Stinging Nettle and Ricotta Ravioli to die for.

Not to die for that would be little extreme but maybe just a little injury and or discomfort.

I am hoping that I was interpreting my husband's gesture as a sincere one and not a comment on my personality when he bought me some stinging nettles the other day.

He was so proud of what he had found at the market "The Wild foods guy was at the market today, look what I got for you!" He thrusts a large plastic bag of weeds at me. Apparently he (Wild foods guy, not my husband) had foraged an ample amount for the restaurant industry and there were plenty of leftovers. Which is good for me. I love nettles, this is  an eager spring treat that I start fantasizing about in the depths of January.

Stinging nettle grows around the world in fertile soil, it is usually an indicator that spring is at hand and is featured in many different cuisines. As a flavouring in cheese, or on its own to create pestos, soups, and as a vegetable combined with various spices in India.

It can be used instead of spinach but where as many people say it tastes the same, I disagree. Nettles have sweeter more tender taste and texture. There is no heavy metallic after taste from nettles like there is if spinach is cooked too long. The cooking process is in fact what renders them edible (do not try eating them raw, just like handeling you will get stung and nobody wants to see that!).

I don't think different populations around the world would create nettle entrees, use it as a flavouring (think gouda), and drink its flowers if it had the same properties as spinach- why go through all that trouble, especially considering the pain it can cause if handled incorrectly?

This is my attempt at the recipe. Mostly we make this by the seat of our pants so feel free to interpret it any way you want and increase it to feed more mouths!

Stinging Nettle Ricotta Ravioli

If using homemade ricotta and pasta sheets, this can be a long preparation and I would caution you to start earlier in the day!

• 1/2 cup fresh ricotta (either homemade or store bought)
• 1/2 lb nettles (1/4 cup cooked) stalks removed, rinsed and picked through.
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• salt & pepper
• a scant pinch of grated nutmeg and cinnamon
• 4 thin homemade pasta sheets approximately 5 X 12 inches or wonton wrappers (come in convenient packs and freeze well) * I don't think store bough fresh lasagne sheets would work well here, they are coated with an excess of flour and tend to be too thick.

A simple Sauce

• unsalted butter
• olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves lightly crushed
• salt & pepper to taste
• flat leaf (italian) parsley

*Please use heavy rubber gloves when handling the stinging nettle. Plastic bags are not good enough- no matter how careful you are!

If using homemade, make your ricotta, second make your fresh pasta dough. Allowing plenty of time to drain the cheese and rest the dough. After resting the dough for half an hour roll out your sheets for pasta a little thinner than you would a lasagne sheet. On my machine (kitchen aid) that is a 7. Making sure to lightly flour and keep each sheet well covered until ready to use. 

The longer you leave the ricotta to drain the drier it will be but for this purpose a little drier is better.

Put a large pot of  salted water on to boil. Wearing heavy gloves, separate the nettle leaves from the stalks of the plant, give a couple of rinses (this is usually not factory cleaned) and boil for a few minutes until all the leaves are limp and bright (spring time) green. Drain, remove any obvious pieces of grass, twigs or other plant material, squeeze excess moisture out and set aside. Don't worry the nettle is now safe to touch!

Combine ricotta, parmesan cheese, minced garlic, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, egg yoke and well drained nettle leaves in a bowl. Combine with a fork shredding the leaves and integrating all of the components.

Take your pasta sheets fold in half lengthwise to give your self a visual marker. Using a teaspoon place dollops of the cheese/nettle mixture in the centre of one half of the opened sheet, roughly an inch and a half apart. If your sheet is too long to handle, cut to a smaller more manageable length.

Fold the sheet back over its self, pressing down and creating seams between each pocket, making a pillow. Using a sharp knife cut the pillows into squares and apply pressure to the seams to ensure a tight seal. If using wonton wrappers put one dollop of mixture in the centre of one round and top with a second round (you may have to lightly dampen the edges), press edges together and trim any excess.

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the ravioli. As the water is coming to a boil make the sauce (I didn't give any measurements for this) in a small sauce pan over  medium heat. Heat equal parts butter and oil (perhaps a few tablespoons of each) in a pan, with the crushed garlic cloves, stir so that the butter gets a bit nutty and the garlic infuses. Meanwhile boil the ravioli until they float and look like nice fluffy pillows- 5 mins at the most! Drain, removing as much liquid as you can. Plate immediately, drizzle the simple sauce, salt and pepper to taste, garnish with flat leaf parsley and a grating of parmesan cheese if you wish.

Serves 2 as a single meal or a family of 4 with all the trimmings. Approximately twenty 2 inch square ravioli.

photos by me.

Mark Bittman has a smilar recipe using spinach that was probably my first inspiration.

A gift that stings...

Him: Here, the guy at the market was selling these.
Me: Thanks I will get my gloves.

