Our pals at Rio Vista Olives sent us the incredible oil that we cook with in this post. Like everything that we recommend on our blog, we use and love their products, and hope that you will too!
The Story
We couldn’t let Valentine’s Day coincide with pasta day without creating something a bit special for our favourite person. My long-suffering better half, little Al’s lovely Ma, is the genius cake-extraordinaire behind Forty-Two Cakes. So as a little tribute to her, we’ve taken cake flavours and turned them into pasta! This week we’re making lemon and poppy seed scarpinocc, filled with ricotta and lemon zest, and served with citrus-infused olive oil and freeze-dried sour cherries.
Whether you’re celebrating today as Valentine’s Day, or just as a regular Sunday pasta day, make that person you love a plate of pasta! There are few more heartfelt ways to remind someone of what they mean to you than a lovingly-crafted bowl of carbs.
The Pasta
These little things are named for the clogs that they’re fashioned after, with ‘scarpinocc’ coming from ‘scarpa’ for ‘shoe’. Though they’re traditionally loaded with talleggio, we’ve opted for a filling of ricotta and lemon zest to keep things nice and light. Perfect to serve with a subtly-flavoured, homemade citrus-infused olive oil.
Start off with that dough, giving it a good 10 minutes of kneading before resting it for 30.
While you wait, warm the olive oil with the zest in it over very low heat for 10-15 minutes. You should be able to smell those delicious citrus oils coming out. Allow it to cool, and then remove and retain the zest for plating. If you’re not using it immediately, you can store it for up to a week in the fridge (leave the zest in for extra flavour).
You should also have time to prepare the filling. Simply mix everything together and stick it in a piping bag. Try to avoid using a food processor to combine ingredients, as it can leave the filling overly runny. If this happens though, just add some breadcrumbs to help it firm up.
To form the scarpinocc, roll your dough out to a medium-thin thickness (for us, on a 9-setting machine, this is a setting of 6), and then stamp circles out with a cookie cutter. These were made with a 8cm diameter circle. Squeeze a walnut-sized dollop of filling into the centre of each dough circle, and then fold in half, pressing to seal. If your dough is feeling a little dry, give it a light spritz of water on the inside before sealing. Try to seal close to the filling, to avoid air pockets that may cause the pasta to burst when boiled.
Next, fold the filled centre over so that the pasta rolls up, leaving the newly sealed edge underneath and slightly off-centre. Pinch the ends flat, vertically. Most importantly, give it a gentle poke on the top centre, to form a little dimple and keep it true to its name.
Transfer to lightly floured baking paper lined oven trays until ready to cook, and store for 1-3 days uncovered in the refrigerator.
Toss in the citrus-infused oil, and plate up with that retained peel, pink peppercorns, freeze-dried sour cherries, and a crack of pepper.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
– Al & Al.
Equipment
- Pasta roller and cutter (if not using a rolling pin and knife)
- Round cookie cutter, approximately 8cm diameter
- Piping bag with medium round tip (alternatively, you can use a teaspoon)
Ingredients
Pasta Dough
- 100 g 00 flour
- 20 g durum semolina flour
- 5 egg yolks
- 20 ml lemon juice
- 1/2 tbsp poppy seeds
- 5 g olive oil extra virgin (we used Rio Vista Olives’ WA Mission)
Pasta Filling
- 200 g ricotta
- Zest of one lemon
- Cracked black pepper to taste
Citrus-Infused Oil
- 60 ml olive oil extra virgin (we used Rio Vista Olives’ WA Mission)
- Peel of one lemon
- Peel of one orange
To Plate
- Small handful freeze-dried sour cherries
- 1 tsp pink peppercorns
- Cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Begin by making the dough. Form a well with the dry ingredients, and then add the egg, lemon juice, and oil into the centre; use a fork or your hand to combine. Knead vigorously for 10 minutes, and then rest for half an hour, sealed in cling wrap and away from direct sunlight and heat.
- While the dough rests, warm the olive oil and the lemon and orange peel in a small pot, on very low heat for 10-15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Remove and retain the peel for plating or, if not using immediately, store it with the peel in the fridge for up to one week.
- Next, prepare the filling by mixing together the ricotta, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Transfer it to a piping bag with a medium round tip (alternatively you can use a teaspoon to fill the pasta).
- Roll the dough through a pasta machine, turning it through the thickest setting a few times (folding over itself in between passes), before incrementally stepping it through to a medium-thin thickness (on a 9-setting pasta machine, a setting of 6).
- Use a round cookie cutter, of about 8cm diameter, to stamp the dough out into circles. Pipe a walnut-sized amount of filling into the centre of each circle.
- To shape the pasta, fold the dough in half over the filling; press gently around the filling to seal. Then roll the filled centre of the pasta over so that the dough seam is now located underneath the pasta, off-centre. Pinch the ends to seal flat, vertically, then gently poke the top of each piece to form small dimples. Transfer the finished scarpinocc to lightly floured baking paper lined oven trays, and refrigerate uncovered for 1-3 days.
- Cook the pasta in lightly salted boiling water until al dente. No raw dough should be visible when the pasta is cut into. Drain, and toss in the citrus oil, serving with freeze-dried sour cherries, the retained peel (if using it), pink peppercorns, and a crack of black pepper.
