Nettle Pasta Recipe- per request

This is a repost from last year with a few tweaks.

This morning, I geared up and headed out to harvest:

 I had to wear gloves because I was cooking with fire!

Stinging Nettles to be precise!   
I harvested my bowl of nettles (sorry, I didn't measure but there really weren't that many, maybe 15 or so 4 inch clippings.) they were then blanched and cooled.  To preserve the color, I plunged them immediately into ice water.

 The basic recipe:
2 1/4 cups flour (I used a mix of semolina and all purpose)
approximately 1/3 cup cooked nettles
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon olive oil


Put the nettles into the blender with the water, olive oil and salt and give it a whirl.  The stems are a bit fibrous so make sure they are well blended or it is hard to separate your noodles later. 
You can add the eggs into the blender at the last minute or you can put them in separately, it doesn't really matter.  

Put the wet ingredients into a well in the dry ingredients and slowly mix the dry into the wet with a fork.  As it gets firmer, use your hands.  Knead it until it becomes smooth and silky, adding additional flour as necessary.

Cover it (either wrap in plastic or cover with an oiled bowl) for 20 minutes. Then cut into pieces, roll thin and cut into noodles.

 I dry mine on an old flour sack towel draped over a wooden clothes rack.
At this point, you can either dry them completely for storage, dry them partially for freezing or cook them fresh.  I let mine dry until I was ready to make dinner.

Last night's dinner:  Fresh nettle fettucini with chicken and alfredo sauce.  That and a side salad of lettuce and spinach from the greenhouse was a perfect spring meal. 

I love it when the boys are excited about eating weeds!  I even contacted my nephew, the chef, and asked him if he wanted to do a chef's special of nettle pasta at the restaurant.  Of course, he would need LOTS of nettles.  But, we happen to have LOTS of nettles. We'll see what happens.