Wild Nettle Sachetti
Wild Nettle Sachetti Filling:
Ingredients:
1 quart, packed, picked and blanched, wild stinging nettle leaves (picked WEARING GLOVES as they will sting your bare skin when raw).
4 shallots sliced thin
5 cloves garlic sliced thin
1 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
½ cup cold unsalted butter
2 ounces water
½ cup white wine
¾ cup heavy cream
kosher salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
Method:
Blanch the picked wild nettle leaves in 4 quarts of well salted water for one minute, remove from the water and immediately chill in a bowl of ice water.
Remove from the ice water and place the nettle leaves in a colander and press all the water out of the leaves.
Place the blanched nettle leaves on a cutting board and coarsely chop and set aside.
In a heavy bottom saucepan over low heat and add the water, shallot and garlic, season with salt and melt slowly, cooking until translucent and soft.
Add the chopped nettle leaves and stir to combine, season with salt, and add the white wine.
Cook the white wine until it has been absorbed thoroughly into the nettle mixture and almost dry.
Add the heavy cream and Parmigiano Reggiano, cooking slowly to combine for 3 minutes.
Adjust the salt and black pepper to taste and remove to a blender.
Blend slowly and gradually moving to high speed, making sure to achieve a smooth mixture.
Remove and place in a bowl resting over another bowl full of ice and let chill until firm.
Transfer the nettle filling to a pastry bag (plastic disposable work great).
Set aside until ready to make your sachetti.
*Note – this filling can be made and held the day before.
Egg Pasta Dough
Ingredients:
3 ½ cups 00 flour
2 whole eggs, local farm preferable
12 egg yolks
2 Tbsp. whole milk
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Place the OO flour in the bowl of a kitchen aid mixer, fitted with a hook attachment.
Combine the whole eggs, egg yolk, olive oil and milk in a small bowl.
With the mixer on low speed, add the egg mixture slowly, allowing the flour to absorb the eggs and form a soft dough.
Remove from the bowl and turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough for 5 minutes to develop the gluten and elasticity (structure) of the dough. The pasta dough should have a smooth feel and bright yellow color. Cover with plastic film or a clean kitchen towel for 30-45 minutes to allow the dough to rest before rolling and cutting.
Begin to make the sachetti: first cut the dough in half and roll each half into 10-inch by 5-inch sheets, about ½ inch thick. Using either a hand crank or electric pasta machine, lightly dust the pasta sheets with flour and roll through the machine, starting at the highest number (usually 10) and work your way down to number 2, rolling through each number setting along the way. This will yield a smooth, well developed and structured dough (giving you a wonderful mouth feel).
Pipe a tablespoon of the pea filling onto the pasta sheet and allow for 2-inch squares to be cut for each sachetti.
Using a pastry wheel, cut and trim the pasta squares with the pea filling making sure that they all have 1-inch excess of pasta dough as you will be using this pasta to fold up into little sachetti.
Lightly spray the pasta with water and, using your fingertips, pull the corners all up together form a 4-edged top, crimp each edge gently to form a closed and uniform seal.
Transfer the sachetti to a tray lightly dusted with semolina flour and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.
Sage Bread Crumbs:
Ingredients:
2 cups panko bread crumbs
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
8 sage leaves, roughly chopped
kosher salt, to taste
Method:
In a medium size saucepan, place the butter over medium heat and cook until the butter begins to bubble and appear to foam.
At this point, add the bread crumbs and coat in the butter, cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the bread crumbs are a light golden brown.
Add the sage and cook until the sage is crispy and the bread crumbs are a golden brown. Season with salt to taste.
Transfer the bread crumbs to a tray to cool and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Brown Butter:
Ingredients:
8 ounces unsalted butter
2 ounces milk powder
Method:
1. In a medium size saucepan, place the butter over medium heat and cook until the butter begins to bubble and the milk solids begin to brown.
Once the butter solids begin to brown, stir in the milk powder, and cook for an additional 3 minutes, until everything is nutty brown and fully incorporated. Stir with a whisk to prevent from burning. Once the butter solids have taken on a nutty aroma and are evenly browned, remove the butter from the heat and pour into a stainless bowl and place over ice to chill.
Keep warm.
Buerre Fondue:
Ingredients:
8 ounces unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp. water
Method:
Dice the cold butter and set aside, keeping cold.
In a medium saucepan, add the water and bring to a simmer and immediately add the cold butter, using either a wooden spoon or a whisk, and incorporate the cold butter one piece at a time into the simmering water, stirring constantly and adding the butter as it melts and emulsifies, being careful not to add too much heat or allowing the butter to become too cool.
The butter should be smooth and emulsified, set aside in a warm area near the stove
Robiola Fondutta:
Ingredients:
8 ounces Robiola Rocchetta Cheese
6 Ounces Heavy Cream
Kosher Salt, to taste
Method:
Place the Robiola cheese and heavy cream in a stainless-steel bowl over a medium size sauce pan with simmering water and melt, whisking gently to keep the cream emulsified.
Season with kosher salt to taste and transfer to a co2 Siphon and add two co2 charges.
Place over a water bath at 150 F and let stay warm until ready to use.
Assembly:
Cook the sacchetti in salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes, remove from the water, drain and toss in a saute pan or bowl with a liberal amount of burere fondue and brown butter to coat well.
Place 7-8 sachetti in a warm serving bowl.
Add a sprinkle of sage bread crumbs, parmesan and top with a touch of the warm Robiola Fonduta.
Chef’s Notes:
This recipe has three very easy and delicious alternatives if stinging nettles are too tough to source or simply out of season (the season is quite short, between March and April). My three recommended alternatives are either, spinach, English peas or asparagus.
Spinach - use the exact same measurements and procedure as the stinging nettles, blanching briefly for one minute.
Asparagus - use the same volume, simply break the bottoms of the
asparagus off where the wooden part naturally breaks away and slice the
asparagus crosswise. The asparagus will require about 4 minutes of blanching
time.
English Peas - use the same volume, simply break the bottoms of the
asparagus off where the wooden part naturally breaks away and slice the
asparagus crosswise. The English peas will require about 4 minutes of
blanching time.
Have fun, taste, explore and don’t be afraid to make mistakes, as of course
that’s the best way to learn.