The Pasta Project part 2

A small adventure into the lands of sands and dreams

Ancient Persia has always been such a wondrous fascination for me. The cuisine, art, music, and geography of the ancient region. It is truly remarkable to see just how much the cuisine of the ancient era still lives on today in the modern food scene. I know that I personally would not have made it through the decades of kitchen work without the cultivation of coffee in the Arabic world back in the 9th century. How one bean has so dramatically changed the course of culinary history is truly remarkable.
With Ancient Persian cuisine, I find that it is such a great way to add great flavor profiles to the produce and meats grown here in Montana. Meats like lamb, venison, and trout work so well with spices like Za’atar, Sumac, and the truly magnificent Advieh. I sometimes dream of the creations of cuisine by figuring out the puzzles of what cuisine options are around me at the Farmer’s Markets in Bozeman and Livingston, and how to pair them with the spices of the Old Desert.

For this part of the Pasta Project, I am working with the truly delicious raspberries that are coming into full ripeness in the surrounding areas. Taking this wonderful fruit that grows so well in Montana, and transforming the normally sweet applications of raspberries to a savory means towards a Persian inspired ravioli. I took garlic, onion, coriander and thyme from the market, rosehips, sumac, bayleaf and cumin from the store, and ricotta from the great farmers and cheesemakers at Amaltheia Dairy and went to work.

The spice blend for the ricotta filling had to be worked out so that the raspberries were not lost in a myriad of flavors. Make sure that when making this recipe, that you taste the raspberries to know where they are in terms of tartness and sweetness. Some varieties that are available right now are much sweeter than others, like the Boyne or Latham types. Others like the Blackhawk and Nova are somewhat sweet, but have a savory quality that works really well for this recipe. There are a vast amount of different types of raspberries that grow in Montana, so it is worthwhile to research what can grow or be found at the local market.

I utilized the previous pasta dough recipe, with the addition of a half cup of milk into the dough to increase the elasticity. For the pasta filling blend in and of itself, I went with the following option:

2 Cups of Raspberries

2 Cups of Ricotta

1 Cup of Yellow Onion, brunoise or small dice

1 Tablespoon Sumac

1 teaspoon Coriander, toasted, milled

1 teaspoon Bayleaf, milled

1 teaspoon Cumin Seed, toasted, milled

1 teaspoon Rosehips, toasted, milled

2 Tablespoons Confit Garlic

1 Tablespoon Fresh Thyme, minced

1/2 teaspoon Coffee (medium roast), toasted, milled superfine

Tablespoons Kosher Salt to Taste

Olive Oil

For the raspberries and spices, I took the sumac, coriander, bayleaf, cumin, rosehips and salt and added them to a saute pan preheated over medium heat. Looking to toast the spices so that they become quite fragrant. I then added the raspberries and onion with a few spritzes of water and olive oil. I continually rotated the spices and raspberries so nothing burnt to the bottom of the saute pan. Once the raspberries purged their water and reduced their volume by three quarters, I took the pan off heat and let the mixture cool in the fridge until cold.

Take the raspberry mixture and place into a medium mixing bowl, add the ricotta and confit garlic and whisk everything together. While whisking, add in the coffee, thyme, and just enough salt to your own taste. I added three tablespoons of salt for myself, but I like a well seasoned filling. I do not use a food processor for this part, as I am not looking to make a raspberry ricotta paste. If you are looking for a super smooth and easily pipeable filling, utilize a food processor. Just realize that the filling will be an odd purple to brown color.

With this filling, let it rest in the mixing bowl covered by plastic wrap for at least thirty minutes so the flavors can intermingle and become bloomed in the ricotta. While the mixture is resting, lay out your pasta dough in two sheets. Roll out your pasta dough to long rectangular shapes, both as close to the same size. Take the raspberry filling out of the fridge and grab a tablespoon. Measuring out four fingers in width, place a dollop of the raspberry filling in the center of the first pasta sheet. Measure four fingers from the center of the spoonful of raspberry filling and set another dollop of the filling. Repeat this process until you have the sheet filled with the raspberry filling.

Once the pasta sheet is dotted with the filling, bring the second pasta sheet edge farther from the row of filling over it and join it to the other edge, creating a long tube that encloses the filling. Taking a ravioli roller/pasta roller/knife, trim the joined edges and both ends of the tube, to seal the pasta all around. Cut across the the pasta in between every mound of filling, separating it into squares. Make sure you have a little extra pasta flour at this point and dust the cut raviolis so they don’t stick together.

One of my best friends, a much better cook than myself, and a truly great human being by the name of Andreya Nightingale has a truly fantastic step by step guide with video on how to sheet out and fill ravioli if you need a more visual lesson on making the pasta. Her page on Crab or Vadouvan Winter Squash Ravioli (a truly life changing in the best way possible recipe) does a great breakdown in how to make the pasta.

From this point, all you have to do is to decide whether or not you will freeze them for later in a nice plastic bag, or cook them up and go for a great dinner. Let me know how you all did with the recipe, and how you liked the flavor! Cheers!