Cavatelli

Cavatelli

So its clear as day that I've got a serious hankering for pasta again, almost like rediscovering a little bit of magic I've not used in a while. Cavatelli is a small shell shape known as "Priests ears" in Italian, it almost looks like a cross between the dried, common fusilli & orrecchiette pasta's. It can be made with a cavatelli machine or the hard way, hand pressed with a sushi matt. Not that they used the matt in the old days, it would have been a gnocchi paddle. My kids wanted a little go at making their own pasta so I thought I'd start with this one as we could all work at it as a family and you don't need to get it perfect. 

Recipe:

400g Tipo 00 flour

4 Large Eggs

5g salt

10ml Olive oil

It's a fairly basic dough. Mix it altogether and leave it to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes or so. Roll out with a pin, or a machine but don't roll it out too thin. Cut it into a lengths and roll it out to create a long thick piece and cut it into 1/2 inch bits. Press them into the sushi matt with your thumb in a forward motion pushing away from you.

 Leave to dry for a while on a pasta board or a floured bench and cook when ready in salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Keep it simple and don't over complicate the pasta, we had it with a little ragù and a serious amount of parmesan... Just the way it should be on a wet & windy Monday night. 

Beetroot, raspberry & creme fraiche

Beetroot, raspberry & creme fraiche

Root's are in and berries are almost gone,  a good time to mix the two together with a simple beetroot cake, fresh raspberries & some creme fraiche granita. Surprisingly light & surprisingly amazing in flavour. 

Beetroot cake

160g sugar

80ml oil

1egg

250g beetroot puree

28g chocolate

1/2 tsp baking powder

80g flour

Mix the sugar, oil & egg until light, fold in the puree and melted chocolate. Mix the flour & baking powder and fold them in too. Place into a lined tin and bake at 180*c for 18 minutes. Leave to cool once ready and cut cold. 

Raspberry coulis

200g raspberries

50g sugar

Blend together, pass and reduce on the heat by 1/3 and chill. 

Creme fraiche granita

500ml Water

50g sugar

150g creme fraiche

Boil the water & sugar then chill, whisk in the creme fraiche and freeze. Scrap to create the granita. 

To garnish

Red vein sorrel

Fresh raspberries

Chocolate, cherry & raspberry.

Chocolate, cherry & raspberry. 

A little out of season, I know but this was made with a few cherries that we're frozen down in the summer to make a delicious dessert. 

Stock syrup:

500ml water

475g sugar

25g glucose

Cherry sorbet:

1kg cherries

390ml stock syrup 

200ml water

Cherry puree:

250g cherries

100g sugar

Flourless sponge:

250g egg white

300g sugar

200g egg yolk

60g cocoa powder

Chocolate cremeux:

250ml Milk

250ml cream

50g sugar

100g egg yolk

250g Dark chocolate

Method:

Bring everything to the boil for the stock syrup and chill. 

For the sorbet, simmer the cherries (stoneless) in the stock syrup & water for 10 minutes, blend and pass then freeze. Blend in pacojet once ready to use. 

For the cherry puree, simmer the cherrie with the sugar until soft then blend and pass. 

For the flourless sponge, whisk the whites with the sugar until meringue stage, slowly add the yolks then fold in the cocoa powder. Cook at 180*c for 15 minutes and leave to cool. 

For the cremeux, bring the milk & cream to the boil, whisk the sugar & eggs together and temper with the cream and add back to the pot. Slowly bring to 82*c then take off the heat and pass into a tub. Leave it to cool to 50*c then whisk in the chocolate and pour onto the sponge. Chill and cut when needed. 

Squid Ink Linguine

Squid ink linguine. 

It's clear to see that pasta is flavour of the month with me, so I'll give you a quick recipe. 

550g Tipo 00 flour

4 Eggs

5 Egg yolks

5 Packets squid ink

15ml Olive oil

Salt

This one needs to be a little drier than the ravioli pasta sheets so don't be shy when dusting it while rolling it. 

For anyone thats not made it before, place the flour on the bench and make a well in the middle. Mix the eggs, olive oil & squid ink together and place in the well. Sprinkle with salt and start to mix the flour into the egg mix with a fork. It'll start to come together into a really short dough. Start to kneed together and work for a few mintues. Once all the flour is incorporated, chlingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Set up the pasta machine and start to roll out the dough, one click at a time. The dough must go through each click twice before altering the setting. Once thin enough, roll through the linguine attachment. Dry and use when ready, preferably on the day you make it. Or freeze it and use it from frozen. 

Mushroom ravioli, endive & mushroom velouté

Mushroom ravioli, endive & mushroom velouté. 

