Nettles & Ramp Ravioli

Every year I wait with great anticipation for the first of the spring greens to pop their little heads out of the forest floor, so that I can be among the first to pick and create delicious morsels from the very best of what nature has to offer. One of my favorite specialties utilises a weed that is stubborn and nasty and a bulb shoot that can be found in most deciduous climates: stinging nettles and ramps. The Italian names for these two are so much more romantic: ortica & aglio dell’orso …and they are truly a match made in heaven.

Last year I made these wonderful nettle and ramp ravioli, and it was a huge hit in our household. I’ll repeat it again in about two weeks, when the first shoots appear. We’re having a late start to spring here in the Black Forest, and I can’t wait to get moving with all kinds of gardening.

Foraging is the most wonderful of ways to get food. In Italy, it’s a fine art form, and you can find women in fields across the country in spring looking for all kinds of special greens. The identification of greens is something that’s been passed down from generation to generation. In Piemonte, the greens are used primarily for the Easter Frittata, a symphony of wild sorrel, wild spinach, field salads, dandelion, and many other herbs mixed with eggs and parmesan cheese and baked.

I start by picking the nettles (with gloves on, please!) and ramps. I blanch the nettle leaves (not the ramps) and the histamine substance that is so irritating disappears. I then chop both up finely and give them a quick turn in a hot pan with olive oil and a garlic. After they’ve cooled, I mix in salt, pepper and just enough ricotta to hold them together.

I make my pasta exactly the way my friend Letizia Mattiacci describes in her cookbook, Kitchen with a View, which, if you don’t have, is an Italian cooking bible. Her latest book, Festa Italiana, is a celebration of Italian festivals and their special dishes - and I’ve already made several of the recipes and they are all scrumptious!

I roll the pasta out paper thin by hand, using the huge roller in the photo to the right. I also use a pasta machine, but there’s something very satisfying to rolling pasta dough out by hand and being able to see through it.

I then dot the pasta with the ravioli filling and close and cut.

Lots of semolina flour on the marble keeps the pasta from sticking.

Fresh ravioli cook in a matter of seconds. A minute in boiling water and they were bubbling to the top. I made them last year with a light sauce of roasted cherry tomatoes and garlic flowers. It was a feast!