Zuppa di Ortiche con Ricotta Salata e Pasta Spezzata Molisana

Molise

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Origin

Molise, southern Italy

Description

Stinging nettles harvested in spring — gloved hands only — form the base of this Molise mountain soup. Blanched briefly in salted water to neutralise the sting, the nettles are squeezed dry and roughly chopped. A base soffritto of onion and lardo is built, nettles added and tossed in the hot fat for two minutes, then covered with water and brought to a simmer for 20 minutes. Broken short pasta (pasta spezzata — spaghetti or tagliatelle broken by hand into irregular pieces) is cooked directly in the nettle broth. Ricotta salata (salted dried ricotta) is grated over each bowl at the table; a thread of raw olive oil finishes it. The nettles dissolve partially into the broth, colouring it deep green and tasting remarkably of mineral, spinach-adjacent richness.

III

The Thread

—Wild-harvested stinging nettles blanched to neutralise and then pureed or left rough in a broth — a universal forager's preparation across northern and Mediterranean Europe Scottish

—Spring nettle soup enriched with dairy at the finish — the nettle's mineral flavour provides intensity while dairy softens and rounds it Austrian

—Foraged bitter and mineral wild greens blanched and simmered in a light broth, finished with olive oil and salt cheese Cretan · Greek

Flavour Context

Iron-rich, mineral and grassy from wild nettles; lardo adds savoury fat; ricotta salata brings sharp, salty punctuation; olive oil ties it all together with grassiness.

Pillars V — VII

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