Wild Pasta
Recipe by Luke Jefford
Pasta is loved in our house! I swear the kids stomachs have Italian heritage. What’s not to love? Growing up, my family would all swear their lasagne was best. It was an unspoken competition, which was fought fiercely, yet surreptitiously. My eldest sisters was always the best (sorry parents). The burnt edges of her lasagne live on in my preferences to this day.
I've got simultaneous feelings of love and dislike for Three Cornered Leek. It’s invasive, carpet forming nature, outcompeting native violets and other flora, is horrible to see. Alas, it’s super tasty and who am I to judge. It’s us humans who brought it to our isles. In that sense, a certain level of respect for the underdog is granted. We have no shame in picking as much as we can every year.
The alliums pop up during the winter. Giving us the ability to fight bacteria and viruses when we need it the most. Three cornered leek is no exception. The flavour of both the leaf and flower is somewhat akin to chive. It’s like an incredibly mild wild garlic. It makes an absolutely wonderful wild pasta!
We adapted this recipe from Italian legend, Antonio Carluccios’s book. Simply called, ‘pasta’. This could easily be adapted with any wild green. We’re eagerly awaiting Ramson (or wild garlic) pasta, using the same recipe.
We’ve added a recipe for a simple ricotta sauce too, which pairs beautifully well. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Ingredients
450g ‘00’ Flour
3 Medium Eggs
75g Wilted Three Corned Leek
Pinch Table Salt
Pasta Method
Step 1
Weigh and wilt the three cornered leek with a little olive oil until soft.
Step 2
Leave the leek to cool and blend with the whole eggs and salt until smooth and green.
Step 3
Make a well on your kitchen surface with the flour, almost looking like a volcano. Pour your green egg mixture in the center.
Step 4
Slowly mix in the edges of the flour with a fork until the mixture forms a dough.
Step 5
Once the dough is formed, kneed the dough for around 10 minutes until smooth. Depending on your flour and the size of your eggs, you may need to add a little water or more flour. Do this cautiously. The dough should be pretty tough, springing back slightly when you touch it with your finger and not sticky.
Step 6
Once you’re happy your dough, wrap it in cling film and pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours to rest. It’ll be easier to work with when cold.
Step 7
Unwrap your pasta dough and divide into 4 with a knife. Using a little flour roll out the pasta dough so it’ll fit in your pasta machine. We’d recommend making thin sausages before rolling as they’ll expand in width during the pasta rolling process.
Step 8
Run through your pasta machine until you’ve reached your desired thickness. Generally we always go to 6 or 7 on a pasta machine. You should be able to read a love note through it!
Step 9
Cut into your desired shapes and cook. Fresh pasta will only take a matter of a couple of minutes. You could also dry it for use at a later time.
Ingredients Pasta Sauce
250g Ricotta
80g Grated Parmesan
1 Ladle Pasta Water
3 Cloves Minced Garlic
Freshly Ground Pepper and Table Salt To Taste
Fresh Basil For Garnish
Sauce Method
Sweat down minced garlic cloves in olive oil. Add in the cheese and cook out gently. Add in a ladle of pasta water left from cooking your 3CL pasta. Season to taste. Finish your pasta with freshly ground pepper and basil. Stunningly simple and tasty!
