Italy GP 2020: Mushroom Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce
This year, we finally received some good news: three, count them THREE, F1 races in Italy. That means three weekends of Italian food, and Italian cocktails. Three weekends of me being in my kitchen, happy as can be. The first race at Monza was an absolutely crazy spectacle of racing and so much fun to watch. Huge congratulations to Gasly on his first win, watching him soak it all in on the podium was definitely one of my favorite moments so far this year.
For the race I made some Homemade Ravioli, Braised Artichokes and Potatoes, and a fresh green salad. We served it all with some Venetian Spritz’s.
I think I found the perfect use for my pasta maker. Homemade ravioli is so delicious and versatile, and totally worth the time and effort. Especially topped simply with a brown butter sauce and filled with savory mushroom and ricotta filling.
The first time I made pasta, I had fun. It was definitely an experiment, there was flour literally everywhere, and it tasted… homemade. I was proud of myself for going through all the effort and making a passable dish, but I do have to admit, it wasn’t perfect. In fact, I was contemplating whether it was worth it. But this. This is worth it. After making the whole batch of ravioli I even made a couple beautiful little nests of tagliatelle with my leftover pasta sheets, and they were delicious too! It turns out there were a few missing elements my first time attempting to make pasta. I learned a lot this time around, and here are my takeaways. One: I did not use 00 flour the first time. The internet exists for a reason! Get those specialty ingredients delivered to your door! It made such a huge difference in the texture of the pasta dough. Two: I watched a thousand tutorials and found the right ratio for the dough. It makes a big difference when you are new to a recipe to have simple and foolproof measurements. Use them! Once you get familiar enough you can “feel” your way through the recipe. Three: Knead that dough. Knead it till your arms hurt, and then some more. Ok, it really just needs like 10 minutes, but my arms started to hurt at 4 minutes, so maybe this just depends on your stamina! Four: Be patient. The dough requires a few passes through the pasta roller to get it nice and folded and shaped well, before you start to thin it out.
I watched a lot of YouTube tutorials. So that you don’t have to meet quite as many character’s as I did, I wholeheartedly recommend Helen Rennie. She is clear, explains things very well, and demonstrates each step.
Mushroom Ravioli with Butter and Sage Sauce
Adapted from Inside the Rustic Kitchen, Helen Rennie’s YouTube Channel, Pina Bresciani, and Marcela Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
Equipment
KitchenAid pasta maker attachment or table top pasta maker
Pasta
300g 00 flour or all-purpose flour
185g wet ingredients (2 large eggs + 3 large egg yolks + water to reach 185g)
2 tsp diamond crystal kosher salt or 1 tsp table salt
Mushroom Filling
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1 sprig thyme
1 heaped Tbsp ricotta
2 Tbsp parmesan freshly grated
salt and pepper to season
Sauce
4-5 Tbsp unsalted quality butter
6-8 whole sage leaves
Freshly grated parmesan
To make the pasta:
1. Add flour and salt to a food processor to combine.
2. Add eggs and water, process until it all begins to come together in a ball.
3. Remove to a clean counter with all the bits of flour in the bottom of the processor bowl.
4. Start by kneading for one minute without adding any additional flour, it will be sticky and feel a bit wet, but give it at least a minute before adding anything.
5. Rub all the stuck bits that will inevitably be on your hands back onto the dough and knead them in.
6. After one minute and adding back in any stuck bits, if it is still sticking to your hands consistently then add just a little flour and keep kneading.
7. Knead by hand for 8-12 minutes. Knead in small movements, if you try to fold the dough completely in half each time it will not cooperate, the video linked above is helpful as a demonstration.
8. Once fully kneaded and feeling supple, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for at least 30 minutes.
Prep filling while the pasta is resting.
To make the filling:
1. Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a medium-sized pan, once hot add the finely chopped shallots and saute until soft and translucent.
2. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook down until reduced in size and softened. Add the garlic and thyme and a good pinch of salt and pepper, fry for 1-2 minutes. Set aside and let cool for 5 minutes.
3. Add the cooled mushroom mixture to a food processor with parmesan and ricotta. Blitz until smooth and has become the consistency of a pate. Set aside.
To assemble the ravioli:
1. Split pasta dough ball into four equal pieces. While rolling one portion of the dough, keep the remaining pieces in plastic wrap so they do not dry out.
2. Using a KitchenAid pasta maker attachment on speed 2 and setting 1 on the pasta roller, feed one piece of flattened dough through the roller. Once it has gone through, fold the dough into 3, rotate and feed through again. Rotating the dough is what makes it rectangular in shape. Repeat this process two more times until you’ve fed all sides of the dough through at setting 1, and it is a nice rectangular shape. Now change your roller setting to 2 and feed the dough through the roller once. Keep flouring your hands and the roller if the dough is sticky. Keep feeding the dough through on each roller setting (only once) until you’ve reached setting 7. Dust each sheet well with flour until ready to fill.
3. Dust the counter with flour, lay out one long sheet of pasta. Drop 1 tablespoon of cooled filling about 2-inches apart on half the sheet of pasta. Either fold the unfilled half over the filling, or make a second row and place a similarly sized sheet of pasta on top. Press out the air from around each portion of filling. Press firmly around the filling to seal. Cut into individual ravioli with a knife or pastry cutter. Check to make sure the edges are well sealed before cooking.
4. Once the ravioli are ready, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ravioli to the water and cook for around 4-8 minutes depending on the size and thickness of your ravioli. Meanwhile, make the sauce.
To make the sauce:
1. Put the butter in a small skillet and turn on heat to medium.
2. When the butter foam subsides, and the butter’s color is a nice light gold, but not yet brown, add the sage leaves. Cook for a few seconds, turning the sage leaves over once, then pour the contents of the pan over the ravioli, toss and serve immediately with fresh parmesan sprinkled over at the table.