I made my nettle pasta again this week, but using the gluten free flour instead. You need to also use the Xanthan gum or it won’t go stretchy so that you can roll it really thin. It’s a bit of guess work but the amounts on my ingredients list seem to work ok. Instead of the nettles you could use spinach to get the green colour and extra vitamins.

The Aubergine sauce in the recipe book comes with meatball, but we often have it without so this recipe would also be fine for vegetarians too.

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Breakfast
Porridge or Toast

Lunch
Cold leftover pizza

Dinner
Homemade nettle pasta with aubergine and tomato sauce

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Fresh Nettle pasta with aubergine and tomato sauce

2 cups Gluten free bread flour
1 teaspoon of the Xanthan Gum
1 table spoon salt
1/2 cup of water
Tablespoon of oil
2 eggs
Green nettle paste if using or blitzed spinach
(Recipe for the nettle paste is in vegan)

Aubergine and Tomato Sauce
Adapted from Jamie Oliver book Save

Ingredients

1/2 Aubergine diced small
Handful of fresh parsley (optional)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
Olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tin of tomatoes

Method

For the Pasta

Heap the flour and Xanthan Gum on to a clean surface, make a well in the middle then mix together with the eggs, salt, oil and water that you have put in the well slowly bringing the sides of the flour in. Don’t use all the water straight away just add it as you need to, then knead on a floured surface until it goes springy, about 5-10 minutes. Add more gum or flour if you need to it’s a bit of guess work.

Roll out straight away with a rolling pin or a pasta maker, and slice thinly.

For the Sauce

Dice the aubergine into cubes, then season well with salt and leave for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes take handfuls of the Aubergine and squeeze out the excess salty liquid, then put into a saucepan on a medium heat with a lug of oil to cook for 10 minutes, or until golden, stirring occasionally.

Squash in the garlic through a garlic press, add the fennel seeds and stir in the sweet chili sauce and balsamic, then tip in the tomatoes and a splash of water. Simmer for around 10 minutes, or until thickened.

Meanwhile Boil some salted water and cook your pasta until it is Al dente then add the drained pasta to the sauce and mix together. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.