Wild garlic Chitarra Recipe
Manteca’s Chris Leach celebrates wild garlic in its purest form in this pasta dish. Wild garlic is blended into rapeseed oil and heated gently to extract the green chlorophyll in the plant, which is then served with a spinach pasta cut on a chitarra machine.
- 125g of sautéed spinach, squeezed of excess water (you'll need approx. 500g fresh)
- 4 large eggs
- 625g of 00 flour
- fine semolina, for dusting
- 1 knob of unsalted butter
- finely grated Parmesan, to serve
- lemon juice, to taste
- 4 egg yolks
- 500g of wild garlic leaves, washed
- 250ml of rapeseed oil
- For the spinach pasta dough, blend the spinach and eggs together in a high-speed blender then transfer to a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment
- Add the flour and gently mix until a dough forms. Continue to mix the dough for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic, then remove, wrap well and rest for 1 hour in the fridge. Once rested, remove the dough from the fridge and leave at room temperature for 20-30 minutes
- Meanwhile, make the wild garlic oil. Place the wild garlic and rapeseed oil in a high-powered blender. Blend on full speed until the mixture is smooth and steam begins to rise from the oil (about 3-5 minutes)
- Pour into a saucepan and gently bring to a boil to extract the chlorophyll, stirring occasionally – this will happen as soon as it comes to boil; the oil and solids will separate and turn the oil bright green
- Once bright green, strain the hot mixture through a fine sieve lined with a muslin cloth or j-coth set over a clean container. Bring up the edges of the cloth around the oil and gently squeeze or press to extract as much oil as possible
- Allow the oil to cool to room temperature, then transfer to a squeezy bottle and chill in the fridge
- Once rested and back to room temperature, roll the dough in a pasta machine to around 2-3mm thick and cut into sheets. Use a rolling pin on a chitarra pasta cutter to push the dough through to make a sort of square-sided spaghetti, dusting with semolina as you go. Divide into 4 portions, dust with semolina and store on a tray. If you don’t have a chitarra, you can cut the dough into tagliatelle, tagliarini or whatever shape you fancy
- To serve, bring a large pan of water to a boil and heavily season with salt. Add the pasta and cook to your liking (2 minutes should do it)
- Meanwhile, add the butter to a saucepan with a generous splash of the wild garlic oil and melt together
- Transfer the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss together with a splash of pasta water. Add some finely grated Parmesan and gently toss together until fully emulsified. Taste and season with a squeeze of lemon juice and salt
- Plate up the pasta into bowls. Top each portion with a fresh egg yolk, seasoning it with a small pinch of flaky sea salt and black pepper. Finally drizzle over a little more wild garlic oil and serve
Chitarra is Italian for ‘guitar’ as the cutter has strings pulled taught over a wooden frame. NOTE: If you don’t have a chitarra machine you can roll out the pasta and cut it into ribbon-shaped pasta such as pappardelle or tagliatelle. For the spinach pasta dough, blend the spinach and eggs together in a high-speed blender then transfer to a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment
Add the flour and gently mix until a dough forms. Continue to mix the dough for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic, then remove, wrap well and rest for 1 hour in the fridge.
Once rested, remove the dough from the fridge and leave at room temperature for 20-30 minutes Meanwhile, make the wild garlic oil.
Place the wild garlic and rapeseed oil in a high-powered blender. Blend on full speed until the mixture is smooth and steam begins to rise from the oil (about 3-5 minutes)
Pour into a saucepan and gently bring to a boil to extract the chlorophyll, stirring occasionally – this will happen as soon as it comes to boil; the oil and solids will separate and turn the oil bright green Once bright green, strain the hot mixture through a fine sieve lined with a muslin cloth or j-coth set over a clean container.
Bring up the edges of the cloth around the oil and gently squeeze or press to extract as much oil as possible Allow the oil to cool to room temperature, then transfer to a squeezy bottle and chill in the fridge
Once rested and back to room temperature, roll the dough in a pasta machine to around 2-3mm thick and cut into sheets. Use a rolling pin on a chitarra pasta cutter to push the dough through to make a sort of square-sided spaghetti, dusting with semolina as you go.
Divide into 4 portions, dust with semolina and store on a tray. If you don’t have a chitarra, you can cut the dough into tagliatelle, tagliarini or whatever shape you fancy To serve, bring a large pan of water to a boil and heavily season with salt.
Add the pasta and cook to your liking (2 minutes should do it) Transfer the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss together with a splash of pasta water.
Add some finely grated Parmesan and gently toss together until fully emulsified. Taste and season with a squeeze of lemon juice and salt Plate up the pasta into bowls.
Top each portion with a fresh egg yolk, seasoning it with a small pinch of flaky sea salt and black pepper. Finally drizzle over a little more wild garlic oil and serve