Ricotta Cavatelli

I’m becoming quite addicted to the Google Keep App, it’s a large tile of post-it like notes or lists that you can access via a web page or phone/tablet app. I find it handy for jotting down ingredients or ideas, partial and full, and the obvious shopping lists and being able to tick off as you go. This started out as one of those little post-its, “artichokes, pine-nuts and sultanas”, I had that down and wanted to do something with it. I happened to have a tub of Zany Zeus ricotta in the fridge and a desire to revisit cavatelli, so again much consternation about finding some consistency across recipes for ricotta cavatelli I ended up forming what I thought would be a good ratio and set to work.

I did happen to mention the cavatelli accompaniments to my other half, and much like any savoury with a fruit addition her nose screwed up and indignantly told me in no uncertain words that she would not be having that for dinner, so she got a garlic-bacon-tomato sauce that was whipped up.


Ricotta Cavatelli
200g Flour
200g Ricotta
1 egg
5g salt

• Mix the flour and salt together and form a well.
• Add the ricotta and egg.
• Use the back of a fork to mash the egg and ricotta together, slowly working into the flour.
• Use your hands and form into a ball.
• Knead for about 5 minutes, until nice and smooth.
• Wrap in cling-film and refrigerate for half an hour.
• Roll out the dough on a well floured bench and cut into strips ready for the cavatelli machine.
• I floured the machine, and on top of the roller so a bit of flour gets sprinkled over the dough with each turn.
• Pinch the dough and run through the machine.
• Toss in flour to keep the cavatelli separated until you’re ready to cook.
• Shake off any excess flour and cook in well salted boiling water for 3–5 minutes.

For the pictured dish:

• Soak sultanas in a hot liquid
• Toast pine-nuts
• Quarter cooked artichoke hearts
• Pick some pea-shoots
• Zest and juice lemon
• Finely chop some parsley, dill would be nice too
• Sauté the artichokes in a little olive oil and butter until they begin to caramelize.
• Toss in the lemon zest, sultanas and pine-nuts.
• Stir in some butter and toss through.
• Taste and season with lemon juice and salt (I’m totally obsessed with smoked salt at the moment).
• Add the parsley and cooked cavatelli, toss together.
• Dish up and garnish with the pea-sprouts.

Bacon-tomato sauce
2 rashers of bacon
1 can of good tomatoes
1 onion
3 big garlic cloves
cider vinegar
salt
chilli flakes

In a pot over a medium heat, sauté the chopped onion and whole garlic cloves, when soft add the chopped bacon, cook until the bacon has rendered most of the fat but not coloured too much, add a splash of cider vinegar, add the tomatoes and a pinch of chilli, cover and turn the heat down, cook for about 20 minutes. The onions and garlic should be very soft, purée the sauce with a stick blender, taste and season with salt and adjust the acidity with vinegar. Simmer until the desired consistency is reached. Toss cooked cavatelli through the sauce.

chicken thigh roulade

Well as I usually do when I buy a chicken without the express purpose of roasting it, and sometimes even then, I break it down. If I'm roasting it I'll leave the breasts on the bone but disassemble the other parts, after all there are usually only 2 mouths to feed. Otherwise the breasts come off and separated for 2 meals, the wings off for stock or a quick snack, the thighs usually kept on with the drum and are a portion each, and then finally the carcass is set aside, usually in the freezer ready for stock. I usually view the whole procedure as practice, for what I'm not quite sure, but I have the process down, these days I can break-down, debone and skin a chicken quicker than you can say it.

As with most things repetition makes you look for a break in the usual, so with this latest chicken I broke it down pretty much as normal but took the skin off whole and deboned the thighs, I wanted to do a roulade, I knew I was going to stuff it with ricotta and hazelnuts, heck I knew that when I bought the ricotta well before I bought the chicken, I knew pretty much how I was going to cook it, sous vide for an hour at 65°C (fry it to crisp the skin after), but looking at what I had to work with I wasn't quite sure how it was going to happen. That was until I remembered a certain little package that was sitting hidden in the bottom of the freezer, probably past its usable date, a packet of transglutaminase, activa rm, or commonly named meat glue, I had been thinking of a reason to use it for quite some time but most everything seemed convoluted, not tonight though, I needed something to hold these disparate pieces together.

A trusty small sieve was loaded with the white powder, skin laid down on a sheet of cling film, a dusting of the powder, thigh meat arranged in an even layer—leaving an edge with some skin uncovered—another coating of the powder, the filling shaped down the middle, the edge bought up and rolled tightly with the cling film, using a skewer, holes poked to release air bubbles, another layer of cling film down and used to roll it tighter, holes poked again, another layer rolled tighter, the ends rolled in opposite directions (like a Candy wrapper) tied with string and left to set in the fridge overnight.

The inside of the roulade was seasoned with smoked salt and pepper and the stuffing was made by equal volumes (by eye) of hazelnuts blitzed in the blender and ricotta (with salt and parsley).


Well most of the hard work done, the next day a large pot of water is heated to slightly higher than 65°C and the wrapped chicken removed from the fridge. A few more holes are pierced through the cling film to get rid of any pesky air pockets and the chicken is wrapped tightly again and tied to form a watertight seal. The wrapped chicken is placed in the water bath for about an hour or until the internal temperature reaches 65°C, remove the chicken from the water and carefully unwrap, use a clean tea towel to carefully dry the outside of the roulade, I find rolling it up in the towel to rest while I prep the rest worked best.


Heat about a centimeter of olive oil in a heavy based pan and get it to frying temperature, carefully brown the roulade all over, it will spit like crazy so be careful not to burn yourself. When fully browned place on some paper towels and cover, leave to rest while you sauté some cavolo nero.

Slice the roulade and serve on a bed of the sautéed greens.

Ricotta 'ravioli'

I mentioned that I’d post about this seamless ‘ravioli’ back when I wrote about the egg yolk ravioli, the method is pretty much the same but with ricotta cheese, and a little more care has to be taken when boiling to avoid the balls collapsing.


I opted for traditional flavours, a good pile of ricotta, lemon rind finely grated in, along with some nutmeg and a good sprinkle of salt, mix together well. Using a tablespoon scoop out even sized portions and roll into balls with damp hands. The balls are then placed on a bed of fine semolina flour (or use durum) and then covered with a layer of the flour. Refrigerate for a couple of days to let the flour hydrate forming a casing around the cheese filling.


Gently shake off the excess flour and cook in salted boiling water for a minute or two, keep a close eye on them looking for signs that they might collapse, it’s unlikely but better safe than sorry.


You could serve them nice and simple, maybe with brown butter and sage, but I had a meaty, spicy, dosed with extra anchovies and capers sauce on hand.