Malfatti with Tomato and Nettle. 

2 Cups                Ricotta Cheese

1 Cup                  Grated Parmesan cheese (plus a little more for the platter)

1 Cup                   AP flour (plus more for rolling the pasta)

1                           Egg

1 Teaspoon          Salt 

                            Black Pepper 

1 Jar                      Whole Peeled Tomatoes 

1/2 Pound             Nettles

                             Olive Oil

Pick the Nettles off the stems and wash them. make sure you wear gloves. 

Bring a QT of salted water to a boil and add the nettles and cook for three minutes. 

Strain the nettles and lay flat on a tray to cool. 

Once cool, squeeze out the water and chop the nettles. 

Mix the Ricotta cheese, Parmesan and egg in a bowl and mix until it all incorporated. 

Add the Flour, salt and few crack of black pepper and mix just until combined. Don’t over mix. 

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and divide into four equal pieces. 

Dust them with more flour and roll into dime sized rope//log things. 

Using a dough scraper cut into bite size pieces. Toss them with flour and put them on a floured tray and put in the fridge. (If you make a lot you can freeze in one layer on the tray. Once they are frozen you can take them off the tray and put into bags or containers and store in the freezer.)

Put the Tomatoes in a pan and crush them with your hands. 

Add the Nettles, salt and pepper, and a few good glugs of olive oil and bring to a simmer for a 3-5 minutes. 

Cook the malfatti in salted Boiling water until they float. 

Drain them out of the cooking water, but save a little bit to add to the sauce. 

Add the sauce to the malfatti with a little bit of the cooking liquid and simmer for a minute or two. 

Scoop out onto platter//bowl//plate//serving vessel. 

Finish with olive oil, and grated Parmesan cheese.

listen to Cooking Up A Podcast::

this recipe is inspired by a segment on the podcast called "What's In The Woods" with Tyler Akabane:: talking about wild foods growing in the Northeast...AND stinging nettles are one of the foods up and out in early spring.  it's at the beginning of EP//007. 

it's available pretty much everywhere you get podcasts:: iTunes, Stitcher, Anchor, Google Play, Podbean