After making nettle pizza I had some blanched nettles left over, so nettle pasta seemed like the natural thing to do. I’ve used spinach to make a green pasta dough before but the nettles gave a much more vivid green colour so this is a trick worth remembering! I used the dough to make ravioli, stuffed with cheese, chard and more leftover nettles. I also made a little batch of fettucine – both dishes were lovely. And very green.
Ingredients
2 eggs
1 tbsp blanched nettles, very finely chopped
cups plain white flour.
Method
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. If the mixture is very sticky, mix in 1 tbsp more flour at a time until no longer too sticky to handle. If the mixture is to stiff to work with mix in 1 tsp more water at a time.
Allow the mixture to rest for 10 minutes, then tip out onto a board and knead for a few minutes, until smooth.
Press the dough as flat as possible and pass through the widest setting of a pasta machine, or roll by hand. Fold the strip in half and put it through the machine again. Repeat this step 8-10 times. Then roll through progressively narrower settings until the thickness is right.
Ravioli Filling
- 3 large leaves of chard or silverbeet, blanched and chopped fine
- 2 tbsp breadcrumbs, preferable made from stale bread with crusts removed and whizzed in a food processor.
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan
- 1/2 cup ricotta
- small pinch grated nutmeg
For ravioli lie the dough on a well floured board or clean tea towel and blob on teaspoons of filling, leaving plenty of space between . Top with a second sheet of dough and press down well all around the filling. Use a cookie cutter or pastry wheel to cut out ravioli. Cook in boiling water for a few minutes. Dress with something light like oil and parmesan so the subtle flavours shine through.
