Elephant Garlic Pasta

Milder than regular garlic, Elephant Garlic adds a subtle kick of flavour to this homemade pasta dough. You can roll the dough out with a pasta machine if you have one, or by hand with a rolling pin, and cut it into noodles. Or try our recipe for a simple ravioli - it's easier to put together than it looks, and there's nothing quite like the taste of fresh pasta, especially pasta made with Isle of Wight Elephant Garlic! This is a great recipe to get the kids involved in, as they love the chance to get creative in the kitchen, then eat what they've made.

Ingredients for pasta dough

• 1-2 cloves of Elephant Garlic, very finely chopped.
• 330g type '00' pasta flour
• 3 medium eggs
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 lemons, zested

Ingredients for ravioli filling

• 1 egg-white, beaten
• 300g soft goat's cheese or ricotta
• 0.5 teaspoon sea salt
• pinch of Ancho chilli flakes
• ground black pepper
• *useful tool: serrated pastry cutter or a ravioli stamp

To serve

• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon
• two teaspoons pink peppercorns, lightly crushed

Method

1. Whisk the eggs and olive oil together.
2. Weigh pasta flour into a bowl or food processor, and add the lemon zest and finely chopped Elephant Garlic. Pour in the oil and eggs, and blend mixture to a crumbly dough if using a food processor, or stir together and knead briefly by hand to incorporate the ingredients.
3. Cover and leave dough to chill for half an hour.
4. Divide the dough into 4 blocks and prepare a floured surface to roll each block out thinly (3mm). If you have a pasta machine, pass the dough through the widest setting first, and repeat, narrowing the setting each time, until the dough has passed through the narrowest setting.
5. Cut pasta sheets finely with a sharp knife into noodle strands, or use the spaghetti cutting attachment for your pasta machine.
6. For ravioli, make the filling as detailed below, then lay out one sheet of thinly rolled pasta and brush with beaten egg white.
7. Drop small spoonfuls of filling at intervals along the length of the pasta.
8. Fold one side of the pasta sheet over the filling to enclose it. Press pasta down around each pocket of filling to push the air out and seal the pasta together. Cut into ravioli squares with a sharp knife, or ideally a serrated pastry cutter (which helps to seal the squares as it cuts).
9. Another option for making ravioli is to cut out pasta shapes with a ravioli stamp or pastry cutter, brush with egg white, dollop the filling on top, then cover with another pasta shape and press together to seal.
10. Cook the pasta for 2-3 minutes in salted boiling water.
11. Serve ravioli with a drizzle of olive oil, squeeze of lemon juice or a little zest, and some crushed pink peppercorns. Alternatively, fry some more chopped Elephant Garlic in butter and pour over the cooked pasta for a double dose of delicious garlic!

To make ravioli filling

• Mash the goats cheese or ricotta with the sea salt and a dash of lemon juice until you have a smooth mixture. Add a pinch of chilli flakes and some black pepper.