Tuesday 11 June 2013

Pasta Class



 Plenty of room which has been a rarity in kitchen thus far, Jason is a chef with a real passion for quality and slow food. He is really suited to the Italian way of thinking. 
Today we made egg pasta, similar technique to what we have seen thus far.
flour approx 100 gms per egg, break eggs in and mix with a folk till most of the flour have been incorporated then kneed the rest in and start kneading until the dough springs back into shape when you push your finger into it. Cover with wrap and let it sit for 1/2 - 1 hr. 
 
We will use the dough 2 ways firstly as tagletellie and then as ravioli. 

The sauce we make for the tagletellie is.
1 large onion sweated very slowly for approx 15 mins lid off to reduce liquid of onion. When it is really soft we added 150 gms pork cheek which had been through the slicer then chopped. Let this melt into the onion again lowest heat for another 10 mins. Open a large jar off home preserved Roma toms moily them to remove the skins. Keep the heat the same and let them reduce down by 1/3 at least as for a further 30 mins. Taste and season as needed. Remember this need to be rich as it will be on a lot of pasta. In Italy they only coat the pasta with sauce so the sauce needs to be a big flavour.

The Filling for the Ravioli.
We double peel the fava beans ( broad beans) firstly shell and then with your nail remove the little helmet of the bean and squeeze the inner centre out. Cook them in salted water till just done.  Drain sheep's milk ricotta in a sieve. If using cows milk ricotta it is wetter so you will need to pop it in a sieve and put a plate and weight on it to remove as much moisture as possible. Mix together the cheese with cooled beans,  2 tabs parsley, the zest of 1/2 lemon and 1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg.

This can also been pumpkin which you would roast and substitute for the beans so it can be made seasonally and as we are going home to some pumpkins I am sure we can adapt. 

So the rested dough should be now ready get out  pasta roller and pass it through several times on each setting for largest to smaller but not to thin.

The ravioli needs to be thinner than the tagletellie as it is double thickness once filled.

For tagletellie let the sheet for the pasta sit on the bench for 1/2 hr so it becomes almost leathery to the touch. When you are ready to cut it again semolina in between the bed sheets and cut so it is long be carful not to squash. For the tagletellie pasta cut and toss in semolina. 

For the ravioli we again ran them through the pasta roller like before only thinner and once ready we cut the long piece in 1/2 then popped small spoonfuls of the bean mix a finger apart. Once done lift very carefully preferable with a second person the top sheet on. Once on push around each mound under ideally and then cut between to seal. 

Bring a huge pot of boiling water to the boil add salt and when boiling add ravioli and stir gently to make sure they are off the bottom once they are all off the bottom and floating cook for 1 min.  Place on a serving plate with sauce using some of the hot pasta water if they absorb it all add a little more and serve. 

Sauce for the Ravioli.
Simply count 8 with olive oil into a hot fry pan add in 4 cloves garlic cook on a high heat till a bit coloured
Toss in 2 handfuls of cherry toms and when melted add in salt pepper, and some fava bean and peas.

For the pasta cook in boiling water till just cooked and toss with sauce again some of the hot pasta water over the top to keep it moist.
Enjoy....

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