For those who know me well, my love for peas is nothing new. Undoubtedly my favourite ingredient by miles, it’s always a joy to cook with them, and simply knowing they’re around puts a smile on my face. To me, peas feel like a luxury item. They are a truly versatile ingredient: there’s so much we can do with them. Every part of the plant can be used in some way, and at Flor we try to embrace that versatility as fully as possible.
This new pasta dish was born from my desire to create something completely green. As it’s our first season, it felt natural to experiment and try something new. We were already working with a version of the Roman Vignarola, transformed into a sauce for a previous artichoke dish, which had yielded great results. So when pea season properly began, we were ready to start using them more intensively.
We began ordering box after box of peas in their pods, separating them carefully for different purposes. The pods were destined for stock, forming the very foundation of our Vignarola Sauce. The medium and larger peas were set aside for a purée that would become the filling of our agnolotti. The smallest ones, a true luxury for us, were gently heated and served just as they were.
The pasta itself needed to be intensely green, and I loved the idea of using the nostalgic Italian approach of adding spinach – lots of it. After seeing Adam Byatt’s recipe for a green potato purée using parsley and an interesting technique, it struck me that this might be the perfect way to achieve that vibrant colour in our pasta. And a quick aside: how cool is Adam Byatt? What a proper geezer.
To finish the dish, we needed something more intricate. Enter Javi, fondly nicknamed “Javi Agricultor” by our team. A high school friend of my girlfriend’s, Javi has a small but remarkably productive garden in Altea, along with a deep passion for growing exceptional produce and exploring different plant varieties. When I visited him, he mentioned there wouldn’t be many peas this year, but that he had planted a generous amount of fava. The leaves and flowers of the fava plant are delicious. To me, they taste like a blend of fava beans and peas, with a subtle nuttiness that, oddly, reminds me of Comté cheese. A perfect match for our dish.
When the first batch arrived from Javi’s garden, we knew we had found the final piece. Beautiful ingredients, carrying the flavour of a very special place. To have access to something so unique is a privilege few restaurants enjoy, and we feel incredibly fortunate to share such a close relationship with a supplier.
After tasting the finished dish, we knew it was complete: a lighter, more feminine counterpart to our previous pasta, which had been more serious and restrained. A gentle celebration of spring, just as it begins to arrive.
Peas and Fresh Ricotta Agnolotti dal Plin
Make the dough:
For the Green Spinach Paste:
· 330g Spinach, leaves and small stalks
· 2000g Water, filtered
Blend the Spinach and Water in the Thermomix for 2’ at speed 10. Work in batches.
Pass it through a chinois into a pot and start heating it.
Once hot, it will split. Immediately pass it through a chinois lined with a wet cheesecloth with a few ice cubes in it.
Discard the liquid and transfer the cheesecloth to a perforated GN and place it in the fridge overnight.
On the next day, remove the paste from the cheesecloth and portion in individual vacuum bags weighing 150g of paste for each bag.
For the Agnolotti dough:
· 787g Flour, 00”
· 213g Flour, Semola
· 419g Egg, yolks
· 125g Egg, whites
· 150g Spinach Paste, from above
Sift the 00” and Semola flours together in a bowl large enough to work the pasta dough, mix well and reserve.
In a separate bowl, add the remaining ingredients. With a hand blender, blend it until smooth and bright green in colour.
Create a well in the Flour blend and add the Egg and Spinach mix in it. Working with a fork, slowly start to incorporate the wet mix into the flour in a circular movement. Once the dough becomes too hard to mix, start working with your hands.
Work the dough until smooth and elastic. Make a ball and vacuum seal at 100% and leave overnight in the fridge to rest.
Make the Sauce:
For the Pea Pod Stock:
· 100% Pea, pods
· 100% Water, filtered
· 10% Shallots, peeled and julienned
· 5% Garlic, peeled and finely sliced
Combine everything in a vacuum bag and cook at 70°C for 2 hours. Strain and discard the solids.
For the Vignarola Sauce:
· 115g Butter, cubed
· 115g Guanciale, brunoised
· 230g Spring Onion, julienned
· 20g Garlic, cloves, peeled and sliced
· Salt, Maldon
· 910g Lettuce, romaine, coarsely chopped
· 2400g Peas, stock, from above
· 1140g Peas, fresh, size big
· 120g Cream, 38% fat
· 20g Mint, leaves
· 100g Fava, leaves and small stalks
Add the Butter and Guanciale to a rondeau and keep it on low heat, so the Guanciale releases all of its fat but doesn’t burn. Remove the Guanciale and keep it for another use.
