Homemade Chestnut Pasta Recipe

Italian Vegetarian Dish with Brussels Sprouts and Wild Mushrooms

© Rebecca Ford

Aug 30, 2009

Chestnuts add a delicious, mildly nutty flavour to this pasta dish by chef Maria Elia. The recipe comes from her excellent cookery book The Modern Vegetarian (pub. Kyle Cathie, £16.99) and appears here with permission. Maria Elia, once head chef at Delfina’s in London, says that you can vary this dish by omitting the butter, drizzling with truffle oil and tossing with crushed, roasted hazelnuts for extra texture. She always salts the cooking water, rather than the pasta dough.

Chestnut Pasta Rags with Sprouts and Wild Mushrooms – Recipe

Ingredients – serves 4

For the pasta

• 250g ‘00’ flour
• 125g cooked chestnuts, whizzed to a fine powder
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• Dash of olive oil
• Semolina, for dusting

For the vegetables

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 250g wild mushrooms, cleaned and torn
• Salt and pepper
• 250g Brussels sprouts, cooked
• 50 unsalted butter
• 150g cooked chestnuts, quartered
• 1 serving Sage Burnt Butter (see below)
• 50g Parmesan cheese, shaved

For the Sage Burnt Butter

• 150g unsalted butter
• 12 sage leaves
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Method

1. To make the pasta by hand, combine the flour and chestnuts on a work surface, form them into a mound and make a well in the centre. Add the eggs and oil and mix gradually until most of the flour is incorporated. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is firm and elastic, adding more flour if it is too sticky. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for 30 minutes, during which time the dough will soften.
2. If you are using a food processor, combine the flour and chestnuts, keep the motor running and slowly add the eggs and oil, mixing until it just comes together. (If you overwork the mixture it will heat up too much.) Transfer to a work surface and knead as above. Wrap in clingfilm, then chill in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight – the pasta will become much more flexible after resting. (If you own a KitchenAid, make the pasta using the dough hook attachment.)
3. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and press gently to flatten. Cut in half and roll each piece of dough through a pasta machine several times starting at the thickest setting and ending at the thinnest.
4. Cut into 5cm rough diamond-shaped rags (a pizza wheel is really good for this), place on a tray lined with baking paper and sprinkled with semolina and leave to rest for 10 minutes before cooking. You can complete this stage up to 3 days in advance. If you don’t own a pasta machine, use a rolling pin and cut into rags.
5. To prepare the Sage Burnt Butter, heat the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat until it begins to foam and turn golden brown. Turn off the heat and add the sage leaves (be careful as they will splutter a little). Add the lemon juice and set aside until required.
6. To prepare the vegetables, heat the olive oil in a large pan and cook the mushrooms over a high heat, seasoning with salt and pepper. Set aside.
7. Halve or quarter the Brussels sprouts, depending on their size. Heat the butter and warm the sprouts and chestnuts over a medium heat.
8. To serve, cook the pasta in a large pan of generously salted boiling water until al dente, 1-2 minutes. Toss the sprouts, mushrooms and chestnuts with the pasta rags in Sage Burnt Butter; season with sea salt and pepper and serve topped with shaved Parmesan.

Chestnut Pasta with Mushrooms

Print Article

View All Articles

How to subscribe to feeds