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the goods fresh lasagne pasta sheets 1/2 oz/ 15g dried porcini mushrooms 2 oz / 55g pancetta 1 cup ricotta 2 tblspns fresh grated parmesan 1 cup creme fraiche 1 egg, beaten salt and pepper active time: 20 minutes total time: 1 1/2 hrs you will need:
serve with:
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porcini and pancetta ravioli in truffled creme fraiche sauce on a recent night on the town in sydney, I stumbled into a trattoria around closing time. I was with the indefatigable brooke. we ordered a porcini, prosciutto and black truffle lasagna between my moans of pleasure, brooke took great pains to tell me that, in australia, truffle oil has become the sun dried tomato of the new millennium worse: it is the culinary equivalent of the cane toad: plaguing menus country wide. from the chicest establishment to the lowliest...there were even rumours that they were serving truffle oil on the meat pies at the footy! in australia nowadays, it is 'de rigeur' to use the actual truffle to give a dish credibility well, luckily, the epidemic hasn't reached such proportions over here and I can still get away with using truffle oil...which is exactly what I did to recreate the flavours of that late night lasagna in this ridiculously easy ravioli: soak: 1/2 oz (15g) porcini mushrooms in 1 cup warm water. let sit for 1/2 hr. strain and reserve liquid. finely dice 2/3 of the mushrooms dice: 2oz (55g) pancetta, heat in a skillet over a low flame. add diced mushrooms and cook until pancetta renders some fat, but is still soft mix: 1 cup ricotta cheese (low fat is fine); 2 tblspns grated parmesan; pancetta and mushrooms. season with salt and pepper to taste. you may wish to add some nutmeg or paprika spoon: 1 tblspn of the mix onto the top portion of a fresh (soft) lasagna sheet. I use sheets which are 7 inches x 4 inches...I make large ravioli as it is less fiddly and much quicker (I also tend to think that they look more luxurious on a platter; as if they are languishing...little bite sized ravioli tend to look more like a rugby scrum, tumbling all over each other) if you prefer bite size parcels, then adapt the amount of filling to suit. brush the sides around the filling with some beaten egg, fold the lower half of the pasta sheet over the filling and press along the sides to seal. place the ravioli on a plate lined with wax paper / baking parchment and refrigerate until ready to cook (this can be done a day ahead) heat: porcini liquid in the skillet with the pancetta fat and bring to a simmer. allow it to reduce to half its volume bring: a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. drop the ravioli into the water and cook to 'al dente'. this will be between 6-7 minutes, depending upon the thickness of the pasta add: 1 cup of creme fraiche to the porcini liquid and bring to a gentle simmer. add the remaining porcini mushrooms and 1 teaspoon truffle oil. taste. try not to moan! arrange: the ravioli on a platter, spoon the sauce on top build a meal: these little fellas are pretty rich. you only need a couple. try serving as a 'warm salad' platter with the oyster mushrooms, pancetta 'roses' and spinach...add some warm ciabatta to soak up that sauce | ||||