Add the Spring Onion and a pinch of salt to the pan and poach it on low heat, covered with a cartouche until very soft.
Add the Garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30”.
Meanwhile, blanch the Romaine Lettuce in abundant water salted at 10% for 1’30”, shock them ice water, remove the excess water by squeezing the lettuce between your hands and keep it on paper towels. Discard the blanching water.
Add the Pea Stock and slowly bring it to a simmer.
Add the Peas and simmer them for 5 minutes. Add the Lettuce and simmer for 2 minutes. Season with Salt. Add the Fava Leaves and cook for 30”.
Remove the rondeau from the heat and add the Cream and Mint. Mix with a spoon to combine.
Blend the mix in the Thermomix for 5’ at speed 10 (divide into batches for a smooth consistency). Pass the sauce through a chinois and cool rapidly over an ice bath. Adjust the seasoning.
Once cold, vacuum seal and keep it in the freezer.
Make the Agnolotti dal Plin:
For the Fresh Ricotta:
· 1000g Milk
· 1ud Lemon, juice, strained
Warm the milk to just above 40ºC.
Add the Lemon Juice and stir. It should split instantly.
Remove from the heat and keep the pot with a lid on until it reaches room temperature.
Strain through a sieve and transfer it to a cheesecloth.
Leave it overnight in the fridge over a perforated GN set over another GN to strain as much whey as possible. The Ricotta should be very dry.
Keep the Ricotta for the filling and save the Whey for another use.
For the Pea Purée:
· 1000g Peas, fresh, size big
· 60g Spinach, leaves
· Abundant Pea Stock, salted at 10%
· 150g Pea Stock (above), after blanching the Peas and Spinach
· 55g Oil, olive
Blanch the peas for 3’30” in the Pea Stock salted at 10%. Add the Spinach and blanch it for 30” more, resulting in 4’ total cooking for the Peas and 30” total cooking for the Spinach.
With a sieve, transfer the Peas and Spinach to the Thermomix.
Add the 150g of Pea Stock used for blanching the Peas and Spinach and blend for 10’ on speed 10.
Lower the speed a little and add the Olive Oil in a steady and continuous pour to emulsify it.
Cover immediately and chill.
For the Agnolotti Filling:
· 373g Ricotta, fresh, from above
· 1000g Pea, purée, from above
· 7,7g Salt, Maldon
· 2,6g Pepper, black, ground
Add the Ricotta, Maldon Salt and Pepper to a KitchenAid fit with the paddle attachment and start blending on low. You do not wanna cream the Ricotta, but only break it into very small crumbs. If you overprocess the Ricotta, the filling will become too wet and the consistency of the finished agnolotti will be ruined.
Remove the bowl from the KitchenAid and, by hand, fold in the Pea Purée. The filling should be quite dense and dry to the touch, and taste intensely of Peas. If necessary, adjust the seasoning.
Transfer to piping bags and keep it in the fridge.
For making the Agnolotti:
Portion the pasta into 205g pieces.
Open each piece using a machine (we use a Marcato Atlas 150), working it firstly on the 0 setting, folding it until very smooth and have the right consistency. Then, start passing it through the finer settings, one at a time, until the 7th. The dough should be homogeneously green and feel quite plastic-y to the touch.
Proceed to apply the Filling and close it in the Agnolotti dal Plin shape.
Immediately transfer to the blast chiller and freeze it.
Finish the dish:
· Agnolotti dal Plin, frozen – 7 per person
· Vignarola Sauce
· Fava, leaves
· Peas, fresh, size small – 10g per person
· Peas, shoots
· Fava, flowers – 3 per person
· Oil, olive
In a pot, add Water salted at 10% and bring it to a strong boil. Add the Agnolotti dal Plin and cook it for 2’.
Meanwhile, gently heat the Vignarola Sauce. Do not boil it. Place 3 spoonfuls in the serving bowl.
Blanch the Fava Leaves for no more than 1” (very quick!) and make a small pile in the centre of the plate.
Carefully place the Agnolotti on top of the Fava Leaves, placing it around and on top of them.
Blanch the Peas in the boiling water for about 5” and scatter them around the Agnolotti.
Place the Pea Shoots on top and dress with Olive Oil. Finish with the Fava Flowers and serve immediately.
