Northern Italian Nettle Ravioli
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
This is a traditional ravioli recipe from the far north of Italy, Alto Adige and Trentino. It is so cold there that some of the fields are sown in rye instead of wheat; rye is hardier than wheat. That rye finds its way into the pasta for this raviolo, which is made in earliest spring when stinging nettles are still tender.
Stinging nettles are incredibly high in vitamins C, D, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium. It’s unusually high in protein for a green plant, and it is usually pretty common in cool, wet weather. Many, many cultures turn to nettles to break the nutritional privations of winter, when few green things are available. This is what happened in Alto Adige, among other places.
This ravioli runs along the lines of the traditional, only I am omitting the poppy seeds — for no other reason than I did not want to run out to the store — and switched out mascarpone cheese with ricotta.
Serve these ravioli with simple, high-quality butter, fresh ground black pepper and some grated dry cheese. A Tocai Friulano or other big white wine would be an ideal accompaniment.
Makes 35-40 ravioli
- 5 ounces all-purpose flour, a heaping cup
- 5 ounces rye flour, also a heaping cup
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 egg
- 2 roasted Yukon Gold or other waxy potatoes
- 4 ounces mascarpone
- 4 ounces blanched stinging nettles, a little less than a cup
- Salt and pepper
- You will need two or three big tong-fulls of fresh nettles to get your 4 ounces. I say tong-fulls because you do not want to pick up fresh nettles, as they will sting you. Thus the name. Get a huge pot of water boiling and add a handful of salt.
- Grab the nettles with tongs and put them into the boiling water. Stir around and boil for 1-2 minutes.
- Fish them out with a skimmer or the tongs and immediately dump them into a big bowl with ice water in it. Once they are cool, put them in a colander to strain.
- Get a cloth towel, like a tea towel, and put the nettles in it. Wrap one end of the towel one way, then the other end of the towel the other and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.
- Chop the nettles finely — don’t use a food processor or you will get a mush.
- In a bowl, mash the potatoes, mascarpone and nettles into a cohesive paste. Again, not food processor! Do this by hand, as it is important for the texture. Taste it and add salt and pepper to your liking.
- To make the pasta, mix the rye and wheat flours and the pinch of salt and whisk or sift to combine.
- Make a well in the center and add the egg and the water, then with a fork whisk the two together, gradually incorporating the flour until you get a shaggy mass.
- Start folding the dough over itself until it comes together, then begin kneading. This is a hard dough, so you’ll need to work it hard. Knead for 5-8 minutes.
- Cover the dough with a thin film of olive oil and wrap in plastic. Let it sit for an hour.
- Cut off a piece of the dough and roll it out in a pasta machine. How thick? Your choice. I normally like thin ravioli, but the green in the filling shows through clearly on thinly made ravioli, so I go only to No. 6 on my Atlas — this is 3 clicks from the thinnest setting.
- Lay out your pasta on a board or table, then cut it in half.
- Put a teaspoon of filling every 2 inches or so and get a little bowl of water. Dip your finger in and run it along the pasta all around your filling. Just a little water, here, not too much.
- Lay the second piece of pasta over the first and seal off the ravioli, starting from the edges nearest the filling. Try to push out as much air as possible.
- With a knife or a pizza cutter, cut out the individual ravioli.
- Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling.
- You can freeze the ravioli at this point by putting them side by side — not overlapping! — on a cookie sheet in the freezer until they are solid, then into a plastic bag or better yet a vacuum sealed bag. Vacuum sealed they will last up to 4 months.
- If you are eating them fresh, boil in lots of salty water until they float, and then for another minute or two. Serve at once.
