Ravioli with ricotta and young nettles

Method

• step 1

  First, spoon the ricotta into the centre of a fine muslin cloth, tie the cloth into a pouch and hang it over a bowl or put in a sieve set over a bowl. Leave in the fridge overnight to drain.

• step 2

  To make the pasta dough, mix the flour with a big pinch of salt on a clean worksurface, then make a deep well in the centre. Tip the eggs, egg yolks and olive oil into the well. Working quickly but gently, use your fingertips to gradually bring the flour into the wet ingredients and combine everything. Bring the dough together into a rough ball, then knead for 10-15 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic – it will be hard work at first, but keep going and it will come together. Alternatively, mix all the ingredients together in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Wrap the dough and leave to rest in the fridge while you make the filling.

• step 3

  For the filling, cook the nettles in a pan of boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and leave to cool, then squeeze out the excess liquid, making sure the nettles are really dry. Once dry, finely chop the nettles and mix with the drained ricotta and the lemon zest. Season to taste with salt, pepper and the nutmeg, then chill for 1 hour.

• step 4

  Cut the pasta dough into two pieces, about 300g each. Roll each piece out to around a 1cm thickness, then slowly feed through a pasta machine, gradually reducing the settings until you reach thickness level 1.5. Cut each pasta sheet in half so you have four pieces in total. Dust the worksurface with some semolina, lay out one pasta sheet and spoon heaps of the filling (about ¾ tbsp each) along the sheet, spacing them about 3cm apart. Mist or lightly brush a little water on the pasta (this will help it seal), then top with another sheet of pasta. Using your fingertips, gradually push the air out of the pasta parcels and seal tightly around the filling. Cut the filled ravioli apart with a ravioli cutter or sharp knife, then transfer to a baking tray sprinkled with plenty of semolina (this will help stop the ravioli from sticking to one another). Repeat with the remaining pasta sheets and filling – you should make around 36 ravioli in total.

• step 5

  Cook the ravioli in a pan of boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the marjoram and sage briefly. Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water. Tip the pasta into the herby butter along with 1 tbsp of the cooking water and stir to coat. Sprinkle with some parmesan to serve.