Avocado, Roast Garlic and Pea Ravioli
Homemade pasta, homemade pastry, making a proper bisque all for the most part feel to exhausting to even think about having a go, but once you decide to go for it you think how remarkable how easy it is, and satisfying and you must remember to do it more often. For us the turning point was the Kitchen Aid – an expensive piece of kit that has made our lives so easy when it comes to pasta. Jemima was given one for a wedding present (that Tart has adopted) and Lucy is still saving up for one while in the mean time uses her mothers (it was also a wedding present – 30 years ago! These machines are made to last!). All you have to do is put the pasta ingredients into the bowl and it kneads it for you, once it is rested you attach the pasta roller and its rolls the dough for you! This was a fantastic discovery as we are both pasta addicts. We have got so confident that we have started doing ravioli for dinner parties (you can make in advance and scatter with semolina, just make sure you keep them in one layer, don’t pile them up or they will stick). We came up with this recipe for a recent dinner that we cooked for Net a Porter and Rosie Assalin – it was set in a beautiful old townhouse in Pimlico, wow that area of London is so amazing, the streets feel so old, it almost feels like you have gone back in time, you an just imagine a horse and cart careering round the corner. Its not an area we go to much and we had to take ourselves for a walk down the winding streets coming across blue plaques after blue plaques explaining who used to live there, it was excellent to come across T. E. Lawrence, what fun to think he used to walk the same streets. The menu for the dinner was all from our cookbook, ‘A Love of Eating’ and the main course was the ricotta and tarragon ravioli with saffron butter, all fine but we had to come up with a diary free version for the guests who were lactose intolerant. Below we have suggested serving with parmesan, if keeping dairy free then serve without – on the evening we served with smoked tomatoes, if you don’t have a smoker then small roasted tomatoes would be a delicious addition. Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
4 large
free-range eggs
400g tipo
‘00’ flour
sea salt
250g peas
(if using frozen sit in boiling water to defrost)
1 large avocados
50g pine
nuts
bunch of
basil
2 tbsp olive
oil
zest and
juice of 1 lemon
1 head of
garlic
salt and
pepper
To serve:
Parmesan
Rocket
Pink
peppercorns (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Make the filling: Heat the oven to 200c.
Place the garlic in an oven proof dish and place in the oven for about 20
minutes, till starting to ooze out, leave to cool then squeeze the soft garlic
cloves out of their cases (its messy business) and place in a food processor,
add the rest of the ingredients and whiz till nearly smooth taste and season if
needed.
2. Make the pasta: you can either do this all by
hand, combining all the pasta ingredients on a cleaned surface with extra
dusting of flour. Or in a food processor or kitchen aid (using the kneading
attachment). Whizz everything together and then tip onto a floured surface
3. Knead for approximately 10 minutes, until the
dough becomes smooth and glossy. Roll into a ball and cling film and set aside
for 30 minutes
4. Cut the ball into 4 pieces, working each
piece through the pasta machine on its widest setting, repeat a few times,
occasionally folding in half. Then take it down to the second widest, then keep
rolling through, continue adjusting the machine until you have rolled the dough
through its narrowest setting. Cut in half, as will be too long to manage by
now
5. Repeat the rolling process with the remaining
pieces. With your long pasta sheet in front of you, cut out round using a
ravioli cutter, or a 6 cm biscuit cutter. Take a tea spoon size amount of
avocado mixture and place in the middle.
6. Dampen the edges with water, then sandwich
another round on top. Using your finger tip to seal the edges, trying to expel
all air ass you go. Keep going until finished
7. Cook ravioli in a large pan of gently boiling
salted water for 4-5 mins. Drain and serve with a little olive oil, parmesan
and a torn rocket.
