L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 32 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2019 LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES Perfectly shaped and cut, these ravioli are entirely made by hand© | Toni Brancatisano Continua da pagina 30 tinue with your hands and ensure you use the dough to pick up any remaining bits of egg or flour on the work bench. 4. Add a little more flour if the dough feels too sticky. Knead lightly to create a ball that keeps together. Clean the work bench and wash your hands. 5. Lightly flour the work surface and start to knead the dough. Use the heel of one hand and work the dough for 10 min- utes or so until the dough be- comes smooth and elastic. (Note the time pasta is kneaded depends on the type of dough, but more importantly on who is doing the kneading: big, strong chefs will get the work done in half the time it takes me. 6. Wrap the dough in plastic kitchen wrap and allow to rest for at least an hour. My pasta rested for over an hour, (because lunch and life happened) but use this time to prepare the ravioli filling. ASPARAGUS AND GOAT CHEESE FILLING • 14 oz asparagus • 500ml water • salt and pepper • 7 oz soft goat cheese • 7 oz ricotta (sheep or goat ricotta) • 2 oz Pecorino Romano, finely grated DIRECTIONS 1. Wash the asparagus. Re- move the asparagus tips, cutting about 2 inches and set aside. Snap off the tough ends and chop the remaining asparagus stems into small pieces. 2. Add the asparagus to a shal- low frying pan with salt and pep- per, then cover with 500ml of wa- ter. 3. Bring to the boil, then re- duce the heat and allow to simmer until the asparagus are soft, and all the water has evaporated. Put them aside to cool. 4. Add the cold asparagus to a mini food processor and process until you have a smooth purée. 5. In a bowl mix together the goat cheese, the ricotta and the Pecorino Romano. Add some freshly cracked black pepper. Stir in the purées asparagus. Taste the filling and add a little salt if re- quired. If you think it needs more salt, add more Pecorino instead. 6. Transfer filling into a pip- ing bag and refrigerate until you have your pasta ready. MAKING RAVIOLI Using a 45mm square ravioli stamp, I made 42 ravioli with the quantities from the above pasta recipe. 1. Remove the pasta dough from the plastic and cut off a piece. Re-wrap the remaining pasta dough to prevent it drying out. Dust the work surface with some flour, and use your hands to flatten the pasta. 2. Set the pasta machine at its widest setting. Very lightly dust either side of the pasta with a little flour and pass the dough through the pasta machine. Re- peat another two times (I use the pasta-roller attachment for my KitchenAid mixer). 3. Fold the pasta in 3. Fold either end into the middle. Pass this through the pasta machine one more time on the widest set- ting. 4. Click the machine to the next setting and pass the pasta through twice, repeating the pasta folding after each time the pasta passes through. Aim to have the pasta sheets the same width as the pasta machine. 5. Click the machine to the next setting, this time passing the pasta dough through just once each time. (and no more folding). Lightly dust the pasta sheet on both sides with a little flour every time you pass it through. 6. I stopped at No. 5 on my KitchenAid pasta machine, but you should know that for ravioli (or tortellini) you should roll the pasta dough to the point where you can see your hand or lines of newsprint through it. 7. Start making the ravioli as soon as you have your pasta sheet to the desired thickness. Pasta dries quickly, so make the ravioli until you have used up all the pasta, then begin with the pasta machine again with another piece of pasta. Wrap any pasta scraps in plastic wrap so you can knead it to use again. 8. Place the prepared pasta sheet on a well-floured work sur- face. Pipe about a heaped tea- spoon of filling at 2 inches inter- vals along one half lengthwise of the pasta sheet. I used the ravioli stamp to lightly indent the pasta so I had a guide as to the space I would need between each one. Note that ravioli stamps come in different sizes. 9. Brush lightly around the filling with water – this helps keep the ravioli sealed. Fold over the pasta sheet and then press with your fingers around the fill- ing to seal the pasta together. An- other method is to have two rolled sheets of pasta , and top the bot- tom one with filling with the sec- ond pasta sheet. Do whatever works best for you. 10.Use the ravioli stamp, a glass, or even a cookie cutter and cut out your ravioli, ensuring the filling is in the centre of each raviolo. Transfer the ravioli to a tray dusted with semola. 11.Continue with the re- maining pasta and filling. BURNT BUTTER, SAGE AND HAZELNUT SAUCE • 7 oz salted butter • 20 fresh sage leaves • 5 oz whole hazelnuts, roasted and chopped • Asparagus tips 1. Using a medium size non- stick frying pan, place the pan on a low-medium heat and add the butter and sage. Melt the butter slowly. 2. Blanche the Asparagus tips (this means to plunge the aspara- gus into boiling water for a short amount of time before transfer- ring it to an ice bath, which quickly stops the cooking, and maintains a vibrant green color). 3. Turn the heat up to medium-high, bring the butter to a violent simmer, add the hazel- nuts to the hot butter, and cook until the butter is golden brown and the sage leaves are crisp. 4. Add the asparagus tips and toss through butter. THE FINAL DISH • lemon zest and goat cheese to serve 1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add 1-2 ta- blespoons of salt. 2. Add ravioli to boiling water and cook for 8 minutes. Do not stir because the ravioli may break apart. Test if the ravioli is ready by taking a bite after fishing one out with a slotted spoon. (Your ravioli may need 10 minutes, or it may need less than 8 minutes. It all depends on the thickness of the pasta). 3. Remove ravioli with a slot- ted spoon and add directly to the frying pan with the burnt butter sauce. Toss over a medium heat quickly and ensure all the ravioli has been coated with the butter. 4. Serve with a sprinkling of freshly grated lemon zest and a few dots of goat cheese.

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