Firstly; I recommend
sneff's excellent
pasta recipe for the ravioli, I used that, his
instructions on rolling it and a
pasta machine to make the ravioli and it was that much nicer for having made it myself.
The dish is quite tasty and except for the salmon, vegetarian. The
salmon is a nice touch but it isn't essential and could be left out or replaced with something else as required.
Bexxta suggests baby spinach and I think lightly cooked
spinach or
snow peas (mangtout) added in place of the salmon would be excellent.
Ingredients:
Serves: 2
Ravioli skin: (quantity as per
Sneff's
recipe for
pasta)
Semolina
Eggs
Salt
Grape seed oil
Ravioli filling:
A cup of ricotta
A cup of diced pumpkin (after trimming, see below), maybe 1/4 of a smallish butternut pumpkin
1/4 cup of pine nuts
A tablespoon of sesame oil
Spices: a pinch or two each of nutmeg, cumin and a grind of pepper
Sauce:
1 roma tomato
2 tablespoons of low fat sour cream
Remains of the ravioli filling
1 teaspoon pine nuts
50g smoked salmon
Herbs: a pinch or a couple of leaves each of basil, oregano, tarragon and marjoram
The first step is to roast the pumpkin.
Trim the pumpkin, removing seeds, skin and anything that has dried a little on the exterior...we're not using that much actual pumpkin so don't be afraid to throw anything away if it isn't perfect. Chop the pumpkin into rough cubes and place on a baking tray, no need to do anything to it more than throw it into the oven. About 200c for about 15 minutes is enough...take out just as the tips are starting to brown.
While the pumpkin is baking, make the pasta dough and commence rolling out strips of pasta for ravioli. The pumpkin will finish before you do so put it aside and get back to work. Put a large pot of water on to boil right now and go back to rolling the ravioli. Once done, leave the strips for a moment and throw all the filling ingredients into a blender and pulse briefly until roughly mixed. You want the ingredients still pretty distinct so they'll have texture when you eat them, we're not going for a smooth paste.
Place teaspoon sized amounts onto the ravioli strips and fold up, glaze, press, and cut, it's pretty simple but good directions can be found here if need be. Once prepared, add a small amount of either salt or oil to the boiling water and dump the pasta in. Wait until the water comes back to the boil and then cook for between five and ten minutes depending on how thinly you rolled the pasta (probably towards the upper limit for a semolina-based egg pasta. The ingredients are either cooked or don't need to be so undercooking makes for chewy pasta not food poisoning (there are raw eggs but I undercook eggs and like eggnog so I've made that choice already, it also doesn't take much cooking to make egg safe)...you can take a piece out and cut the edge off to test it now and then since this dish isn't very forgiving of either undercooking or overcooking. Either way, once you have the pasta at the firmness you desire (al dente is recommended of course but cook it as you like it), drain and turn to the sauce.
Oh! The sauce!
The instant you put the pasta on the boil, put a saucepan on a low heat. Slice up a roma tomato and throw it in the saucepan which should be a little warm now, sear the tomato slightly and use a wooden spoon or paddle to stir the tomatoe and crush it up a bit. Add in whatever you have left over from the ravioli filling (to a maximum volume equal to the tomato I guess, we don't want to overdo it) and herbs and sour cream and the remaining pine nuts. If using an immersion blender then use that right now, otherwise stir until all the ingredients are warmed and then transfer to a blender. Either way, blend until smooth and then chop the salmon into strips and throw straight into the sauce, stir until the salmon is warmed to the sauce's temperature and set aside. We're not attempting to cook the salmon, just warm it to the sauce temperature so it doesn't feel cold and clammy in our mouths...contrasts in temperature can be exciting but in case would just be a distraction from the taste.
Add the drained pasta to the sauce and stir through to coat the ravioli then remove to the waiting plates.
Serve with a green salad
Obligatory meta-node link: Cookery