My sweet husband has been utterly consumed by writing his thesis: PhD in Neuro Science, but that isn't necessarily what he does. Another one of those long stories. Regardless his brain has been very left sided lately. So it was kinda nice that when saw some stinging nettles he thought of me and not how the the stinging mechanism works.

To follow a Stinging Nettle & Ricotta Ravioli to die for: photos by me.

Elements of Dinner

My father had come for a short visit a day before we were to have guests over for dinner. He had  brought with him a new cookbook about slow cooking. As my husband and I have an extensive cookbook collection, the last thing I needed was to browse through another book, but hey why not? It was there and my dad was very proud of it. 


One of the recipes was for cabbage rolls made with ground nuts instead of ground meat. I haven't had  cabbage rolls since becoming a vegetarian. I had been racking my brain trying to figure out what to serve our guests for dinner and here was the answer. Not only was it vegetarian but we had all of the ingredients. I didn't have to buy anything, plus I could make it ahead of time. Yay, Dad! Oh, but one thing... not only haven't I eaten cabbage rolls since I was sixteen but I have never made them. And as everyone knows you are never suppose to make a recipe for the first time when expecting company. Hmm, it's only a suggestion.


The recipe prep time promised to be 25 mins and cook time 3-4 hrs.  Easy Peasy. Except for chopping and grinding took far longer than 25 mins and then I had to deal with the cabbage leaves. Dad to the rescue again, good ol'farm boys know their way around produce. I think the recipe, even though it didn't say, wanted napa cabbage or similar variety, with leaves that come away easily from the head. I had a nice tight round head of green cabbage and the leaves did not peel away from it  at all. What to do? Boil it. Dad also taught me another trick, freezing the individual leaves so that they lay flatter when they thaw. 


Even though the recipe took far longer than suggested it was worth it. My little rolls stayed nicely packed through the cooking process and were a hit with my guests (who did not have high hopes when they found out they were vegetarian).


The other element of dinner was a fresh ricotta and beet salad- You can make many simple cheeses by combing acid, salt and heat at different  intervals. With Ricotta which is what I made, you add citric acid, salt optional,  to milk, heat and drain. With paneer you heat the milk and add acid such as lemon juice just before it comes to a boil then drain and press. 


For a general whole milk ricotta I follow Ricki Carroll's (no relation) recipe from Home Cheese Making


What you need: thermometer, heavy bottomed sauce pan, cheese cloth or better yet if you can find it butter cloth and a mesh colander.

• 1 gallon whole milk
• 1 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water
• 1 tsp cheese salt (optional) *I was out of cheese salt but you can lightly salt afterwards.

Add the citric acid to the milk, heat in a heavy bottomed sauce pan slowly and stirring constantly to prevent scalding to the bottom.Heat  between 185f and 195f (do not boil). 

*Around  175f the curds begin to separate and the whey will become noticeably clearer.

Remove from heat, set aside and do not disturb for 10 mins.

Ladle curds into doubled over cheese cloth lined colander, tie corners together.  Hang until you get desired consistency, about 30 mins.

As a note, other porous fabrics can work, I used a cotton dish towel, but had to hang longer. I also save the whey, for either whey ricotta (but you need quite a lot), for some types of baking and or soups. The whey is very protein rich.

photos by me.

Another simple Tomato sauce for pasta

This is the simplest sauce that I know how to make for all types of pasta dishes- including the lasagne with fresh ricotta that my family joked about  on the weekend.... Yes I made the sauce too! Would have made fresh pasta sheets if husband hadn't stopped me.


The original recipe is from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter, but in good Italian Grandma fashion we started using what ever was on hand to make it. Our recipe as it stands goes a little something like this.

• The original recipe calls for 2 lbs of fresh tomaotes or 2 cups canned tomatoes and liquid. I sometimes combine fresh and canned together if I don't have enough of either or. Peel and core fresh tomatoes, roughly chop in halves or quarters.
• 1 medium onion peeled and cut in half.
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, peel and lightly bruised (not in original recipe).
• Roughly 1/4 cup butter quartered.
• 2-3 tbsp Olive oil (the original recipe doesn't call for any but if you have a good one, use it).
• Season to taste with salt & pepper.

Use olive oil to coat the bottom of a heavy bottomed sauce pan and add all the ingredients, turn to medium high, bring tomato liquid to a boil and turn down to a simmer. Stir and check every once in a while. When tomatoes get soft, start smooshing them with a wooden spoon. Depending on how soft and harmonious you want your sauce, will determine the final cooking time. We usually cook ours for an hour or more. The longer you cook it the richer the sauce will be. Once you reach your desired consistency remove the onion and the garlic. 

It is that simple.

There is a lot of room to play with this recipe, adding capsicum peppers, or dried chili, slow cooking a couple whole basil leaves or adding other classic Italian seasonings such as rosemary or oregano.

photo by me.

Ricotta Affair

My family jokes only because they love, but I think the home made cheese really did make the lasagne special..... or it may have been my little helpers who took turns stirring the curds and whey!