April showers bring May flowers, or so the saying goes. Not only do the showers bring the flowers, but sometimes they create a beautiful rainbow. Do we all remember Roy G. Biv? That is how I was taught to remember the order of the colors in the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

Rainbows are colorful, and over the years I’ve enjoyed incorporating a rainbow look into some of the foods I’ve prepared with kids in the kitchen. A few years ago, I took my standard sponge cake recipe that I use to make a Swiss Roll cake, dyed the batter multiple colors and created a rainbow roll cake. 

Recently LLCC hosted a culinary class for kids in which they took a standard from-scratch pasta recipe, used food coloring and created fun rainbow-colored pasta. The pasta can also be dyed with all natural ingredients such as beet juice for red, spinach or parsley for green and turmeric spice for orange. Just remember that the natural ingredients will add flavor to the pasta and alter the texture a bit. To ensure the color of the pasta is not lost in a prepared dish, opt for a butter sauce instead of a marinara or Alfredo sauce which would cover and hide your beautiful rainbow colors. Plus, the butter sauce is pretty neutral and will work well with the natural flavors used in coloring the pasta, if you choose to go that route.

Obviously, it’s best to use food coloring in the cake. (I don’t think a beet, spinach, turmeric cake sounds appetizing!) Here are a couple of rainbow-inspired foods for you to enjoy this spring.

Rainbow Cake Roll

• 8 ounce egg yolks (12 egg yolks)
• 3 ounce sugar (approximately 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbs)
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 ounce egg whites (4 egg whites)
• 3 ounce bread flour, sifted (approximately ½ cup plus 3 Tbs)
• 12 ounce fruit jam of your choice

1. Line the jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
2. In a stand mixer, whip together egg yolks, half of the sugar and the vanilla on high until light in color and thick enough to coat a spoon, about 5 minutes.
3. Note that if using a stand mixer, you will have to transfer the egg yolk mixture to a different bowl in order to whip the egg whites in the next step. Make sure to clean and dry the bowl thoroughly.  Any leftover yolk in the bowl will keep the egg whites from whipping up properly.
4. In a clean bowl, whip egg whites on medium until frothy then gradually add the remaining sugar and continue to whip until medium peaks form. Medium peaks will stand and gradually slump over.
5. Gently blend (stir gently) about one-third of the egg whites into the egg yolks. This will lighten the yolk mixture to make it more like the consistency of the whipped whites. Then fold in (do not stir) the remaining egg whites. Be gentle so you don’t deflate all the air you just whipped in!
6. Sift the flour over the egg mixture and gently fold in.
7. Divide the batter between 4 bowls and add a few drops of food color to each. Stir very gently to mix in color. Do not overstir and deflate the mixture.
8. Spoon one of the colored batters into a piping bag. Snip off the tip and pipe a line across the pan. You can go across the short side, the long side or pipe a diagonal line across. Continue to pipe lines, leaving enough space between for lines of the other colors. Pipe until the bag is empty. Then repeat with the remaining colors, filling and piping each of the colors one at a time.
9. Bake at 400 degrees until the cake springs back when touched, about 7 -10 minutes.
10. While the cake is cooking, put a clean tea towel down on a cutting board or tray. Put a piece of parchment paper, slightly bigger than the size of your jelly roll pan, on top. Finally, sprinkle some powdered sugar (about 1 tbsp) on the parchment.
11. Remove the cake from the oven and turn it out onto the baking paper.
12. Now, very carefully peel the baking paper off the bottom of your cake.
13. With the back side of a knife, press a line (just under an inch) from the short edge of your cake. Don’t cut all the way through it – just enough to leave a mark.
14. Finally, from your score mark, roll your cake up. Use your tea towel to help you, then leave the cake to cool.
15. Once your cake has cooled, unroll it and spread the jam with a spatula or butter knife to cover the cake in a thin layer.
16. Roll the cake up again, nice and tightly and place on serving tray.
17. Optional: Top with whipped cream dollops and sprinkles.

Rainbow Pasta

Basic Pasta recipe

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• Pinch of salt

To make colored pasta

Break eggs into a small bowl, add the olive oil and a few drops of food coloring. Stir to mix in food color. Pour flour out onto counter and create a well in the center. Gently pour the egg mixture into the center of the well. Mix the flour into the egg until a loose dough forms. Then continue to knead the dough by hand for 5-8 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes. Roll out and cut as desired.

Pasta with Brown Butter and Parmesan

Yield: 4 servings

• Kosher salt
• 1 pound rainbow pasta
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water (2 heaping tablespoons kosher salt to about 7 quarts water) to a boil. Add pasta to boiling water and cook according to package directions until al dente. Reserve ½ cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta, but don’t shake it fully dry.
2. In a skillet or Dutch oven large enough to hold the pasta (and preferably with a light-colored bottom so you can see the butter solids brown), melt the butter over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until the foam subsides, the milk solids turn golden brown and it smells nutty and toasty, 3 to 4 minutes. (Watch carefully to see that it does not burn. If it does, start over.) Remove from heat immediately.
3. Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and toss with the brown butter. Stir in the cheese until melted. Stir in pasta water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the pasta is glossy with sauce (you probably won’t need the full ½ cup).
4. Serve with black pepper and more Parmesan on top.

About

Lincoln Land Community College offers credit programs in Culinary Arts, Hospitality Management and Baking/Pastry, and non-credit cooking and food classes through LLCC Community Education.

Cooking or food questions? Email epicuriosity101@llcc.edu.