Seeing as it's mushroom season we may as well do a little classic mushroom ravioli with an everyday mushroom that everyone can get their hands on, the underrated button mushroom. It's hardly used these days unless its part of a fry up, a dodgy steak garnish or a bowl of soup. I'll try and make it a little more fun for you. 

Pasta dough:

550g Pasta flour

4 Eggs

6 Egg yolks

15ml Saffron water

15ml olive oil

Salt

Saffron water:

3g Saffron

100ml water

Bring the water & saffron to the boil and reduce by half and chill. Store in the fridge. 

Place the pasta flour in the middle of the work bench and make a well to place everything else in, add it all together and start to fold the flour into the well by hand. It'll start to come together, keep working it until you have what looks like a crumble then start to kneed it for a few minutes. Once combined, wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for a few hours. 

Mushroom Duxelle:

500g Button mushrooms

4 Shallots diced

1/2 Bulb garlic

Olive oil

Salt

In a heavy bottom pan, saute the mushrooms down in olive oil until they have gone almost black in colour (not burnt), this may take a few hours. Take them out the pan and pulse in a blender. Saute the shallot & garlic in the pan for 5 minutes then add the mushrooms back in to the pan. Cook down again until they are almost dry and leave to cool. To shape your duxelle for the ravioli, line an egg cup with clingfilm and stuff with mushroom then turn out onto a tray. You'll have a little dome just the right size for the rav. 

Roll out your pasta but don't take it right down the the last number on the pasta mchine as it will be too thin. Cut into 5 inch square's and place the duxelle on one sheet, wet the sides a little with a pastry brush and top with another sheet, try and get all the air out as it cuses bubbles and make the ravioli burst when cooking. Cut to the desired shape. If your cooking them straight away then they take 3mins 30 seconds in rapidly boiling water. If your going to cook them later on then you need to blanche them in boiling water for 1 minute then refresh in ice cold water. Once chilled they need to be covered with a little oil and placed in an air tight tub so they don't stick together and dry out. 

To garnish:

1 Endive

5g chives

10ml mustard dressing

50ml Mushroom velouté

Mix the endive, dressing & chive togther, place in the bottom of the bowl. Top with ravioli and finish with a little foamy mushroom velouté. Very basic, the way a pasta dish should be. 

Goats curd & Rocket Gnudi with Squash and Shallot

Goats curd & Rocket Gnudi with Squash & Shallot. 

Gnudi, it's pronounced the way you read it. In Italian, it's "Naked". The Gnudi refers to the filling of a Ravioli without the actual pasta thus being called naked, plus you add a little flour to bind it altogether. It's a simple dish than can be altered to what ever flavours you want. The goats curd can been changes to ricotta and the rocket to any herb you wish. 

Goats curd:

2 ltr Goats Milk

150ml Lemon juice

1 1/2tsp Salt. 

Start off by slowly heating your goats milk to 80*c, don't be tempted to rush it or boil it. Once at the correct temp then add your salt and lemon juice and leave to cool naturally. Once room temp, pass through a muslin cloth and hang for 12 hours in a fridge. 

Gnudi:

500g Goats curd

50g Rocket

250g parmesan

4 Whole Eggs

2 Egg Yolks

150g flour

1 tsp Salt

The Gnudi is very simple, throw everything in a bowl and make a dough with your hands, don't over work. Wrap in cling film and leave to chill for a few hours in the fridge. Once chilled bring it out and roll it into long sausage shapes just like below. Cut it into 2cm chunks just like gnoochi and place on a flour dusted tray. Ideally use semilina flour as it wont disapear into the dough. When ready to cook, either pan fry them in a little butter and oil or cheat and deep fry them. They only take a minute or two so keep an eye on them. 

Squash puree:

1 Butternut squash

1/2 tap salt

50g butter

Boil the squash and drain once ready, blend with the salt in a mixer or thermomix and once puree'd add the butter and blend a little more. Chill and store in the fridge unless using straight away. 

Roasted Shallot:

4 Shallots

20ml Olive oil

50g Butter

200ml Nage

1/2 tsp salt

Cut the shallot in half and place in a hot pan with a little oil, cook until a dark golden colour then add the butter, salt and nage, then braise for 10 minutes until tender. Take out and peel off the unusable skin and keep the shallot warm. 

To garnish:

Rocket

Citrus Beurre blanc

Fresh goats curd

Diced Squash

To plate up, heat the puree, fry the gnudi and start to assemble as you wish. Top the dish with a little beurre blanc, some warm diced squash, a little dressed rocket & some crumbled fresh goats curd and finally your roasted shallots.