The pasta dough ingredients below yield roughly 4-5 portions. Recipe by Adi Mehanda (@adi.mehanda on Instagram).
Ingredients
Pasta dough
- 200g Super fine (‘00’) flour
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp. water
- 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- Selection of micro leaves and edible flowers of choice from Westlands
Anise Hyssop pesto
- 30g Westlands UK’s anise hyssop
- 20g basil
- 50g pine nuts
- 1 garlic clove
- 50g parmigiano reggiano
- 120ml extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch of salt
Parmigiano breadcrumbs
- 50g panko breadcrumbs
- 25g parmigiano reggiano
Garnishes
- 1 large egg yolk per portion
- 50g (handful) of wild garlic (substitute for spinach if unavailable)
- Selection of micro leaves and edible flowers of choice from Westlands UK
Instructions
- Make the pasta dough by mixing all the flour, egg yolks, egg, water and extra virgin olive oil. The dough could be put together by hand on a clean work surface or in a large bowl. Alternatively, all ingredients could be combined in a food processor or electric mixer.
- Knead the formed dough by hand on a clean, floured work surface. Keep folding the dough on itself for 10-12 minutes, forming a ball of dough. This is complete when the pasta dough springs back to the touch. Once done, cover the pasta dough completely in cling film and let rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes.
- Prepare the edible flowers and micro leaves by removing any large and fibrous parts (e.g. stems) by hand. This is to avoid accidentally tearing the pasta dough when laminating.
- To make the pesto, blitz all ingredients completely in a blender until all ingredients are fully covered but still have a rough and chunky texture. Note that this is intended to be completely raw.
- To make the breadcrumbs, put the panko breadcrumbs and Parmigiano Reggiano into a food processor and pulse 5-6 times. Toast the mixture on a flat, dry pan on high heat until crispy and golden brown.
- Cut the rested pasta dough in half, and use a pasta machine to roll out each half of the dough. To do this, start to roll the pasta by hand using a rolling pin until thin enough to go through the highest (thickest) setting on the pasta machine. Repeat to roll the pasta through the machine, gradually going down by one setting each time until the pasta is rolled through the lowest (thinnest) setting.
- Lay out the rolled out pasta sheet on a flat surface and cut it exactly by half in length. Take one half of the sheet and moisten the surface by lightly brushing it with water. Evenly spread the edible flowers and micro leaves on the same pasta sheet, taking care not to allow the petals and leaves to stack. Take the other half of the pasta sheet and carefully laminate the two sheets by aligning and stacking them together, putting the edible flowers and micro leaves in between the two pasta sheets.
- Roll the laminated pasta sheet through the pasta machine again, starting with the second lowest (thinnest) setting and repeat once by going down by one to the lowest (thinnest) setting. Carefully cut the now laminated pasta sheet into squares, roughly 10×10 cm in size.
- Sauté the wild garlic or spinach on a pan with olive oil until wilted. Set aside once done.
- Cook the pasta in one pot of salted boiling water, for up to 3 minutes or to the desired texture. Note that fresh pasta cooks much more quickly than dried pasta.
- Whilst the pasta is cooking, take 2 tablespoons of the pesto and gently heat it on a pan (low-medium heat). Take two ladles of the pasta cooking water, mix with the pesto and reduce it over high heat to make an emulsified sauce.
- Once the pasta is done cooking, carefully transfer the pasta sheets to the sauce and coat the pasta sheets evenly with the sauce at low heat.
- Plate 4-5 pasta sheets per portion, creating natural folds with each sheet and stacking them around the centre of the plate. Place one egg yolk at the centre of the plate, and place a few spoonfuls of pesto on the pasta. Finish the plate by evenly garnishing with the sautéed wild garlic or spinach, breadcrumbs, as well as the edible flowers and micro leaves.
Recipe by Adi Mehanda (@adi.mehanda on Instagram).
