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Ravioli with Ricotta di Bufala and young nettles
Serves 4 (Start 1 day before serving) Starters and mains
For the filling
- 500g Ricotta di Bufala (or cow’s milk ricotta, if you can’t find it)
- 500g young nettles
- zest ½ lemon
- pinch freshly grated nutmeg
For the pasta dough
- 520g ‘00’ flour
- 3 large eggs, plus 6 large yolks
- ½tbsp olive oil
- semolina, for dusting
To serve
- 80g unsalted butter
- large handful mixed marjoram and sage leaves
- Italian hard cheese, grated
Method
The day before, hang the Ricotta di Bufala. Place in a fine muslin cloth and either hang over a bowl or rest in a sieve with a bowl underneath to catch the excess liquid. Leave to hang in the fridge overnight.
To make the pasta dough, mix the flour and a big pinch of salt on a clean surface and make a deep well in the centre. Add the eggs, yolks and oil. Working quickly but gently, use your fingers to gradually combine. Bring together into a rough ball and knead for 10–15 minutes until you have a smooth, elastic dough – it will be hard work at first, but keep going and it will come together. Alternatively, mix all the ingredients in a mixer with a dough hook. Wrap the dough and allow to rest in the fridge.
To make the filling, blanch the nettles in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and allow to cool, then squeeze out the excess liquid, making sure the nettles are really dry. Once dry, finely chop and mix with the ricotta and lemon zest. Season to taste with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour before making the ravioli.
Cut the pasta dough into two pieces of around 300g each. Roll each one out to around 1cm thick, then feed through a pasta machine, gradually reducing the settings until you reach thickness level 1.5. Cut each sheet in half so you have 4 pieces.
Dust the work surface with semolina, lay out a sheet of pasta and place around nine heaps of filling (around ¾tbsp each) along the pasta sheet, around 3cm apart. Spray a little water on the pasta to help sealit and top with another sheet of pasta. Gradually push the air out of the pasta parcels and seal tightly. Cut with a ravioli cutter and store on a tray dusted with plenty of semolina to prevent the pieces sticking to one another. Repeat with the rest of the pasta and filling – you should make around 36 pieces in total.
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, then drain, reserving 1tbsp of the cooking water. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat, add the marjoram and sage and fry, then add the drained pasta along with the reserved cooking water to form an emulsion. Serve sprinkled with the grated cheese
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