serves two
For the Pasta:
100 grams Tipo 00 flour
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
For the Filling:
125 grams frozen peas
75 grams ricotta
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
50 grams finely chopped smoked bacon
25 grams grated Parmesan
seasoning to taste
To serve:
50 grams frozen peas
Whey ricotta
chopped, fresh mint and basil
Parmesan
olive oil
First make the pasta dough. Put the flour and salt in a bowl and make
a well in the centre of the flour. Put the egg and the egg yolk in the
well in the flour and beat with a fork. Gradually incorporate the flour
until it starts to form a dough then knead to make a soft elastic dough.
Set aside in the fridge for half an hour while you make the filling.
Depending on the size of your eggs, you may need to add a little extra
flour if the dough is too sticky, or a little extra water or olive oil
if the dough is too dry.
To make the filling, fry the bacon until crisp and set aside to cool.
Put the peas in a bowl and blanch them with boiling water for a couple
of minutes until defrosted then transfer to a mini food processor with
the olive oil, mint and basil. Blend until pureed then transfer to a
bowl with the ricotta, lemon juice, Parmesan and bacon. Stir gently to
combine and season to taste.
To
make the agnolotti, roll the pasta dough out to the thinnest setting on
the pasta machine. Working in batches, cut out circles of dough using a
5cm cookie cutter. You have to work quite quickly to fill the pasta
before it dries out too much, so I always find this is easier as a two
man job, you can set up a bit of a production line then.
Place a teaspoon of the filling in the centre of the pasta disc.
Brush a little water around the edge of the pasta then fold in half to
enclose the filling. Pinch shut to seal, making sure the pasta is
firmly pressed together. I like to squeeze it flat to make the edge nice
and thin. There’s nothing worse than fat pasta. Repeat until you run
out of pasta or filling.
The
pasta shapes can now be covered and kept in the fridge until you are
ready to eat them. They’ll be fine in the fridge for a couple of hours
as long as you dust them in flour or semolina so they don’t stick
together. Alternatively they freeze well, and can be boiled from frozen
to cook when ready.
When you are ready to cook them, boil a large pan of salted water and
cook for 2-3 minutes until the pasta shapes rise to the surface and are
cooked to your liking. I like mine al dente so 2 minutes is usually
plenty.
To serve, it is also nice to cook some peas with the pasta, then
sprinkle with chopped, fresh mint, basil, Parmesan and a little more
ricotta if you have some. I also like a drizzle of extra virgin olive
oil.
bacon recipe courtesy of: Nic Midgley, nic cooks, April 21, 2012
