Sourdough pasta with Oyster Jerky

The inspiration for this recipe comes from the timeless culinary tradition of Italy, the classic “carbonara” pasta. 

When we are creating a recipe, we always keep in mind the effects that the carefully chosen nutrients have on your body. The taste has to be rich yet balanced of course, but we tend to forget the fact that we are not only satisfying our palates, but providing for the numerous communities of bacteria inside our bodies.

Plant-based protein, fiber, minerals, vitamins, fermented dough, wild nettles, smoked OYSTER JERKY and chickpea-based Ricotta. It is difficult to envision a more well conducted orchestra of nutrients providing for the daily needs of your body.

SOURDOUGH PASTA

110 g of white wheat flour

75 g silken tofu

2 g of salt

10 g of fluffy and bubbly yeast

1 pinch of turmeric

Blend the tofu, yeast, salt and turmeric into a liquid mixture. Add the flour and knead a flexible dough, which should become quite compact. No worries, because after resting the dough for 4-5 hours at room temperature, it naturally becomes more relaxed. It is also perfectly fine if the dough rises a little.

If a longer fermentation is what you desire, put the dough somewhere cool and leave it there for at least another 12 hours.

We highly recommend a pasta machine. We suggest using setting 2 first, followed by setting 4 for a really fine and thin dough. Alternatively, we can roll up our sleeves and roll the dough into fine sheets, with a little help from some manual work and a rolling pin.  the meantime, knead the flour so that the sheets do not stick together.

To wrap up our preparation we fold the sheets of dough and cut it into wide noodles.

COOKING

Fermented pasta is cooked very quickly. In and out in a minute, followed by a rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process.

CHICKPEA RICOTTA CREAM

4 cloves of garlic

1 chickpea ricotta

1 cup oat milk

Nutmeg

Ginger

lemon juice

Pepper

Salt

Prepare the base for the sauce, adding chickpea ricotta, oat or neutral tasting vegetable milk, lemon juice, ginger, salt, pepper and nutmeg. You cannot go wrong as long as you balance the saltiness and acidity and don't go overboard with the spices. Blend base for the sauce until you achieve a smooth texture.

Finely chop the garlic. For all of those who prefer an oil-free version: cover the surface of a well-heated pan with water and steam the garlic. The rest of the process should be done with good quality olive oil. 

HANDLE NETTLE LIKE ROYALTY

We tend  to moan about how difficult it is to get quality vegetables and how expensive they are.

This is not the case with nettle. Nettle is an otherworldly plant that is classified as a weed (basically an unwanted plant) and is quite prevalent in our beautiful landscapes.

City folk are often reluctant to properly utilize this plant, since they are likely to get stung by the plant’s defensive systems.

Nettle however contains essential minerals, vitamins, protein and antioxidants, free of charge!

The nettle can be quickly fried along with the garlic. Personally, I prefer to blanch  or steam the nettle for very short time in order to retain all of  the exceptional attributes of the nettle. In this case steam the nettle for no more than 3 minutes. If you intend to complete the dish a bit later you can cool it in icy and salted water, otherwise just add it to the sauce.

ASSEMBLING

Add some fresh noodles into the heated sauce, gently stir in the nettle leaves and at the very end add some finely chopped chives. This spice will connect all of the nutrients and elevate the flavors to new heights. We will finish off the dish with Oyster Jerky, which can be distributed randomly around the dish. To boost the morale of the day, sprinkle the dish with wild nettle flowers that grow on the first corner of your house or block.

Fermented and sweetened greetings,

Martin and Anita

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PHOTO: @sourdough_mania

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