Watercress pasta three ways

Posted by petra08 on December 9, 2016 · 25 Comments 

The other day I woke up and decided to make pasta for dinner, I haven’t made it in ages. Life came between me and my pasta plans but a few days later I finally found enough time to make it.

A while back I made handkerchief pasta, pasta with visible herbs inside. I did Uova da ravioli, ravioli with an egg yolk inside. This time I wanted to add a color to the pasta and the color I wanted was green.

It seems the most common way to add color is to use spinach. I went to the green grocer and as I walked in they put out a big tray of local watercress. I love the vibrant green and thought it would be good to use for this.

 

 

Pasta has the great quality of lending itself to many things and walking home I was thinking about what I would want to make. I did a fridge raid and came out with chorizo, tofu, spring onions, a bag of kimchi, butter, mince meat and a few mushrooms.

There was no way I was going to try to make one dish of all of this so I decided to make ravioli and dumplings for lunch and a ragu for dinner, a pasta day!

 

Watercress pasta

preparation time 15 minutes

cooking time, if plain 1-2 minutes

serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 big bunch of fresh watercress
• 150 gr or 5.3 oz 00 flour
• 50 gr or 1.76 oz semolina
• 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk

Start with the watercress. Rinse well and steam until just soft, a couple of minutes. Place the watercress in a blender and blend until you have smooth, green paste.

Place the paste in a clean jcloth and gently squeeze out as much water as you can. leave over night if possible. I did not pre plan as far but will do it next time.

 

 

Mix flour and semolina and place on a clean surface. Make a hollow in the middle and add the egg. Mix the dough with your fingers and after a few minutes add the watercress paste.

Mix until it all comes together. I had to add a bit of flour to the dough as the watercress had a tiny bit of water in it. Knead the dough to get the gluten going and until smooth. Let the dough rest for an hour at room temperature or place it, covered, I use a plastic bag, in the fridge if you have time to rest it for longer.

 

 

Cut the pasta dough in to four pieces and work with one at the time, keeping the rest in the bag so it won’t dry out. Roll the pasta. I have a pasta machine and I find rolling it by hand takes a lot longer and it is difficult to get it thin enough but it is possible.

 

My first thought was to make ravioli but as I was working with the pasta I thought I would see how dumplings would turn out as I had read that you can use the same dough for dumpling skins.

The chorizo would make a great filling for the ravioli so I made this first. I used the silken tofu to bind the ingredients together. It does the job, doesn’t add any flavor as you are using so little and it is healthier than cheese but any soft cheese would work of course.

 

Chorizo and spring onion ravioli with sage

preparation time 15 minutes

cooking time 2-3 minutes

serves 2, makes 7 ravioli

Ingredients

• 1/4 pasta dough, rolled and cut in to rounds
• about 30 gr or 1 oz silken tofu
• 1/4 chorizo sausage, chopped very fine
• 3 spring onions, the white only, chopped fine
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• toasted sesame seed oil
• 1 pinch of salt

Garnish

• crispy sage leaves
• the green from the spring onion, thinly sliced
• toasted sesame seeds
• sesame seed oil

Whisk the tofu smooth. Add the chorizo, spring onion and toasted sesame seed oil and toasted sesame seeds.

 

 

 

Place about a tea spoon of filling and a few drops of toasted sesame oil on half of the rounds. Dip your finger or a small brush in water all around the edges and add another pasta round and “glue them together. make sure there is no air in the ravioli, you can squeeze it out very gently, just double check so that the pasta is glued all around. Leave on a flour or semolina dusted board until you are using them.

When you are ready boil salted water in a big pan. The ravioli will cook in 2-3 minutes, they are ready when they come up to the surface. Remove them with a slotted spoon, garnish with some crispy sage leaves, spring onion, toasted sesame seeds and a small drizzle of toasted sesame oil. The filling is quite wet so I didn’t make a butter to go with the ravioli and it wasn’t dry.

 

 

The kimchi would be perfect for the pot sticker dumplings. I chopped it fine and mixed it with a some butter, counteracting the goodness of the tofu, to make a filling. I also wanted a vegetarian option and this is so good you won’t give meat or fish a thought.

 

Kimchi butter pot sticker dumplings

preparation time 15 minutes

cooking time about 7 minutes/batch

serves 2, makes 10 dumplings

Ingredients

• 1/4 pasta dough, rolled and cut in to rounds
• 150 gr or 5.3 oz kimchi
• 30 gr or 1 oz butter

Garnish

• the green from the spring onion, thinly sliced
• toasted sesame seeds

For cooking

• vegetable oil
• a knob of butter
• water

Place about a tea spoon on each of the rounds. Dip your finger or a small brush in water and trace around half of the dumpling. Fold them over and “glue” them shut. Pleat the dumpling and set aside until you need them.

 

 

The dumplings needs longer time to cook. I love pot sticker dumplings as they have both the softness of a steamed dumpling and the delicious crunch of a fried one. Heat oil and butter in a frying pan with a lid. Place the dumplings in the pan and let them get some colour. Add a little water, just enough to cover the base, the lid and let stand until the dumplings are soft and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.

 

 

 

It was a perfect amount for lunch for two, quite a lot of work but worth it!

I used the mince for dinner and did a beef mince ragu with hand cut pappardelle, and an avocado salsa.

 

 

I had used the whole pasta dough. I loved the color that the watercress added and am now thinking of what color to do next.

 

I am bringing some green pasta to Angie’s rockin’ Fiesta Friday. She has two brilliant co hosts, Judi, Cooking with a Juju, and Sandhya, Indfused.

I will also bring this to Corina‘s Cook Once Eat Twice party. I love the idea of cooking once and eating twice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Filed under Allotment/Veg, Amuse bouche, Avocado, Beef, Chilli, Garlic, Herbs, Main course, Meat, Mushroom, Pasta, Recipe, Side dish, Snack, Spring onion, Starter, Tomatoes, Vegetarian, Watercress · Tagged with beef ragu, crispy dumplings, dumplings, fresh pasta, green pasta, Home made pasta, kimchi, kimchi butter, making pasta, pappardelle pasta, ragu, ravioli, watercress pasta