Mushroom Ravioli with Leeks & Guanciale in Butter Sauce

 

As the week comes to an end you may be looking for some culinary inspiration this weekend.  Maybe for a special Saturday night dinner at home? Family dins on Sunday? Or maybe you just want something delicious to look at before you spend your weekend dining out.  Either way, this is by far one of the best stuffed pastas I have ever had - not just made - but ever had anywhere.  My brother is a big mushroom ravioli fan and after he told me he made some a couple weeks ago, I couldn't get the craving out of me.  I decided to make a batch for a special birthday dinner for hubs and they were just delightful.  The salty and slightly crisp guanciale, mixed with the beautifully brown mushrooms and creamy leeks and butter sauce is a combination to die for.

Ingredients: serves 4

For the filling:

600g assorted mushrooms

2 shallots (minced)

1 large leek (chopped)

1 1/2 tbsp thyme leaves (chopped)

1/2 stick unsalted butter

3 garlic cloves (minced)

3/4 cup ricotta (buffalo ricotta from the village cheesemonger is best obvi)

1 egg

kosher salt

EVOO

For the pasta:

Fresh pasta dough - recipe here

or use wonton wrappers

For the "sauce":

1 stick unsalted butter

8 oz guanciale (chopped into 1/2 inch pieces) 

200 of the 600g assorted mushrooms

1 large leek (sliced thinly) 

chopped italian parsley for garnish

Begin by making your filling.  In a pan, heat up the butter on medium heat and then add your mushrooms.  Do not crowd the mushrooms.  Let the mushrooms brown and then stir to brown and cook the other side.  Once they have a nice golden color, lightly salt them - remove from pan and set aside setting 1/3rd of the mushrooms separate to reserve for the "sauce".  In the same pan, add your shallots, leek, thyme and garlic and a pinch of salt.  Add a tbsp of EVOO and cook the mixture - stirring frequently, until the leeks are nice, soft and translucent. Mince 2/3rds of your cooked mushrooms while the rest of the mixture is cooking.  When the leek mixture is done - add it to a bowl with the mushrooms and stir it together along with the egg and ricotta.  Set mixture aside.

Next - make your pasta dough following the recipe link above.  Roll out the sheets and cut the dough into rounds for the ravioli.   If you are using the cheat route and using wonton wrappers you can skip this step.

Scoop a tsp of filling into the middle of one pasta round.  Using your fingers, spread some warm water around the edge of the round and then press another round on top making sure to seal out any air.

When your ravioli are filled - set aside to make the "sauce"

In a large deep bottom pan over medium heat, cook your guanciale until just slightly crisp.  Remove from the pan and set aside.  Add in your leeks and cook until soft.  Remove and set aside.  In the same pan, melt your butter over medium heat - when the butter is melted add back in the leeks, reserved mushrooms, and guanciale and keep warm.

Cook the ravioli for 2 minutes in a pot of boiling salted water.  Add the cooked ravioli to the large pan and gently mix in with the butter, guanciale, leek mixture. 

Serve Immediately with a sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley and some Parmesan (optional)

Enjoyyyyy!

xo Chef Natty

Pizza Bovanese

I hmm'd and haaa'd alot about sharing this one with the world.  Truth be told - this pizza is like my childhood all wrapped up into one dish.  Anyone on my Dad's side of the family is familiar with this pizza since we all grew up on it.  It's a very special recipe and the most important ingredient without a doubt is love - so cheese - but true.  Back in uni I used to make batches of it and stash it in the fridge to nibble at for days at a time.  However - I never could figure out how it disappeared so quickly.  That is, until my roommates (post graduation obviously) told me that they used to sneak into my pizza stash after I went to sleep at night and hoard it for themselves - ever so carefully unwrapping the tin foil like sneaky little gremlins - and devouring my za' as a post bar snack. 

After they told me and the initial shot of pizza thieving rage passed through my body - I decided to let it go.  Mainly because Belle, I used your milk for cereal almost every day and lied about it...oh and your peanut butter.  Mellag, your labeled whole wheat pasta ended up in my belly on more than one occasion, and Lala,  I used your olive oil everyday - literally.

Ahhh... that feels better.

Moving on to the famous family pizza bovanese.  It is SO easy to make - it tastes even better cold - and is a perfect dish for anything.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizer, hor'derve.  Love it.

Ingredients
1 ball of white dough (found in the bakery section of your local grocer)
10 plum tomatoes (seeded) and chopped into 1 inch, mixed shaped pieces (note - you want to cut the tomatoes in half first, remove the seeds and some of the flesh, and then cut the rest of the tomato with each piece containing some skin)
1/4 cup fresh oregano (leaves only, chopped)
7 garlic cloves (peeled and minced)
1/3 cup EVOO, plus more for drizzle
Salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

Begin by rolling out your dough into an even sheet.  On a large baking pan (don't use a non-stick pan or the bottom will not brown), drizzle some EVOO down and spread it around the pan in a thin layer - making sure not to miss any spots or the dough will stick.  Spread out the dough covering the whole pan.  Take your tomatoes and squish them into the pizza SKIN SIDE UP.  Cover the entire pizza with tomatoes - there should be barely any dough showing through.  Sprinkle your oregano, garlic and olive oil evenly all over the pizza and then - with a generous hand- salt the entire pizza.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the bottom is lightly brown (lift up and check).

Cut into square pieces - serve & enjoy!

From my Family to yours.

xo Chef Natty

chickpea n' truffle oil crostini

Don't you hate it when you get home from a grocery shop only to realize you forgot something?  Even worse, if you are throwing a dinner party - get home - and realize you forgot something crucial for that dinner?  I've learned from experience that asking hubs to go out and quickly grab me some milk, eggs, the forgotten parsley...  only results in alot of huffing and puffing.  For a recent dinner party, the whole hor'derve thing slipped my mind.  I was making such a big dinner that I forgot that my guests might like a little taster when they arrive to nibble on with their welcome cocktail.  The solution?  what is in my pantry and fridge that I can whip up as a pre-dinner snack?  Since I am a mega chickpea fan, I decided to slice up some bread from a nice crispy baguette a la Village Cheesemonger, toast it, and make a little spread.  It actually ended up being quite delish and a perfect little amuse bouche.  I highly recommend them for a quick, easy and most importantly, tasty snack - suitable for any time!

Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1 onion (finely chopped)
2 tbsp EVOO
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
salt and pepper
truffle oil for drizzle
1 baguette (sliced on an angle and toasted in the oven until slightly brown)

In a hot pan, heat up your EVOO and add in your onions.  Cook until soft - do not brown.  Add in the chickpeas and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.  When the chickpeas get softer, use a wooden spoon to smash them down to create a little chickpea and onion chunky paste.  Add the thyme and salt and pepper to taste.

When you are ready to serve, simply spoon out some of the chickpea mixture onto a crostini and then drizzle with some truffle oil for that perfect finishing touch.

Serve & Enjoy!

xo Chef Natty