This stripy tortelli pasta recipe from Robert Chambers is full of the flavours of spring. Jersey Royals, fresh peas and broad beans combine to make a pasta dish with wow factor.
Begin the two doughs the day before you want to eat. To make the plain pasta dough, place the flour and semolina on a board and make a well. Add the whisked egg yolks and, using a fork, gradually mix the yolks into the flour, working from the centre out. Once it's all come together, start to knead with your hands until the dough is smooth. Wrap it with cling film and leave to rest overnight in the fridge. Bring to temperature a couple of hours before use
To make the parsley pasta dough, blend the parsley leaves with 2 litres of cold water and pass through a fine sieve (you only need the green water). Put the liquid in a saucepan and bring to a slow simmer on a medium heat. Once the green component (chlorophyll) starts to coagulate, pour the liquid into a bowl with 500g of ice cubes. Once melted, pass it through a muslin cloth (or a clean tea towel), discard the liquid and keep the pulp in the cloth. Flatten the chlorophyll in the cloth and place in the fridge till needed
To incorporate this into your pasta dough, whisk the egg yolks and a whole egg with the chlorophyll. Now add the egg mixture to the flour and semolina with the salt and olive oil and make the dough in the same way as the plain pasta dough
To make the filling, blanch the podded broad beans in heavily salted water for 2 minutes and plunge into a bowl of cold water. Remove the skin and dry them with a tea towel. Blanch the peas for a minute and cool down with the same process
Add the peas and the skinned beans in a tall container, add the torn mint leaves and pulse it together with a hand-stick blender before mixing it with the sheep's ricotta and parmesan in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper, place in a piping bag and store in the fridge
Melt the butter in a heavy bottom saucepan, add the sliced Jersey Royals and a pinch of salt and stir on medium heat for 3-5 minutes before adding the water, wakame and sheet of nori. Tie 1 bunch of mint and add it into the soup and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the nori and the mint before blending with cream on high speed until smooth. Taste and season and leave it on the side
Laminate both pasta doughs individually by cutting the dough in three pieces and working each piece through a pasta machine, going down a setting each time (10 to 5 for the plain dough and 10 to 3 for the green dough) until you have perfectly compacted pieces of dough
Work the green dough through the tagliatelle attachment of the machine to make small strips and lay them across the sheet of plain dough. Using a rolling pin, lightly roll over the dough, pressing the parsley dough into the plain one. Set the pasta machine to 10 and start laminating the sheets again all the way down to the thinnest setting. Now the stripy dough is ready for filling
To make your tortelli, cut the dough into two strips. Place dots of the filling 3 cm apart, then fold the bottom edge up to the top (no egg or water is needed). When closing, carefully remove the air from each tortelli by working your thumbs around the filling. Use a pizza cutter or a fluted cutter to shape into triangles before folding them around your thumb
Blanch the broad beans and the peas for the garnish the same way you did for the filling and leave to come up to room temperature. Place in a mixing bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt and toss to combine
To serve, gently reheat your soup and warm 6 bowls in the oven at 80C. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and blanch your tortelli for 2-3 minutes. Carefully drain them and dive them into the warm bowls. Pour a good amount of Jersey Royal soup over the pasta, and garnish the pasta with a mixture of the peas and broad beans . Finish each with basil leaves, broad bean flowers, pea shoots, Parmesan shavings and a drizzle of olive oil
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