. Arrange the noodles on a serving platter, (I added a light drizzle of olive oil), sprinkle of salt and cracked black pepper. Sprinkle all over with the walnuts.
4. Add a dollop of thick plain yogurt to each serving; garnish with fresh parsley.
5. How to make Turkish Noodles (Eriste) by hand: In a large bowl, sift flour with salt. Make a hole in the middle. Crack the eggs inside. Slowly mix the flour into the eggs with your fingers.
6. Place the dough on a lightly floured counter, knead well until smooth (no more crumbles). While you are kneading, wet your hands 2-3 times so the dough is smooth.
7. Give the dough a round shape and cover it with a clean towel. Set aside for about 30 minutes.
8. Place some flour on the counter and the rolling pin. Cut the dough into 3 pieces (original recipe 2 pieces). Roll each piece out into a rectangle shape until you have very thin sheets.
9. Leave the sheets for 1 hour on the floured counter or tray.
10. For each sheet, first roll it, then cut the rolls into strips about 1 cm wide . Open up the rolls immediately (to avoid the dough sticking together) and place on parchment paper. Then cut the strips 2.5 cm in length. (For imperial measurements, I roughly gauged, cutting the rolls into a width of 1", then again into 3" lengths-give or take a half inch.).
11. Boil water with salt in a large pot. Throw the noodles in, cover pot and immediately bring back to boil. Once water is boiling, remove lid and cook pasta for about 4-5 minutes. Taste to see if the noodles are cooked. Drain.
12. For KitchenAid stand up mixer method: Add all ingredients to the bowl and using a dough hook, knead for approximately 5 minutes or until dough is smooth. You will need to stop the machine and coax the flour/egg mixture downward into the bowl. Proceed with recipe in Step #7.
13. This next step I *did not* test: If you don't want to cook the pasta immediately, spread the noodles on parchment paper until they have all dried. Store the dried pasta in a Ziploc-type bag, an airtight jar, etc.
14. Cooking time does not include preparing the egg noodles.