This Wild Nettle Ravioli is the perfect main course for a foraged feast. Find out how to make this delicious dinner below.
An alternative to spinach and ricotta
Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli is probably one of the most popular vegetarian filled pasta recipes. But what if I told you that you could make this classic Italian dish by swapping the spinach for wild nettles? Nettles taste very similar to spinach once cooked. But why would you even want to swap spinach for nettles?
The first reason is that nettles are free!!! They are readily available across the UK and cost absolute nothing to pick.
The second reason is because nettles are highly nutritious. They are a popular ingredient in many herbal medicines as they may reduce inflammation and hay fever symptoms. They are also linked to improving blood pressure and blood sugar levels!
How to forage for nettles, a spinach substitute
Nettles will grow just about anywhere, so long as the soil is nutrient rich. You will find them near rivers, in woods, alongside roads or even in parks. I even have them popping up in my garden!
You will find them all year round though, like many leafy greens, it's the young leaves that taste best. You will start finding young nettles in early Spring and they will stick around until early Autumn. As the season gets on I recommend using the smallest, most tender leaves rather than the whole plant.
We've all been stung by nettles so make sure you take a pair of gloves with you when you go out foraging. Store them in a tupperware or thick bag when you collect them to avoid any accidental stings. The good news is that cooking the nettles takes away their sting!
How to make ravioli
I love making filled pasta because it's surprisingly easy to do but people are always impressed with the end result. Let's break it down into a few simple steps.
- First, mix your dough and leave it to rest. I have two pasta dough recipes on the blog. The first is a rich, egg based dough, the second is a plant based dough made of coarse semolina and water. If you want to really impress your guests you can colour the dough or suspend herbs in between the layers as you roll it out.
- While the dough is resting, make your filling then leave it to cool. This is the stage where we cook the nettles and take away their sting before mixing them with our ricotta (or plant based alternative). Finally we season then place the filling in the fridge.
- Next, roll out your dough nice and thin (this is where we can laminate herbs into the dough if we want to be extra fancy).
- Cut your dough in half so you have some dough for the bottom of the ravioli and some for the top.
- Spoon your filling onto the bottom sheet of dough, cover with the second sheet and then cut into individual ravioli! At this stage you could decide to make extra large raviolo.
Once you’ve made them you can cook them immediately, or store them in the fridge or freezer until you want to cook and eat them. Placing them in the fridge or freezer is a great idea if you are cooking a special meal, or hosting a dinner party and want to do as much prep as you can in advance.
These Wild Nettle Ravioli cook in no time at all. So, I love to make a big batch and have some in the fridge for when I need a quick and easy meal.
The recipe
Wild Nettle Ravioli
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 shallot finely diced
- 100 grams stinging nettle tops fresh
- 150 grams soft cheese
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- salt & pepper to taste
- 150 grams pasta dough
- 4 tablespoon semolina
- 2 tablespoon nettle pesto
- 4 tablespoon hazelnuts toasted and chopped
Instructions
- Fry the diced shallot in a frying pan for 10 minutes until translucent then take off the heat to cool.
- In the meantime, add the nettles into a pan of boiling salted water for five minutes or so.
- To retain the bright green colour, next plunge the boiled nettles into a bowl of ice water.
- Once the nettles have cooled, drain them and squeeze out any excess moisture. Roughly chop the nettles then stir together with the fried shallot, soft cheese, nutmeg and a little salt and pepper.
- Place the filling to one side while you make the pasta.
- Take your dough and, either using a pasta machine or a rolling pin, roll a long thin sheet of pasta. You’ll know it's the correct thickness when you can see your hand through the sheet – this will be the thinnest setting on your pasta machine.
- Cut the pasta sheet in half and lay both strips next to each other and very slightly wet the edges of the strip of pasta with a pastry brush or by hand if need be.
- Spoon the nettle filling in a line leaving about 2 inches, or 5cm, between each teaspoon. (Depending on how thick your sheet is you may be able to do two rows).
- Place the other strip directly on top of the other and gently press on the dough around the filling to remove any excess air. (This is to stop the ravioli exploding while it cooks!)
- With slightly wet hands, press to make sure the dough is firmly sealed. Then, using a sharp knife or a ravioli cutter, cut out each individual ravioli. Place these on to a baking sheet lightly dusted with semolina and repeat until you've used up all of the pasta dough and filling.
- Once you're ready to cook, bring a pan of water to the boil. Add a little salt and olive oil before adding the ravioli to the pan.
- The ravioli will cook in 5-8 minutes. You will know it's done when it starts to float.
- Serve with the toasted hazelnuts and a drizzle of pesto.
Nutrition
Make it vegan
You can easily make this dish plant based with just a few substitutions.
I've already mentioned that instead of using an egg based pasta dough, you can use my vegan pasta dough. It's simply made from coarse semolina and water but the process is otherwise the same.
For the ravioli filling, you can use any vegan cream cheese you like but I recommend 'I am Nut Ok's' Lemon and Thyme Rigotta.
More ravioli recipes
I love making filled pasta as either a starter or main course when I have people over for dinner. Why not try one of these other ravioli fillings.
More Italian Recipe Inspiration
If you love Italian food as much as I do, check out some of my other recipes that are inspired by the ingredients and flavours often found in Italian cuisine.
Emma says
Wonderful !
Emma says
Wonderful!