Happy Mother’s Day! Back in the early days of Pasta et Al, we began the tradition of dreaming up a special pasta dish for Mother’s Day. This quickly grew to include Valentine’s, birthdays, Christmas, Easter… But the fact remains, Mother’s Day gets a dish, and here it is!
This year we’ve made a dough of limoncello and toasted perilla seeds, and turned it into doppio ravioli and agnolotti, filled with caramelised fig and mascarpone, goat cheese, and walnut. For a bit of fun, our agnolotti are nested inside the giant doppio ravs, in a delicious brown butter of walnut, limoncello, and apple cider vinegar, served with pomegranate molasses, freeze-dried blueberries, pink peppercorns, and a few edible flowers.
And a big shout out to our pals at the Chillo Collection, who set us up with the incredible limoncello that features in this recipe. This hand-peeled masterpiece is a refreshing, local take on the classic, that manages a modern vitality whilst still tasting like something Nonna would be proud to have in her liqueur cabinet.
So wipe down your benches, and let’s get into it!
As always, start off by forming a flour well and bringing the dough ingredients together, kneading for 10 minutes and resting for 30, sealed up. While you wait, caramelise the figs and prepare both of the fillings, loading them into separate piping bags. Roll that dough out into sheets.
Make the doppio ravioli by marking nested and centred circles of 4.5-5 cm, 10 cm, and 13-14 cm diameter on one of the pasta sheets. Small bowls and measuring cups can be useful for this. Pipe the fig filling generously into the centre circle, and the cheese filling between the outer two. Cover with the other pasta sheet and use the same utensils to first seal around the centre filling, smoothing the dough outwards, before sealing around the outer circle. Trim the outer scraps off with a rolling cutter. We used a nice ornate one from Coltelli Sardi in Nuoro.
For the little agnolotti that nestle between the fillings of the doppio ravioli, pipe one filling down one long edge of a pasta sheet, and the second filling down the other. Roll the outer edges of the dough inwards over the filling, until sealed. Use a rolling cutter to separate the two lengths, and then divide into finger-width segments with a wooden dowel or skewer. Cut into agnolotti with a knife or straight rolling cutter. Drop the pasta into a pot of boiling salted water, and cook until done but still firm.
Prepare the sauce by browning the butter until bubbling, then tossing in the ground walnut, limoncello, and apple cider vinegar. Stir it all together as it foams, and then drop the cooked pasta directly into the sauce, coating well.
Plate up for mum on a drizzle of pomegranate molasses, and garnish with freeze-dried blueberries, pink peppercorns, and edible flowers.
Buon appetito and ciao to your Ma!
– Al, Al, and El.
Ingredients
Pasta Dough
- 220 g flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/2 tbsp limoncello
- 1/2 tsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 1/2 tsp toasted perilla seeds
- Pinch of salt
Pasta Filling, Cheese
- 120 g mascarpone
- 80 g goats cheese
- 2 tsp walnuts ground
- Salt and pepper to taste
Pasta Filling, Fig
- 1 tsp olive oil extra virgin
- 4 figs halved
- 2 tbsp breadcrumbs
- Salt to taste
Brown Butter
- 25 g walnuts ground
- 50 g butter
- 1 tsp limoncello
- 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- Salt to taste
To Plate
- Pomegranate molasses
- Freeze-dried blueberries
- Pink peppercorns
- Edible flowers butterfly pea flower and rose
Instructions
- Make the pasta by forming a well out of the flour, and adding the other dough ingredients into the centre. Use a fork or your fingers to gradually bring it together into a shaggy ball, and then knead vigorously for 10 minutes. If the dough seems too dry, add water 1-2 tsp at a time; if too wet and sticking to your hands and the bench, add flour at a similar rate. Seal in cling wrap and rest somewhere cool for 30 minutes.
- While the dough rests, prepare the fillings. For the cheese filling, simply mix together the cheeses and walnut, season to taste, and transfer to a piping bag.
- For the fig filling, caramelise the figs in the oil, using a small pan over medium heat for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool before blending with the breadcrumbs and seasoning. Transfer to a piping bag.
- Next, prepare the pasta. Divide the dough into quarters, flatten, and pass through the pasta machine. Begin at the thickest setting and roll through a few times, folding over itself in between passes before stepping through to a medium-thin thickness. Cut into manageable sheets as you go.
- To make the doppio ravioli, mark nested and centred circles of 4.5-5 cm, 10 cm, and 13-14 cm diameter on one of the pasta sheets. Small bowls and measuring cups can be useful for this. Pipe the fig filling generously into the centre circle, and the cheese filling between the outer two. Cover with the other pasta sheet and use the same utensils to first seal around the centre filling, smoothing the dough outwards, before sealing around the outer circle. Trim the outer scraps off with a rolling cutter.
- For the agnolotti, pipe one filling down one long edge of a pasta sheet, and the second filling down the other. You can use all leftover filling at this stage. Roll the outer edges of the dough inwards over the filling, until sealed. Use a rolling cutter to separate the two lengths, and then divide into finger-width segments with a wooden dowel or skewer. Cut into agnolotti with a knife or straight rolling cutter.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, and cook the pasta for 3-5 minutes, until still firm but with no raw dough showing when cut into.
- As they boil, melt the butter over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly. You’ll see it bubble and foam as it begins to brown. As the bubbles lessen, add in the walnuts and allow to foam up before stirring through the limoncello and vinegar, and removing from the heat. Season to taste.
- Lift the pasta directly out of the pot and into the butter, and stir well to coat.
- To plate up, drizzle a little pomegranate mollasses on the plate, before placing a doppio raviolo. Brush it with brown butter and then fill the hollow with agnolotti, adding a little more butter if required.
- Garnish with freeze dried blueberries, pink peppercorns, and edible flowers.
