I dropped a batch of homemade pasta off at a friend’s house, and her wife answered the door. She looked incredulously at me as I told her the pasta was made with stinging nettle. She is a huge trail runner and only knew the plant as something you didn’t want to stumble in. She almost looked like she wanted to hand the container back, and I don’t blame her, but I urged her to try it. Later I got the text. “Rachel, the pasta, it’s so incredible.” I felt like I had just won the plant a new friend, and put a huge smile on my face.
So I adapted this recipe from Evan Funke’s cookbook, American Sfoglino. It is a beautiful cookbook, but you should know, his recipes demand your full attention. There will be no juggling of daily life. Plan to set aside an afternoon, and make pasta from scratch. It is so very fulfilling.
Ingredients
kosher salt
8 3/4 ounces|250 grams fresh spinach | I used 250 grams of fresh stinging nettle
8 3/4 ounces|250 grams large eggs, beaten
1 pound|454 grams "00" flour
Directions
Funke posted his process over on Munchies, the food column by Vice. Go check it out. I love how he calls it Popeye’s favorite pasta.
Also, be sure to check out his cookbook. It is stacked with incredible recipes well worth the effort.
Check this out.
Go ahead. Become a maker of fresh pasta sheets.
American Sfoglino is a debut cookbook from Evan Funke, chef and partner of what has become one of L.A.’s most iconic restaurants, Felix Trattoria in Venice. The book is a comprehensive guide to the art of hand making pasta, specifically the sfoglia. Sharing classic techniques from his training in Emilia-Romagna, Funke provides accessible instructions for making sfoglia at home.