When we featured ravioli on One Chef One Critic, it was prepared for us by Chef Andrew Hodge of the Fortis Holiday Inn in St. John’s. Andrew’s a passionate chef with a keen interest in Italian cuisine. Several years ago he won a cooking competition that netted him a trip to Italy, which further enhanced his understanding of Italian cooking and culture. We couldn’t have had better instruction in the art of making ravioli. This recipe has several steps. It may be too challenging for the less experienced cook. I decided to include it because I thought it might be fun for some of you fearless culinarians to have a shot at. No matter your skill set, I would still advise you to read the directions carefully.
Ingredients
Pasta
- 2 cups (500 ml) flour
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 large whole egg
- 1½ tsp (7 ml) olive oil
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) milk
- pinch of salt
Filling
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) unsalted butter
- 2 shallots, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 lb (454 g) salt cod pieces, soaked overnight in water
- ½ cup (125 ml) Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tsp (5 ml) Parmesan, grated black pepper to taste
Sauce
- 1 tsp (5 ml) unsalted butter
- 1 lb (454 g) button mushrooms, sliced
- 1 shallot, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, finely diced
- 2 oz (60 ml) Marsala
- 2 cups (500 ml) whipping cream
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) Parmesan, grated
How to Make It
- First you must make the pasta dough. Start by shaping the flour into a mound on a flat surface. Make a well in the centre of the mound and pour in the egg yolks, egg, olive oil, milk, and salt. Using your fingers, break the egg mixture up without splashing the liquid over the rim of the flour well. Swirl the egg mixture around the centre, allowing a little bit of flour to be absorbed into the egg mixture each time. After several minutes, all of the flour will be absorbed.
- Now gently knead the dough with the heel of your hand. (You must flour your work surface to prevent the dough from sticking. Also, flour the dough itself occasionally.) Fold the dough over and knead. Continue to repeat this action until the dough feels dry approximately 5 minutes. Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and store in a cool place for at least 1 hour. (This is critical. The dough must rest. Otherwise it will be tough.)
- While the dough rests, make the ravioli filling. Heat butter in a frying pan over medium heat until butter begins to brown. Add shallots and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Next, add salt cod pieces and allow to cook – stirring often for 5 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated from pan. Remove pan from heat, add parsley, Parmesan, and black pepper. Mix with a wooden spoon and mash the mixture to ensure there are no large pieces of fish. Cool and cover.
- For the mushroom sauce, heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat. After the butter starts to brown, add mushrooms, shallot, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Once most of the moisture has cooked out of the mushrooms, add the Marsala and stir. If there are any bits sticking to the pan, loosen them and keep stirring until half the Marsala has burned off.
- Next, carefully add the cream while stirring. Let the cream heat up but do not allow it to break into a boil. Remove from heat and add Parmesan. Allow the sauce to cool slightly. Now purée the sauce in batches in a food processor. Pour sauce into a container and place in refrigerator until required.
- Now it’s time to make the ravioli. Unwrap the dough and cut it in half. Flour your work surface. Flour a rolling pin. Place half the dough on the floured surface and roll it out, moving the pin back and forth over the dough until you have a thin, rectangular sheet of dough of even thickness. Using a sharp knife, trim the ends of the sheet to square them off.
- Place equal-sized spoonfuls of the salt cod filling about 2 inches apart in a straight line along the centre of the sheet. Pick up one side of the sheet and bring it over the spoonfuls of filling to reach the other side of the sheet. Press the dough together in between the mounds of filling, as if making a sandwich with lumps.
- Using a sharp knife, cut in between the mounds to separate them into equal-sized squares of ravioli. You may need to do a little trimming of the edges to make them roughly the same size. For a tighter seal at the edges, press down on them with the tines of a fork. This will also create a fancy edge. Now repeat the entire procedure with the other half of the dough.
- Remove sauce from refrigerator and pour into a frying pan. Over medium heat, bring sauce gradually to a simmer. Fill a pot with water and add 2 tbsp (30 ml) salt. The water must taste briny like sea water. Bring the water to a boil. Gently place each raviolo into the boiling water and allow the ravioli to cook for 4 minutes.
- When the pasta is cooked, carefully remove each raviolo from pot and add to the pan with the simmering sauce. While ravioli are in pan, spoon sauce over them. Place portions of ravioli on serving plates and pour remaining sauce over them. Decorate the top of each serving with a few scrunchions and snipped pea sprouts.
