Springtime is my favourite season for foraging food. This year Spring brought us also isolation life, because of COVID 19, and so I find myself living alone in the countryside, with some neighbours that I can’t approach, though we talk keeping the distance. I’m new in this place; I relocated last December so I am curious to see what I can find in the surroundings. In the Luberon, I had my spots, which took me years to discover. There were delicious wild asparagus, leeks, dandelions, silene, hops, mushrooms in fall, borage, wild broccoli. I didn’t see all these here, but I found some beautiful nettles, and chives instead of leeks. I recommend you to wash your vegetables thoroughly when foraging. I prefer to cook them as well because there are foxes here and their faeces can bring the Echinococcus, which is a very dangerous parasite.
Nettles are one of the more versatile and tasty wild herbs I know, and they have a variety of properties, the most interesting of which is that they help our body to get rid of toxins in the blood. If you find some, cut just the tops, I choose the ones that look more vigorous and thick as they taste better. You can use them in all recipes that are asking for spinach, so in this one, if you don’t have nettles use spinach instead!
Portobello Mushrooms and Nettles
Ingredients for four servings
Eight Portobello Mushrooms
300 gr of nettles, or 400 gr of spinach
Two shallots
Two tbs. of extra-virgin olive oil
30 gr of butter
30 gr of all-purpose flour
300 ml of milk
Three eggs
a pinch of nutmeg grounded
50 gr of grated Parmigiano
salt and pepper
Directions
I wash the nettles thoroughly, then blanch them in salted boiling water for 2 minutes. I drain them with a slotted spoon and throw in cold water to stop the cooking, and then I squeeze with my hands to take off all the water. I kept the water from pressing for making pasta as it had a beautiful green colour and a great taste. I chop the nettles very thinly on a cutting board.
I slice the shallots and put in a pan with the oil and a pinch of salt on low heat, let cook for 5 minutes or till they are soft then add the nettles, I mix well and cook for 2 minutes, put in a bow and let them cool. In the same pot where I boiled the nettles, I cook the Portobello mushrooms, that I previously cleaned, for 3 minutes, just to make them soften a little. When it’s done I let them cool on a cutting board. How do I prepare the bechamel: I melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and stir till it starts to bubble, then add the cold milk all in a once, don’t be shy with it, it seems scary but this way you will have the best béchamel. Keep on stirring till it thickens, and then I add a pinch of salt, the nutmeg and the pepper, I taste and eventually add some salt. I mix the béchamel with the nettles, l add the eggs and the Parmigiano while stirring, then I stuff the mushroom with it. I put the stuffed mushrooms in an oiled baking dish, and cook at 180° /375°F for about 30/35 mn or until golden.
This recipe can make a complete vegetarian meal accompanied with a green salad or a side dish for a roasted beef.
Pasta with nettle’s juice
You can keep the water you squeezed from the nettles, or any other greens you cooked, for a couple of days in the fridge.
My idea was about having green pasta, but it didn’t work for the colour, for that you need to add the vegetables. But the flavour of the water was delicious, and I found that it gave a deepness to the taste of the pasta. I made Pici; it’s the easiest way to make it; you just need a big cutting board, a knife and your hands. Children have a natural talent for it, so if you want to do something fun with them on a rainy Sunday morning, that’s the thing.
It’s a recipe with just flour and water; I use 100 grams of durum wheat flour per person, for the water it’s about half the weight of the meal, but I had it little by little as it can change depending on weather conditions and the quality of the flour. If you don’t have Durum wheat, you can combine a third of thin semolina and two-thirds of all-purpose. While all the recipes I found call for salt and olive oil I prefer not to use them, salt tens to oxidate the pasta and if you have some that you’re not going to use immediately you can let it dry and keep in a container for some days.
I pour the flour in a bowl, make a well in the middle and add some nettle water while I whisk with a fork, I keep on adding water till the dough comes together, it hasn’t to be too thick nor too soft. Once it’s ready, I knead it vigorously for 5 minutes or more if I am in the right mood, then I let it rest on the board, covered with the bowl, for one hour. That is important because the gluten will have time to transform, and you will be able to work it efficiently. Have you any memories about rolling your dough and seeing it retire? It happens when you don’t wait for enough.
In the meantime, you can prepare your sauce. Pici are lovely with many different condiments, this time I made mine with wild broccoli, just because in this period there’s so much to forage. You can substitute them with kale or broccoli leaves if it happens you have some, the kind of thing that we normally throw in the garbage.
How to shape the Pici
You can find that many people use a rolling pin, cut in strips and then roll the stripes. I think it makes the work longer. What I do is cut a small piece of dough and go with both hands till I get something that looks like thick spaghetti. And if the first ones don’t come out nicely, you can always redo! I sprinkle another cutting board with semolina, and when I have my Pici done, I lay them on the floured board, that’s important because otherwise, they tend to stick. Remember to keep the dough that you are not working covered with the bowl, as it dries quickly.
Wild broccoli sauce
I found the inspiration for this recipe thinking about some ways of serving pasta they have in the south of Italy, using vegetables like cime di rapa and now that I think about it I believe that wild broccoli has some resemblance with it.
I use the flowers and the leaves, the stems being hard even after cooking. Wash the broccoli thoroughly and get rid of the stems, keeping flowers and leaves. Wild herbs are powerful in taste and properties, so you don’t need a large quantity. For my portion of pasta, I used just four. I put some olive oil in a saucepan, one clove of garlic per person, just cut in two, let it cook on medium heat til the garlic starts to release its flavour. I add the vegetables, stir with a wooden spoon, salt with some good quality salt, sprinkle with chilli and black pepper.
Put the water to boil. The rule is 1 litre of water every 100 grams of pasta and 1 teaspoon of salt for a litre of water. Seems a lot but if you want to cook pasta properly do like this. Fresh pasta cooks in a few minutes, so it’s better to have everything ready.
The saucepan near the pot where you are cooking the pasta, some parmigiana or better, pecorino cheese grated, a bowl where you’ll save some water from the cooking pasta. Cook the Pici in boiling water, as they come to the surface, they are ready, keep some of the water. Strain them in a colander and pour into the saucepan, stir on high heat, adding some of the water you kept, add the cheese and more water if needed, that makes your sauce creamy. As a final touch drizzle some olive oil on top. Serve immediately! With pasta, I drink red wine, as it seems it helps to digest it.