A spring inspired ravioli with a sweet filling in a brown butter and almost crispy corn
This was a "use whatever you have in the fridge" lunch and although it took 4 hours to make, it's so rewarding. Ricotta and pasta is one of those things that I haven't bought ever since I started making it. Eggs and flour = pasta. Milk, cream, salt and lemon juice = ricotta. It's a whole new world when it comes to cooking when you know how to use pantry staples to make something exquisite. What is even better is that if you've got no eggs, you can make pasta with just semolina flour and water like they do in Southern Italy. I'm pretty sure that if it wasn't for how time consuming it is, everyone would just make their own pasta. Of course there are lots of variations in how to make it p e r f e c t like egg yolk ratios and semolina vs regular flour, but this does the trick.
Making pasta from scratch is a labour of love, you can't do it in a bad mood or it'll show. But that also goes for all cooking and baking. Sometimes I like to play jazz in the background and pretend I'm someones nonna, making a family favourite on a warm spring day. Pasta is the perfect canvas to hold the flavours we enjoy most, a vessel for creativity and authenticity to shine through. Variations of flavours can change your eating experience from Sunday afternoon lunch by the seaside in summer, to a gloomy winters day with a thick tomato sauce to carry the dish. When I tell you I love pasta, I really mean it with my whole heart.
Ingredients
Pasta:
300g 00 flour/ all purpose flour
3 eggs
Ricotta:
480g milk
115g cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 lemon, juiced
Corn filling:
1 onions
olive oil
3 cloves garlic
4 sprigs of thyme
few leaves of sage
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
corn cut off 2 cobs
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Browned butter sauce:
150g butter,
1 corn off the cob
thyme
1 garlic clove
Method:
On a clean counter, make a well in your flour and add your eggs. Use a fork to whisk the eggs and slowly start incorporating the flour. Once you have a shaggy dough, knead the dough by hand until you have a soft uniform dough with no dry spots. Cover and place in the fridge to rest.
Make your ricotta. Add the milk, cream and salt to a pot and heat it until simmering. Once heated, switch the stove off and add the lemon juice and cover with a lid. After 20 minutes you'll see curds at the top of the pot.
Spoon the curds into a cheesecloth in a strainer and loosely tie your cheesecloth to make the curds into a ball. Leave the curds to strain for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, give it one last squeeze and transfer your homemade ricotta to a dish and set aside in the fridge.
To make the filling, add olive oil to pan on low-medium heat. Add chopped onion, garlic, chilli and herbs until everything is softened and fragrant. Lastly add your corn and cook for another 5 minutes.
Transfer the corn mixture to a food processor and pulse it until coarse, not smooth.
Add the corn mixture and parmesan to the ricotta and set aside
In a large pot, add about 2 litres of water and 3 tbsp salt and bring to a boil.
Divide your pasta dough in half and cover the other half so that it does not dry out.
Roll the dough thin enough to see your hand through it, about 1/2 cm. If you have a pasta machine, use setting 5 or 6.
Once rolled out, add a tsp of filling, leave a 2cm space and continue this pattern until you've reached the end of the length of the pasta dough. Fold the dough over the filling with 1-2cm wide around the filling and cut out the shape. Press down all the sides to make sure the filling is secured. Watch this video if you are unsure on how to make the shape.
Make your brown butter by adding butter to a skillet and melt. Once foam starts to develop, and add garlic, herbs and corn. Take it off the heat once the foam subsides and the butter is browned. Keep an eye on your butter as it can go from rich nuttiness to pure burn flavour.
Add the pasta to salted boiling water and once it floats to the top, it's done. You will have to boil your pasta in batches.
Add the pasta to the browned butter and corn, dish up and enjoy
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