This is delicious simply tossed in some warmed roast tomato passata and sprinkled with a little grated Parmesan.
1. Blanch nettle tops in boiling water for 20-30 seconds, then plunge them into iced water to retain their colour. Drain thoroughly and purée until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the pasta flour and semolina, then add the nettle purée in stages to the flour – it is important the dough remains as dry as possible.
3. Add the eggs gradually, ensuring the dough remains dry – you may not need all of the eggs, depending on how large your eggs are.
4. Dust your work surface with flour and knead the dough thoroughly for 10 minutes until all of the nettle puree and eggs are combined evenly and the dough feels silky. It should not feel at all sticky – if it does, sprinkle a little more flour over the dough and knead again.
5. Wrap the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes before rolling out. If you don’t have a pasta machine, flour the work surface and rolling pin and roll it out until it is very thin. Fold over the dough into loose, flat rolls and cut into 5mm strips.
6. If you’re using a pasta machine to roll out the dough, assemble the machine and turn the rollers to the widest setting. Break off about a sixth of the dough (keep the rest wrapped in a damp towel so it doesn’t dry out) and feed it through the rollers. Fold in half, turn and repeat. Do this 2 or 3 times until the dough feels very silky.
7. Turn the machine to the next setting so that the rollers close up a little and pass the unfolded strip of dough through. If the dough starts to stick to the rollers, smooth a little flour over the pasta strip. Keep closing the rollers and passing the dough through until you have a very thin strip – cut in half at any stage if it gets too long to handle. Lay the finished sheets out on a damp tea towel while you roll out the rest of the dough. When you’re ready to make the tagliatelle, pass the strips through the wider ribbon cutter on your machine.
8. If you are not going to use all of your pasta immediately, hang the tagliatelle over a clean stick or broom handle suspended between two chairs to dry out then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. A light dusting of semolina will help to keep it dry.
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