Wild garlic and langoustine pappardelle
Go wild with this classy supper of homemade pappardelle pasta with buttery langoustines.
You will need a food processor or blender to make this recipe.
Ingredients
For the wild garlic pappardelle
- 1–2 handfuls wild garlic
- 150g/5½oz ‘00’ flour, plus extra for dusting
- 10²µ/â…“o³ú cornflour
- pinch saltÌý
- 1 free-range eggÌý
- 10²µ/â…“o³ú olive oil
- 30–50g/1–1¾oz water, depending on the moisture of the wild garlic
For the langoustines
- 10 langoustines
- 2 tbsp oil
- 30g/1oz unsalted butter
To serve
- 20g/¾oz yeast flakes
- 1 lemon, zest only
- ½ handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 4 wild garlic leaves
- 2 tbsp wild garlic flowers, to garnish
Method
To make the wild garlic and langoustine pappardelle, place the wild garlic into a food processor or blenderÌýand blitzÌýto a purée. Add the ’00’ flour, cornflour and saltÌýand blend, adding egg, oil and the water gradually until it comes together. Lightly flour a clean work surface.
With your hands, bring the dough together on the work surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth. If the dough is too wet that it sticks, knead in a little more flour, but take care – if it’s too dry it will be tricky to get thin enough.ÌýIt should be supple but not tacky. Cover the dough and leave to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
For the langoustines, bring a pan of salted water to the boil, and prepare a bowl of ice water. Blanch the langoustines for 20–30 seconds, then remove them straight into the ice water. When the langoustines have cooled you should be able to remove the head, claws and shells easily. Use a pairing knife to remove the dark intestinal tract along the back of the langoustines. Save the pan of boiling water to cook the pasta later.
Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the langoustines for 1–2 minutes on each side until golden and caramelised. Remove the langoustines and drain on kitchen paper. Keep the pan to one side as we'll use that pan to finish the pasta.
Roll the pasta dough out to the thinnest setting in a pasta machine, cutting the sheets to about 30cm/12in long. Alternatively, you can roll the pasta out by hand. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough gradually. Keep turning the dough and sprinkle with a tiny amount of flour if it begins to stick. Cut the pasta into wide pappardelle strips, and sprinkle with a bit of extra flour to make sure they don't stick together.
Bring your pan of salted water back to the boil and cook the pappardelle for 2 minutes then drain, saving two ladles of the pasta water.
Place the langoustine pan back over a medium-high heat and add the pasta water to the pan. Simmer the sauce and give it a good stir to incorporate all the pan juices. To serve, for the pappardelle onto a serving plate and top with the cooked langoustines. Finish with the pan sauce, yeast flakes, lemon zest, parsley, garlic flowers and wild garlic leaves. Alternatively, you can toss the langoustines and pasta through the sauce in the pan, then serve with the yeast flakes, lemon zest, parsley, garlic flowers and wild garlic leaves.
